Marketing Intelligence - Coursework Example

Marketing Intelligence

Table of Contents

Introduction3

TASK 13

1.1Main stages of the purchase decision making process3

1.2 Theories of buyer behaviour in terms of individuals and markets 5

1.3 Factors that affect buyer behaviour7

1.4 Relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchasing8

2.1 Evaluate different types of market research techniques9

(Source: Bradley, 2013)12

2.2 Use sources of secondary data to achieve marketing research objectives12

2.3 Assess the validity and reliability of market research findings13

2.4 Prepare a marketing research plan to obtain information in a given situation14

TASK 316

3.1. An assessment of UK market size trends for ICT 16

3.2. Describe a plan and carry out a competitor analysis for one of the following organisations. 18

3.3. Evaluate the opportunities and threats for a given product or service22

TASK422

4.1 Evaluate techniques of assessing customer response22

4.2 Design and complete a customer satisfaction survey24

4.3 Review the success of a completed survey29

Conclusion30

• Introduction

Hedin, Hirvensalo and Vaarnas (2014), defines Marketing Intelligence as a procedure under which entities in order to attain bettermarketing positions among the competitors,collectsrelevant information about its external environment for decision-making process. For having greater profitability companies are expanding their businesses in emerging economies that consist of numerous competitors (Hedin, Hirvensalo and Vaarnas, 2014). In order to be competitive in the sector, enterprises need to initiate better strategies that can be achieved through market intelligence (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015). Jenster and Soilen (2009),claims that an entity cannot be successful by focusing on its product and internal process alone as industry is composed ofsimilar products and substitutes. Through this essay, the importance of marketing intelligence in companies is going be discussed and analysed. The overall assignment will be undertaken in four tasks related with consumers buying behaviour andcompany’s competitiveness.

• TASK 1
  • 1.1Main stages of the purchase decision making process

Consumer buying process is composed of physical and mental activityafter which an individual makes purchases (The Consumer Factor, 2016). Physical activities can be walking around stores to check the products being offered whereas mental exercises includeforming attitudes, perceiving information available through advertising and building loyalty towards a brand (Sokoloswki, 2011). As internal and external factors are involved with buying behaviour the entire process becomes very complex (The Consumer Factor, 2016). Marketers need to adapt changes as per altering trend, else their performance can degrade and this will result in loss of market share (The Consumer Factor, 2016). The various steps involved in the consumer buying behaviour are as shown in figure 1.

Need Recognition

The most important stage of the consumer buying process is need recognition, under which an individual after realising the difference between its actual and desired situation,looks forasolution in terms of products or services (Sokoloswki, 2011). The step is closely related with mental activities where the consumer wants to buy a product after going through constraints like budget and features/services available under the obtainable resources (Solowski, 2011).

(Source: Sokoloswki, 2011)

Information Search

Based on the problem that the consumer is facing, desired solutions are searched under the second step. For instance, in order toreach office on timea consumer wants to buy a car; here the problem isunable to reach office at time and solution is to buy a car (Sokoloswki, 2011). Information search is the second stage of buying process, where the individual wants to have a carunder a fixed budget that requires knowing the alternatives available (models of cars) (Govindarajan, 2007). This stage consists of browsing websites, brochures, advertising and feedback responses of product that can help the person to have good purchase.

Alternative Evaluation

After going through the alternatives or number of sources available for the purchase, consumer evaluates and selects the best option (Sokoloswki, 2011). For instance, before buying the car, the individual goes for test drives, evaluates discount and functions present in the models.

Purchase

Under this stage, consumer after going through the different solution and options available makes the final purchase (Sokoloswki, 2011). This stage is based on perceived value, product capabilities and features that were important for having asolutionto crisis (Sokoloswki, 2011).

