Qualitative Methods in Marketing - Research Paper Example

A research project evaluation Report [Student’s Name] [Institution Affiliation] 1.0 Introduction Just Jewellery is one of Australia largest online jewellery stores for fashion as well as fine jewellery. The company’s mission is to offer their customers fashionable as well as stunning designs, which are unique. The company offers a manufacturer’s warranty of ten years and 30 days cash back assurance. It offers over 2500 products and adds new items on a daily basis. These aspects have enabled the company to have a strong market position. Nonetheless, the company stands to lose its competitive advantage because of the increasing number of online jewelry stores and rising imports from Asia. There are various long-term concerns, which the company needs to address to ensure that it does not lose its competitive advantage. One of the alternatives considered is the establishment of physical/ brick & mortar stores in different parts in Australia. This research aims to examine customer’s attitudes, which surround the use of physical/ brick & mortar stores in relation to online stores when purchasing jewellery. Information from this research will be crucial in determining the success of Just Jewellery physical stores. This project will take a period of ten weeks to be completed and all the tasks in the research will be evenly distributed within this period. Allocations will depend on the weight of the tasks and the number of people that will take part in the process. 2.0 Research Objectives The main objective of this research is to examine customers’ attitudes towards the use of physical/ brick and mortar jewelry stores. This objective has been broken down into other specific objectives such as To determine whether the demand for online jewellery is constricted by the consumer need to see a piece of jewellery prior to spending a large amount on the item To establish whether consumers can mix channel options across the decision making process to optimize the process for their needs. To explore the market psychology of physical/ brick & mortar store customers before purchasing products To determine the education, insight and information that customers look for when purchasing To identify attitudes towards Just Jewellery and other competing online jewellery stores To determine the outlet to promote and launch the company physical/ brick & mortar store 3.0 Review of Literature Documents and reports on the advantages of physical/ brick & mortar jewelry stores over online stores and reports concerning jewellery company physical stores experience will be reviewed. Generally, the literature review will consist of the following elements: An overview of brick and mortar stores and online stores, issue or theory under consideration Division of the literature under review into categories, for instance, those in support of brick and mortar stores, those against, and those providing online stores as an alternative. Explanation of how every reviewed literature is similar to or differs from the others. Conclusions, regarding the documents or reports, which are best, considered in their argument, the ones that are most convincing in their opinions as well as the ones with the most contribution to the understanding and development in the area of brick and mortar stores. All together, the research literature will consist of market segment reports detailing the qualities and attributes of the customers that prefer brick and mortar stores over online stores, their inclinations towards the market and trends in the market. Information about the aspects that make physical stores more successful within the jewellery market will be sought. This is important because the real opportunity for online jewellery company in Australia seems to be capturing many Australian searching for jewellery stores and information online and driving them to make purchase in store (Jewellery Industry Analysis, 2007). 4.0 Scope and Limitation Just jewellery online store sells to people from all regions; however, its physical stores will only be located in Australia before expanding to other countries. Physical stores are not as convenient as online stores. This study will only focus on the customer attitudes in Australia towards physical jewellery stores. Numerous factors are involved in the customer jewellery decision making and it might be difficult to understand their behaviour because of these factors (Klingenberg, 2012). The research will encounter localization and adaptation problems such as language barrier when undertaking surveys and campaigns on the public. 5.0 Scheme of research project performance evaluation This research project will be evaluated depending on the quantitative results obtained as well as whether the acquired information will be used by Just Jewellery when establishing physical stores. The evaluation will also measure the research project against the set objectives. The measurable performance indicators and deliverables of the research project will be evaluated to establish whether it has been helpful in meeting the set objectives. Research Project 6.0 Research Conceptualization To examine customers’ attitudes towards the use of physical jewelry stores This will entail studying, observing, and scrutinizing customers’ positive or negative feelings towards buying brick and mortar or physical jewellery stores as well as determining the use of other company physical stores. 