Analysis of Marketing Muji between Japan and China - Research Proposal Example

Analysis of Marketing Muji between Japan and China

Background

Muji is among the top profitable companies in Japan, outside Japan, is also has a large market in China. Currently, Muji has successfully opened 128 stores in China. This makes China the second biggest market for Muji after Japan where it has opened a total of 284 stores. China was also the first international market for Muji where it first launched its customer loyalty mobile application Muji Passport this year. In the China market, Muji has experienced a retail increase of about 20% in August. This has driven the company to plan in opening about 50 more stores in Beijing (Marian, 2015). The company is also focused in increasing the total number of stores in foreign countries from 255 to 444. The goal for the increment of the number of stores is basically to increase the average sales per square meter by 10 percent annually after the end of the first three years (Milner, 2014). Muji has built customers loyalty because of its committed provision of products that are of high quality at a lower cost. The company experiences a double increase of its profit. This was basically because starting in the late August; the Muji stores in China lowered their prices of clothing and other items. The low price of these commodities contributed to an increase of the number of items purchased (Mishima, 2015).

The reason why Muji is performing well in China is because the consumption in China is becoming more and more driven by genuine demand. Currently consumers in China are focused in buying the products that they use in everyday’s life. The shift experienced in the consumers is linked with the Chinese government. The government has focused its attention in restoring the public morals and order by informing people on the pals of law enforcement eliminate bribery, corruption, and illicit trade. Since the introduction of the new policy, the sales of the luxury products have been in the decline in various departmental stores (Tomioka, 2016).

Literature review

A marketing strategy is where by an organization strategies in combining all its marketing goals into one inclusive plan. The marketing strategy is always the basic foundation of a marketing plan. For a good marketing strategy to sustain the business and achieve a maximum profit potential it should focus on the right product mix and be drawn from a market research (Businessdictionary.com, n.d).

For the marketing of a product, an organization or a company can use several strategies. These marketing strategies may include, relationship marketing, online marketing and promotion marketing among many others.

Relationship Marketing

The research by Kanagal, (2009), confirms that for an organization to establish a competitive nmarketing strategy it has to ensure that it has relationship marketing as one of the main functionality. The author defines, relationship marketing as an establishment, enhancement, identification, maintenance and modification relationship with the buyers to create customers value and increase organization’s profit. The main objective of relationship marketing in the competitive marketing strategy is majorly to improve profitability, build moment of truth and build partnering. Furthermore, relationship marketing can also address customers in a better way, protect emotional well being of the customers, build trust with the customers and understand consumers psyche.

Online Marketing

The research by Kanagal, (2009), was majorly focused on analyzing marketing on the internet in the sport industry. The research was majorly to advise the sporting industry on the effectiveness of internet marketing. The method used by the author was self-administered survey which was distributed via mail to a obtain information from a sample of website owners. In the sport market place composed of about 12,000 sport organization organizations, the study selected about 750 sports organizations. Of the 328 surveys used, the response rate was about 44%. Most of the organizations use of online marketing communication was majorly to provide the customers with the information about the organization. The study found that most of the organizations never emphasized on the interaction marketing. The author has advised that most of the sports industry need to focus on the online consumer relationship to enable them to develop their web sites as an effective marketing tools.

Promotional Marketing

The study by Kanagal, (2013) says that marketing management entails capture, delivery communication, and creation of better consumer value to the target market to suit their wants and need and at the same time meeting the objectives of the organization. Promotion as part of the value communication entails trade promotion, consumer sales promotion and promotion to the sales force. The study provides the concept and the definition of promotion as market transaction. This involves that definition of both transaction and promotion and placing transaction as part of the market sequence contracts, transaction, and exchange. According to the author, there exists a different between the market transaction and the transactions that are part of the organization studies. The author clearly states out the implication for marketers and confirms that promotion plays an important role in the transactional marketing in all the four aspect of marketing. These marketing aspects include, the potential realization of the market that also results in demand, market equilibrium, the dynamics of market share, and demand management. Promotion also acts as the basis of effective competitive market transaction that the market is always built upon. The author concludes that it would be vital for most of the organizations to consider promotion strategies as a successful tactic for managing both the competitors and consumers in the long run.

The study by carried out by Shahmansuri and Ghanbari, (2013), majorly discuses the financial strategies. The author starts by explaining the concept of strategies before discussing strategic management. As the author discuses the importance and the need for strategies and strategic management, he focuses his attention on the financial strategies and the role played by the financial managers in the organization’s strategy. The author divides financial strategy into three main category which includes; dividend strategy, investment strategy and financing strategy. In addition, the author further tries to extensively illustrate the role of financial strategy among other strategies and company strategy by use of graphs. The author introduces a financial strategy matrix that assists in choosing and implementing the suitable financial strategy. At the end of the article, the author concludes that for an organization to develop strategy in an effective way, the organization needs to determine its strength and weakness from the financial aspect. It is also important for the organizations or companies to understand that financial factors cause changes to the organization’s current strategies and operational progress.