Post-purchase behaviour

This is the most crucial stage for the overall process where the desired outcome of product helps in generating loyalty among consumers while any dissatisfaction leads to cognitive dissonance (Govindarajan, 2007). When an individual is satisfied with the services of the item he can become a loyal consumer of the brand. Loyaltyhelps the entity to haveacompetitive edge where repeat purchases are done by consumersthatimproves its profitability (Govindarajan, 2007). Moreover, positive word-of-mouth will be created for the brand, as a satisfied consumer will refer the product to his or her friends and relatives (Govindarajan, 2007).

• • 1.2 Theories of buyer behaviour in terms of individuals and markets 

Theories of buying behaviour can be divided in to four types – economic (utilitarian), classical conditioning (psychology), social-psychological (sociology) and irrational consumers (Lantos, 2011).

Utilitarian theory- Alfred Marshall

This theory has been developed by Alfred Marshall who has claimed that consumers only buythose items that offer them value, pleasure or satisfaction in comparison to the total investment (Lantos, 2011). Marshall has argued that utility is linked to want and total satisfaction one derives from consuming economic goods (Lantos, 2011). In mathematical expression, consumer’s utility function can be shown as:

U= µ (y1, y2, y3… y n)

In the above equation, U is the total level of satisfaction derived by consumer after purchasing “y” products. Individual consumes a product only up to a certain limit, where he is gaining satisfactionafter which utility derived converts to negative (Lantos, 2011).

Classical Conditioning- Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, conducted an experiment on dogs related withlearningthrough a stimulus and response factors (Lantos, 2011). At beginning, dogs were accustomed to an environment where the bell was ringed first (conditioned) and then food was served to them. After few days, dogs started salivating after hearing the sound of the bell (Lantos, 2011). This process brought a concept known as conditioning; under which,aftersufficient number of repetitions of bell, the dog automatically started to salivate (Lantos, 2011).

In consumer buying behaviour context,anunconditionalstimulus can be the brand symbol that implies that product is of superior quality (Lantos, 2011). Conditional stimulus can be new items launched by the marketers with the well-known symbol that encourages the people to buy the product (Lantos, 2011). When buyers have an internal drive to purchase an item as to satisfy their needs, it often results in repeated purchase that creates loyalty towards the brand (Lantos, 2011). Marketers must use good advertising or celebrities’ endorsement to encourage the consumers to buy items.

Socio-Psychological Consumer- Thortein Veblen

Thortein Veblen explains buying behaviour as the act of acquiring items to emphasise his social status or class in the society (Lantos, 2011). Socio-Psychological behaviour occurs when People acquires items to boost off his economic statusor accumulated money (Lantos, 2011). This theory led to creation of the term invidious consumption,in which goods are used as a meansofinstigatingjealousy in other people.

Psychoanalytic Approach-Sigmund Freud

Under this, individual buying process is related with “instinctive forces” or “drives” that the consumer has within himself (Lantos, 2011). As claimed by Sigmund Freud, behaviour of people isdetermined by biological drives instead of personal cognition or environmental stimuli (Lantos, 2011). Freud believed that, any decision taken by the consumer isdependentonconscious, subconscious and unawarepart of the mind (Lantos, 2011). Therefore, advertising or brand engrossment among the consumers should be done effectively, where people will be able to recall the information stored in their mind while making purchase decisions.

• • 1.3 Factors that affect buyer behaviour

As per Egan (2015), there are different factors that influence the buying behaviour of individuallike social and economic elements as illustrated in figure 2.

Figure 2: Factors affecting the buying behaviour of people

Factors

Explanation

Social

Reference groups: People who are closely related with buyers like family, friends, relatives or neighbours affect the buying processes. Suggestions offered by these people can directly influence the consumers as they are directly linked with them. For instance, if someone has never drunk coke as his parent described it’s as an item “full of sugar and will affecthealth” there is least chances that he will buy it future.

Cultural

It is related with the environment in which the consumers belong, for instance, family traditions which shape an individual’s perception, thinking process and habits.

Psychological

Factors like motivation, awareness and attitudes of people influences the buying habit of people. When marketers create a good image of their products through regular information (advertising), people become aware about its features, which motivate him to buy the product.