7.0 Methodology The methods used to undertake the research will be quantitative, qualitative and desk research. The desk research will entail assembly, collation and analysis of information related to brick and mortar/physical stores, which is already in existence or published. According to Barbie (2012), research has three clear applications: to offer a background for a field study or other marketing activity, as a substitute for field study and as a technique in its own right. In this research, desk research will offer a background for the field study. It will offer basic information about on which the field study will be based on. It will offer the information necessary to decide on the market size, rates of growth or decline, the types of jewellery being supplied, who the customers are and where they may be found. Internally, desk research will entail consulting experts in the field and other people who may be knowledgeable on the jewellery market and the ones who may have access to records on this subject. Qualitative research will necessitate introduction of physical jewellery items along with the ones of competing jewellery physical stores to estimate the public reaction to brick and mortar Just jewellery stores to gauge the public reaction to them, the products, packaging and proposed price. This will be undertaken in different regions in the country to determine the group of customers who responds the greatest to the physical stores and the ones most likely to buy from them as opposed to online stores. Quantitative research will entail using a survey to collect data. Well designed, comprehensive and interactive questionnaires with questions on preference for physical stores and other related issues. The study will target specific group of people who have used both physical and online stores while purchasing their jewellery. Personal interviews will be conducted over the telephone and face to face with established physical stores frontline salesperson as they are knowledgeable on customers’ preference for physical branches and they are in a good position to assess their psychology. Furthermore, conducting interviews this will be a cost effective way of contacting them. Structured online questionnaires will be constructed to reach a large number of respondents. This method will be cost and time effective and it will also allow greater room for data analysis. The issue of time is very important for this study because the research is set at ten weeks. The respondents who will respond to the online questionnaires will be randomly selected and the questionnaire sent to them through mail. They will be given a period of two weeks to answer the questionnaire. During the last week, those who will not send their filled questionnaires would be sent a reminder. Purposive sampling will be used to select the frontline salesperson. The questionnaire will contain questions examining the respondents’ attitudes towards physical jewellery stores as opposed to online stores. The questionnaire will have a percentage of famous physical jewellery stores to determine the respondents’ patterns of purchase and attitude towards them. The respondents responses will generate information on their preferred jewellery store (physical or online), reasons for this preference as well as the prices they are prepared to pay for in the new Just Jewellery physical branches. To ensure that the findings of this research are good, they will be compared with other related studies on the research subject to see whether they correlate. Triangulation will also be used to ensure high accurate levels (Bradley, 2010). Triangulation is another way to refer to multiple methods of data collection (Belk, 2007). It refers to use of several different research techniques in the same study to confirm and verify data gathered in different ways. This research will pinpoint its outcome by making several assessments from different perspectives, with the view of finding an outcome that is supported by each of the different perspective. Multiple methods in this study i.e. online structured interview, in-depth interviews with frontline salesperson and desk research will be used to produce complementary data. 8.0 Research Implementation Qualitative Research For the qualitative research, the researchers will introduce the products of Just Jewellery physically to different groups of users to evaluate their reaction to the company products relative to those of the online store and other physical stores. This group will consist of people who have previously bought the company products. The products will be introduced, described and then shown to the customers together with those available online by Just Jewellery and along with the industry leading competing products. The researcher will evaluate their reaction to the physical products as opposed to those available online. The research will feature similar products although some of them will be physical whereas the others will be available online in the company stores. Quantitative Research For the quantitative research, the researchers will randomly select a sample of 200 students undertaking Masters in the University (the sample will also include far distant students). The master’s students are a diversified group as it consists of both single and married people, working and unemployed, between age group 25-70 and also consisting of both men and women. The researcher will seek consent from the relevant authority in the university to be offered the students details. After which they will be contacted to ask them to take part on the survey. They will be asked to offer their replies and only the students who will agree will be sent the questionnaires. This sample will offer a spread of responses and the opportunity to identify different attitudes towards physical jewellery stores in relation to online stores. The questionnaires will probe the following questions: What kind of jewellery store the customers prefer (online/physical) Explanation for inclination or preference for either of the two or both Whether their demand for online jewellery is constricted need to see a piece of jewellery before buying it The education, information and insight that they look for when purchasing The nature of outlet they prefer for the physical jewellery stores 9.0 Research Results After conducting all the interviews and conducting interviews, the information will be analysed. The data analysis will involve computer tabulations in form of frequency distributions, descriptive statistics, and focus on tabular and graphical analysis. Tabular analysis will involve presenting the obtained results in tables. 