Economic

Economic constraints’ like budget, income and savings can have an impact on the buying behaviour of consumers.

(Source: Egan, 2015)

• • 1.4 Relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchasing

Brand indicates the character of a product in a unique manner in order to differ it from its competitors. Brand image involves the appeal of the product, its ease of use, fame, functionality and overall value (Egan, 2015). Brand of a particular product is distinguished on the basis of mark, logo, symbol, name that the companies prefer to use in order to distinguish the product. It also has an impact in the minds of people and they compare between different brands in order to choose the best one. The brand of a particular company depends on the monetary value in the stock market and affects the value of the stockholder as it rises and falls (Egan, 2015). The companies form a design firm or design team in order to contribute to the visual aspects of a brand such as the logo or the symbol. A successful brand tries to portray the mission and vision of the company and creates brand awareness in the global market (Egan, 2015).

Corporate image is the psychological perception of people regarding the entities as how the companiesare offeringtheir services as compared to other players (Egan, 2015). Repeat purchase takes place when buyers after using the products for first time go for multiple acquisitions of the same item from the same supplier (Egan, 2015). Brand loyalty generates when experience of consumers from the products exceeds thanwhat he was expecting before purchase (Egan, 2015).

The three elements are interlinked with each other where ifthemarketer is successful in creating positive a brand image, it can lead to faithfulness among people (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015). Loyalty for a specific brand can be shaped by offering superior quality, discount or features that are not available in the competitive brands (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015).Corporate image can also be enhanced by promoting word-of-mouth of the products through social media platforms or through push strategy. Push strategy is a concept inwhich,manufacturers’ influences retailers or shopkeepers to endorse the items to the end users (Egan, 2015).

(Source: Author’s Creation)

Figure 3 illustrates the interconnection among brand image, repeat purchase and loyalty factors where satisfaction leads to positive word-of-mouth that helps ingeneratingloyalty.TASK2

• • 2.1 Evaluate different types of market research techniques

Market research techniques are segregated in to two types; qualitative and quantitative which is selected by researcher based on the type of results or conclusion he wants to achieve (Bradley, 2013). Under qualitative research techniques, survey and results are obtained through opinion and perception from experts or consumers via interview, observations, mystery shopping, online community and focus group (Bradley, 2013). The importance of qualitative technique is that it provides better insights towards consumer buying behaviour and attitude for a brand (Bradley, 2013).

Figure 4: Qualitative techniques: Advantages and Disadvantages

Qualitative Techniques

Interviews

Advantages: The benefit of using survey through interviews is that respondents can be assessed properly with structured and correct order of questions.

Moreover, body languages like expression can be evaluated that the interviewee is telling the truth.

Disadvantages: The overall cost involved is high and there can be biasness while selecting the people for the interview due to personal relations or other reasons.

Focus Group

Advantages: People belonging to a different mindset and background can be involved in the process that will help the researcher to have varied insights regarding the problem.

Disadvantage: Group can be dominated by the one or two person (people) with better positions and authority that will create inaccurate results.

(Source: Bradley, 2013)

Quantitative data can be collected by implementing techniques like questionnaires or interviews that provide numeric values and mathematical analysis (Bradley, 2013).

Figure 5: Quantitative Analysis: Advantages and Disadvantages

Quantitative Techniques

Questionnaires

Advantages: Different people belonging to different parts orregions can be assessed. Thus, the scope of research through questionnaire is high as compared to top qualitative analysis. Additionally, the cost involved in the entire process is comparatively low to other techniques. Statistical tools like SPSS can be used to find the validity of research outcomes that is advantages for the research.

Disadvantages: Respondents can show reluctant behaviour while answering the questions that can result in misleading information.

Interviews

Advantages: Different people can be approached to know the different aspects of problem statement.

Disadvantages: The major drawback of this analysis is that it is time consuming,whereprior appointment has to be taken in order to conduct the interview withprofessionals.