10.0 Research principles & practices evaluation Research Objectives The research objectives are a restatement of what the Just Jewellery management needs to know to make a decision when establishing a physical store. The research objectives are good and they will generate information regarding the customers’ attitude towards physical stores and their preferences when it comes to purchasing jewellery. The objectives will thus fulfil Just Jewellery purpose effectively. The objectives of this study investigate all the possible ways to exploit the brick and mortar jewellery stores and finding the best approaches of setting the physical store apart from the competitors. Research Perspective The perspective of this research is good because there in increased competitive advantage in the online jewellery market and this research offers an insight into customers’ attitude towards physical stores as Just Jewellery is seeking to establish physical stores to complement its online store. Research Design The research design in this case is descriptive and will be appropriate for this study. It will be followed to answer the research objectives. In essence, it has developed a framework for solving Just Jewellery dilemma. The researcher has offered the best information possible subject to the various constrains under which he will operate. The research design will yield error free and precise information. Research Data Analysis Techniques The data analysis methods and technique suggested will be good and appropriate for the data collected in this study. The analysis process will be well planned in advance in order to anticipate problems that might arise. The analysis of this study will be shaped to a considerable extent before data collection. Research Findings The findings will be good and will form a basis, which Just Jewellery can consider before establishing a physical store. The findings on customers’ attitudes towards physical stores will enable the company to make a wise choice while expanding its operations from online to physical stores. 11.0 Project management principles & practices evaluation Project Procedures & Controls To ensure that quality, consistent and accurate data is obtained, the research assistants will be trained on appropriate ways of conducting research throughout the data collecting process. 12.0 Project Budget Research Expenses No of persons/ items Charges per item/person Total Typesetting & other costs for questionnaires 200 questionnaires 2pgs each 200 £400 Research Assistants 5 300 £1500 Transport costs 3 500 £1500 Telephone Charges £400 Total £3800 The quantitative research will take up most of the budget because most of the costs will be taken up by typesetting the questionnaires, posting them and later retrieving all the filled questionnaires. Five research assistants will be hired to assist in the data collection process and analysis. Each of them will be paid £300 during the entire research process. The researcher and the assistants will also be required to travel to conduct in-depth interviews with the frontline salesperson. Some of the interviews will be conducted over the telephone hence the telephone charges. 13.0 Research Timetable Week 1 Design Questionnaires Week 2 Desk Research Week 3 Seeking permission to interview masters students and sending them questionnaires Week 4 Conducting qualitative research awaiting filled questionnaires from the Masters students Week 5 Carrying out in depth interviews over the telephone and in person Week 6 Collecting the filled questionnaires Week 7 Compiling data from the two processes Week 8 Data analysis Week 9 Data processing Week 10 Finalizing report writing All these tasks have been allocated equal time of one week as it will be adequate to cover all the different tasks. With the assistance of the five research assistants, all these tasks will be completed in time. 14.0 Project Staffing The project is being managed by talented individuals with numerous years of experience in the market research field. The researcher will cater for the day-to-day activities of the project as he has extensive experience in the marketing field. With this team of qualifies personnel, the project has a 100% chance of succeeding and achieving its objectives. 15.0 Conclusion This research project will manage to achieve the set objectives and the information acquired will enable Just Jewellers to use successfully establish its physical/mortar brick stores. References Babbie, E. (2012). The practice of social research. Belmont CA: Wadsworth Belk, R. (2007). Handbook of qualitative research methods in marketing. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited Bradley, N. (2010). Market researcher’s toolbox. 2ed. UK: Oxford University Press. Jewellery Industry Analysis. (2007). Blinging it online – a jewellery industry analysis. Retrieved from http://damiendonnelly.com/wp- content/whitepaper/Jewellery_industry_analysis.pdf Just Jewellery. Retrieved from http://www.justjewellery.com.au/AboutUs.aspx Klingenberg, R. (2012). Tips for increasing sales for your Jewelry Business. Retrieved from http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/increasing-sales.html Read More