(Source: Bradley, 2013)

Research can be conducted with the help of primary and secondary data,based on the research objectives (Bradley, 2013).

Primary Research: It is undertaken by the researcher to have solutions of new problems or a specific situation that requires immediate marketing decision (Bradley, 2013). Collection of data under this is done directly by interviewing the consumers or related people by face-to-face interaction (Bradley, 2013).

Secondary Sources: This type of research is undertaken by the researcher to exploring data for facts thatare already known (Bradley, 2013). Sources from where these data can be achieved are through annual reports, journals, databases and websites of the companies (Bradley, 2013). Under this method, information can be collected from internal and external sources of organisation and is often termed as “desk research” (Bradley, 2013).

Figure 6: Difference between qualitative and quantitative Techniques

Basis

Qualitative

Quantitative

Method

Focus group, interview, review of themes

Survey, structured interview, observation and numeric information

Process

Inductive under which after the results theories or hypothesis are formed

Deductive under which concepts already known are tested by the researcher

Test

Results and conclusions are drawn after going through the answers of the respondents

Statistical tools are used to test the validity of findings.

• • (Source: Bradley, 2013)

Figure 6 illustrates the difference in techniques both the methods have for conducting the research of related topic.

• • 2.2 Use sources of secondary data to achieve marketing research objectives

In case of the above scenario, information will be achieved from internal and external sources of Sainsbury’s. For this purpose, some of the internal sources will be as follows:

• Records of the company like customer invoices
• Income and expenditure statement
• Sales and Inventory Record
• Issues, remarks and response provided from customers regarding the company’s services.
• Management reports and meeting memo of the company.

External sources of collecting the required data will be:

• Government Reports like bis.gov.uk that provides important insights regarding the working of the companies.
• Trade Alliance and Annual Reports
• Research conducting by agencies like Standard and Poor and Mintel on the company for similar topic or issue.
• Journals and databases available online

Sources of annual report (pdf )of Sainsbury of year 2010 and 2015 are given where changes in sales and customer invoices can be measured.

http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/media/2475802/sainsburys_ar_2015.pdf

http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/media/171797/ar2010_report.pdf

Articles published by Forbes on Sainsbury’s customer experiences:

http://www.forbes.com/2006/06/21/sainsburys-sales-king-cx_po_0621autofacescan04.html

• • 2.3 Assess the validity and reliability of market research findings

Obtaining information from the secondary sources like journals can sometimes be questionable as biasness could be involvedas there can be a chance that the person has purposefully manipulated the data and findings of the study (Bradley, 2013). This can result in misleading conclusion and findings. In order to have accurate information,only reliable secondary sources will be used in the research. The annual reports published by government and Sainsbury’s will be used. Moreover, research conducted by Standard and Poor, Mintel and Keynote Marketing will be assessed as they are registered marketing intelligence agencies whose findings cannot be manipulative (Bradley, 2013).

• • 2.4 Prepare a marketing research plan to obtain information in a given situation

Research Statement

Sainsbury’s, is one of the leading retailers of UK market with over 1000 stores and 440 convenience outlets throughout the globe (J Sainsbury Plc, 2016). Sainsbury’s website mentions that the overall business model of the company is based on customer orientation, where their main focus is to offer them with value additional services at rational prices (J Sainsbury Plc, 2016).

Purpose of the Study

In order to know the reliability of the statement,primary research is going to be conducted for which research objectives and questions are as follows:

Research Objectives

• The main objective is to find the reliability of the above mentioned statement whether the company really considers customers as importantfactorin its businesses.

Research Questions

• What is the level of satisfaction amongst Sainsbury’s customers?
• What schemes the company implements to improve their services?
• Have customers’ orientation lead to greater profitability for Sainsbury’s over years?

Data Collection

Customer satisfaction and feedback regarding the services offered by Sainsbury’s is important as it will help the researcher to understand that whether the entity really focuses on customer orientation to have better profitability. For this, the researcher requires to undertake primary research where direct interaction with its prevailing customers is going to be assessed. It can be done through quantitative research method as it will help the researcher to have numerical information regarding what they think about the services provided by company.

For this research, the information will be collected by preparing a questionnaire that will be in mixed format (closed and open ended) so that respondents can give their valuable suggestion regarding the grievances, if any. Throughout the process, customer satisfaction in case of Sainsbury’s offerings is going to be assessed.

Data Analysis

Data Analysis is the most important part of the project because the final conclusion is to be derived on the basis of the data analysis and therefore the collected data is analysed using various tools and techniques (Miller et al., 2008). In this case the researcher prefers to use excel in order to carry out the descriptive statistical analysis. The data is recorded in the excel sheets and the arranged in order such that the charts and diagrams can be drawn easily. This is the best way in order to carry out the quantitative research analysis as the data are in the form of numbers and can be compared using different charts and diagrams. It is also the easiest way to interpret the collected data and analyse it to prove the hypothesis. The information obtained from the primary sources is going to be examined through descriptive analysis. Based on difference in customer opinion numerical interpretation of data is going to be evaluated. Descriptive analysis will be implemented through pie-charts, tables and graphs variations in customer opinions will be measured in percentage.

Research Ethics

These are the expected behaviour and moral conducts that a researcher needs to follow while undertaking a research in order to reduce errors and misleading findings (Miller et al., 2008). Throughout the survey the ethical measures will be implemented. Data collected from the research will not be misinterpreted and no deceptive measures will be followed to gain additional information regarding the topic. Respondents will not be forced to answer the questionnaire andopinions provided by them will be respected.

Research Reliability

Results obtained from the customers can be reliable as opinions provided by them regarding the company services will be matched with the current performance of the Sainsbury. A detailed comparison between the opinions and information accessed from its annual reports will be done to come to conclusion.

• TASK 3

This section is going to analyse the market trend for technological products in UK, with the company Acer.

Market size trend is the measured in terms of total volume and value of the total sales taking place in the industry (Crown, 2016). Sales volume is assessed in number of units of product sold while value is evaluated with respect to money spent by consumers in acquiring the items (Crown, 2016). The UK ICT industry in 2014 was estimated to be nearly £ 58 billion annually which covers software development, mobile, cloud computing and laptop market (Crown, 2016).

• • 3.1. An assessment of UK market size trends for ICT 

According to global technology report, U.K’sICT (information and communication) sector has been ranked as 10 in 2012 throughout the globe (Incisive Business Media, 2016). The country has experienced a shift from personal computers to laptops and tablets due to the advanced technologies and changing tastes of people(Pantano, 2015). Figure 6 illustrates the shift to laptop and tablets from 201 and 19 million consumers to 174.28 and 229.7 million from 2010 to 2014. Moreover, it is being expected that the demand for laptop and tablets will further improve to 170.4 and 269.4 million users in the year, 2019.

Figure 7: Laptop and Tablet penetration from 2010

(Source: The Statistics Portal, 2016 b)

Figure 7 illustrates the laptop penetration in United Kingdomfrom 2009-2014 which has augmented from 47% to 63%.

Figure 8: Laptop Penetration in UK from 2009 to 2014

(Source: The Statistics Portal, 2016 a)

Two of main reasons for this shift are:

• Players are coming up with constant improvement like touch screen, fingerprint password and rotatable screen (IDC Research, Inc, 2016).
• Laptop and tablets are being preferred by people compared to personal computers, as they are portable and easy to carry (IDC Research, Inc, 2016).
  • 3.2. Describe a plan and carry out a competitor analysis for one of the following organisations. 

Competitor analysis is used in order to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses and the potential competitors of the company (Hoover’s Inc, 2016). The researcher would be able to identify the opportunities and threats that the company is likely to face in the near future. Competitor Analysis should be carried out in order to determine the appropriate strategies that are to be followed. It helps the managers of the companies to design the marketing strategies related to many brands and it plays a vital role in improving the services of the company. Moreover, the company is able to improve its performance in future by understanding the strategies that are undertaken by its competitor.

Figure 9 illustrates porter five forces model where the overall competitive forces of the industry is measured.

Bargaining power of suppliers: Low

The industry consistsof numerous players belonging from throughout the globe which impacts the performance of Acer. The entity requirescoming up with innovative features and designs in order to attract the consumers. People are having wide options from where they can choosetheir technological products (IDC Research, Inc, 2016).

(Source: Aujthor’s creation)

However, Acer offers its customers with advanced technological items like laptops, notebook, projectors and handheld computers (Hoover’s Inc, 2016). This illustrates that the company has advantage of offering products at affordable prices as compared to players like Dell (Hoover’s Inc, 2016).

Industry Rivalry: High

Table 1 illustrates the shipment figures of various vendors, where Acer as compared to Lenovo and HP, has less number of sales. In 2014, only 6,220 items of Acer were supplied whereas Lenovo and HP had 16, 409 and 15, 880 supplies (IDC Research, Inc, 2016). In UK, the market share is headed by Lenovo, followed by HP and Dell.

Table 1: Worldwide ranking of Acer as compared to other players

(Source: IDC Research, Inc, 2016)

Competitive Forces: High

The competitive forces for Acer is high as the segment is dominated by numerous strong players like HP, Dell, Apple and Lenovo, that constantly comes up with innovative features that attracts the customers (IDC Research, Inc, 2016). Dell in order to have a better position in the market enters into strategic alliances rather than competing with other players (Dell, 2016). Lenovo is operating its businesses in approximately 60 countries with 33,000 employees and 160 markets (World Intellectual Property Organisation, 2015). The company has created a strong market position the through constant improvement of its products,due to which it has set up nearly 46 laboratories (World Intellectual Property Organisation, 2015). For instance, in 2014,it launched “yoga tablet”,which has the ability to have multiple forms because of its hinged screen (World Intellectual Property Organisation, 2015).

Threat of Substitutes: Medium

Acer hasmedium threat of substitutes where the laptops and tablets can be replaced by mobile handsets which are generally being used by people to browse internet and watch movies (IDC Research, Inc, 2016). However, the services and features offered through laptops are more that minimises its replacement through mobile.

Bargaining Power of consumers: High

People have wide number of choices when it comes to laptops, tablets and notebooks. They can immediately shift to other brands after experiencing good offers and features in other competitors that are absent in Acer (IDC Research, Inc, 2016).

Plan for Acer to improve its competency

EnhancedBusiness Model

Acer is having a competitive advantage of selling their products at affordable prices unlike Dell that has limited its distribution strategy (Hubpages, 2016). Additionally, Acer has segregated its target sector from high, medium to premium consumers;whereas, Dell and Lenovo works on price leadership and high market price position (Hubpages, 2016). Acer has greater opportunity than other players as it can come up with advanced products under each segment to have a larger customer base. Dell and Lenovo can increase their potential consumers by offering advanced products at high price whereasAcercan haveadvantageof providing good products attributes at lowprice that will be helpful in attracting potential consumers.

Investment in Research and Development

IT sector is the most crucial segment of players like Acer, where entities can come up with good plans only after understanding the current trends of the area being served. As discussed in the above section, Dell and Lenovo invest heavily on development sector to implement better products. Similarly, Acer should increase its investment budget in this field so as to initiate and come up with better items than its competitors.

Strategic Alliances

Better relation with suppliers and distributors should be promoted by Acer, so that they can endorse its products to the potential suppliers more efficiently.

• • 3.3. Evaluate the opportunities and threats for a given product or service

Opportunities are the chances that are available in the market that can be utilised by the entities to have better market development and growth as compared to other players (Hubpages, 2016). If undertaken efficiently, entities can develop competitive edge over other firms that create sustainable development in the market served (Hubpages, 2016). Threats are the complexities and difficulties present in the market than can hamper the performance of the company immediately or in future (Hubpages, 2016).

Various opportunities and threat prevailing in the industry are illustrated in table 2.

Table 2: Opportunities and Threat for Acer

Opportunities

Threat

Acer can expand its operations in new and emerging economies with good strategies and innovative features.

It can enter into strategic alliances with local partners and suppliers for better performance.

Numerous companies are entering the new and emerging markets to have better profitability that will increase the competition further.

Demand for i-Phone and i-Pads have been increased and there are chances that it can result in loss of laptop and tablets market.

(Source: Hubpages, 2016)

• TASK4
  • 4.1 Evaluate techniques of assessing customer response

There is a direct connectionbetweenrelationship management, customer delight and business performance of entities (Sokoloswki, 2011). When customers are satisfied with the services of offered by the company; they become their loyal customers which, helps it to have a competitive edge in themarketplace(Egan, 2015). Customer service is related withthemanner entities treat their potential and present target communitytoenhance their experiences (Egan, 2015). Companies are implementing superior relationship management and customer services by implementing after sales techniques (Egan, 2015). In after sales, warranties regarding the services are provided and consumers’grievances are handled to improve the services further(Shajahan, 2006).

There are varied ways through which customer involvement and satisfaction can be examined by the researcher. Some of these techniques that are used to have customer feedback as illustrated in Figure 7.

Figure 8: Methods of Analysing Customer response for company’s Services

Mystery Shoppers

Under this method, investigation is being conducted by institutes and researchers under disguise. For instance, by becoming mystery consumers of the company to gather services offered by the company is efficient in serving the people requirements or not. The benefit of using this measure while conducting surveys are that units and service providers can be assessed and proper feedback for training needs can be advised for improvement. The major disadvantage of this method is that it can measure the customer experience but will not be able to understand their satisfaction level.

Customer Surveys

It can be initiated by surveying customers through questionnaire or direct question and answer session. It allows the researcher to have a larger database from where; varied answers can be obtained for analysing the research questions. However, often it is found that the respondents are reluctant to answer the answers being asked and to complete the formality quickly offers misleading information. This can impact the final conclusion obtained from the survey.

Free-phone or Video Forum

Free phones and video calls (Skype), allow the researcher to have direct contact with the consumer, from where useful feedbacks and suggestions can be asked. It may happen that the respondents are available to participate in the survey due to some technical fault which results in time wastage.

Online Discussion

A separate group on online media platforms like Facebook can be created, from where relevant experiences and feedback of people can be obtained. Few people can dominate the entire conversation where minority holders will not be provided a proper chance to explain their points.

Sales force Feedback

Salesmen and saleswomen can be surveyed, as they are the people who directly endorse the services and items of the company. They observe the consumers visiting the stores and sometimes know the reason for unsuccessful transaction. Information obtained from salesman can be manipulative as they can easily misguide the management team regarding people experiences with the product. The feedback obtained is verbal therefore can be misled by personnel.

(Source: Buttle, 2010)

• • 4.2 Design and complete a customer satisfaction survey

In case of Sainsbury’s customers’ experiences, a questionnaire is going to be framed and distributed among the people who visit the outlets for purchasing items. Questionnaires can be of two sorts; closed and open-ended, depending on the requirements that the researcher wants to have from the consumers (Shajahan, 2006). In a closed-ended questionnaire, questions are asked along with multiple options from where respondents have to choose the correct answers whereastheopen-ended questionnaires are unstructured with no options (Shajahan, 2006). For this survey, mixed approach is going to be followed with the use of closed and open questions. It will be distributed among the consumers visiting the outlets on a random basis in nearly 3 outlets of U.K., from where majority of the sales are generated. Nearly60 customers will be asked to fill the questions to have a proper feedback of Sainsbury’s services.

A sample questionnaire for the research is as follows:

1. 

How often do you shop from Sainsbury’s Supermarket?

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1

Every day

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1

A few times a week

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1

A few times a month

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1

Rarely

2. How would you rate Sainsbury’s products?

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1 Excellent

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1 Good

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1 Neutral

HTMLCONTROL Forms.HTML:Option.1 Poor

3. In your experience, how would you rate the following services from Sainsbury’s?

Excellent

Good

Average

Fair

Poor

Staff were friendly

Staff answered your questions

Staff were courteous throughout

Overall, how would you rate our customer service?

4. Please tell me your overall feeling about Sainsbury’s customer services ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. What suggestions would you recommend for improving Sainsbury’s customer services?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank you very much for your time

Findings

Figure 7 illustrates the percentage of peoplevisiting Sainsbury’s stores where 32 % of 60 people visitfew times a week, 40% of them goes to the stores few times in a month while 12% and 16% of them visit every day or rarely.

Figure 10: Frequency of visiting the Stores

(Source: Author’s Creation)

Figure 8 illustrates customer rating for the services offered by the Sainsbury’s. 27% of them have considered its services as excellent, 39% as good, 25% as neutral and 9% of them has rated it as poor.

Figure 11: Customers’ rating regarding services offered by Sainsbury’s

(Source: Author’s Creation)

Figgure 9 illustrates the relationship management of Sainsbury’s depending on staff behaviour, promptness to answer queries, courtesy and overall services. 41% of respondents rated the overall services as excellent, 20% as good, 19% average while 14% and 6% as fair and poor.

Figure 12: Customers rating the various services of Sainsbury’s

(Source: Author’s Creation)

In order to improve company’s services people asked for increasing the variants of product line available. Moreover, the people were facing difficulty in after sales servicewhich was suggested for further improvement.

• • 4.3 Review the success of a completed survey

Many people were reluctant to participate in the survey because as per them they might run short of time. This was the major problem faced by the researcher. However, some of them were excited to share their experiences regarding the company and offered valuable insights to improve its services further. The total time undertaken by majority of them was nearly 10 minutes. People were in rush to complete the survey so the answers provided by them was doubtful to be considered as true. However, the grievances and suggestions offered by them ensured that they have taken the overall process seriously. In case of extra time the sample size of the respondents would have been increased to get higher number to have more information concerned with the research objective.

Survey helped the researcher to evaluate the performance of company with respect to its services. Approximately 60 people participated in the survey where they rated the product based on their experiences and further improvement. Through the analysis, it was found that staff behaviour and commitment towards the customer handling is good. However, people were facing problem with limited variations of the items and after sales services, which must be improved to retain and attract people. The results obtained from the survey were linked with the current performance of the company annual reports where majority of respondents were satisfied with Sainsbury’s services.

• Conclusion

The paper has been completed under four assignments with separate topics and research areas related with Market Intelligence and customers’satisfaction. The first taskdiscussed consumers buying behaviour with problem recognition as the initial step in which people are facing issues due to non-availability of certain products. The second task analysedvarious marketing research techniques that are implemented by companies, tohavea solution to new problem or to explore already known facts. Qualitative and quantitative techniques withtheirbenefits and shortcomings were discussed. Sainsbury’s websites claims that all of their workings are undertaken by keeping customers in their mind. Based on this statement,a research plan for Sainsbury’s was provided where primaryresearchwill be conducted.

Third task discussed the UK market trend for technology items with respect to Acer. Competitive factor, one of the porter five forces, was selected to understand the performance of other players operating their businesses in the area. After going through its competitors’ strategies, a plan for improving Acer’s performance with respect to that of Dell and Lenovo was provided.

Task four highlightedthetechniques used by entities to understand its customer responses to improve its existing services. Sainsbury’s was selected by the researcher for customer analysis by preparing a questionnaire. The format of questionnaire was open and close ended, where nearly 60 people visiting the Sainsbury’s stores in UK weresurveyed. Findings achieved after the survey illustrated that people have a positive experience with Sainsbury’s services. Therefore, marketing intelligence is a crucial part of business entities, from where important decisions regarding the latest trend and complex issues can be known. In order to be sustainable in the marketplace,constantresearch and data collection is necessary to come up with innovative strategies.

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