The research carried out by López et al, (2012) focuses on the examination of the strategies followed by the organizations, the financial decision made by the companies, and the relation that exists between the financial decision made by the organization and the competitiveness level. The author managed to analyze several testimonies in the region of Celaya. The result obtained from the study confirmed that most of the small and micro enterprises make the decision of funding in a unique way. Furthermore, these enterprises have low market longevity, a regular level of sales and apply an intensive strategy. The above finding confirms that most of the most of the Mexican companies lack competitiveness which hinders their expansion and development. The author concluded that the stress that are placed by the companies on a given financial decisions is not always suitable for the type of business strategy that is being implemented. Furthermore, the author concluded that companies that mange their short term liability and assets are more competitive that has been confirmed with their longevity on the market.

Research questions and objectives

• What are some of the product offered by Muji?
• How do you consider the cost of the Muji Products?
• Why is Muji performing well in China?
• Is there a possibility of the expansion of Muji market in China?
• Where dose Muji perform perfectly when comparing China and USA?
• Why did you say USA?
• Why did you say China?
• How do you define the Chinese Market?
• Is there any difference in the current market trend with the past market trend?
• What are the current changes in the current market trend?
• How was the past market trend?
• What are the forces behind the shift of the current market trend?
• What types of product are mainly bought by the customers in Muji stores?

Methodology and research methods

The research will utilize both the quantitative and qualitative methods. The research will utilize four research designs including, questioners, interview, survey, and research on the relevant articles on marketing Muji between Japan and China.

Survey

The main objective for the use of survey was to understand why the consumers in China preferred buying Muji products. The research will involve the Muji store attendants to obtain the email address of some of the customers that have purchased Muji products. Of the 128 Muji stores percent in China, the research will target about 100 stores, in each store, the research will randomly obtain 2000 email address of the customers. The research will be expecting a total of 200,000 email address. Of the total of 200, 000 surveys sent, 150,000 surveys were completed and retuned for analysis. This means that, of the 200,000 surveys sent, the research expects a response of 75%.

Questioners

The information on marketing Muji between Japan and China can also be obtained by formulating certain questions or designing some question that can be used by the researchers to achieve a given goal. The use of the questioners in the research will be mainly to get the level of the Chinese understanding of the changing trend of the market. Use of questioners will also help the researcher to obtain information on the quality and cost of the Muji products. The researcher will prepare about 200,000 questioners which will be distributed to the 100 randomly selected Muji stores in China. The advantage of using questioners is that most of the people will can return the questioners at their own convenient time. Furthermore, the use of questioners is confidential and inexpensive. Though the use of questioners has several advantages, it also has some disadvantages; some of the customers with the questioners may decide not to return the questioners. It is very common to find that some of the questioners are returned uncompleted and the researcher will not have an opportunity on body analysis (Burns, 1997).

Interview

The researcher can organize an interview with one of the top management of Muji Company. For an instant the researcher could decide to arrange for an appointment with President Satoru Matsuzaki who is one of the top managers of the company. The interview with the top management will allow the researcher to understand why Muji decided to expand its market and open more stores in China as compared to other foreign countries. Furthermore, the researcher may know why the company is focused in selling high quality products at a lower price. The interview with the top management would also provide information on the shift of the current market trend as studied by the company. The advantage of using interview in this research is because the interviewee will feel as part of the project and the researcher can also have a chance for observing body language. In addition, interview also provides a chance for follow up questions. However, this design of research has several disadvantages as compared to other research designs. First, interview is costly and needs a lot of time. The interviewee must be ready to participate and communication skill is very vital for both the parties (Opdenakker, 2006).

Research on the Relevant Articles on Marketing Muji between Japan and China

In order to obtain data on marketing Muji between Japan and China, the researcher can decide to focus on the secondary sources. The researcher may decide to collect quarterly financial report of the company to determine its performance in the Chinese market. This may enable the researcher to conclude if the company is experiencing an increase or decrease in the profit. This research will majorly concentrate in reviewing the 2015 to 2016 articles on the performance on Muji in the China market and the plan of expansion in the Chinese market. The use of this design will positively contribute to the research. The researcher will be in a position to understand how some researchers have also solved the same problem and the research will always be up to date. This research design has also some disadvantages; the some of the material that the researcher may be trying to find would not been updated and the researcher will always need to access information sources that are appropriate (Thomas and Carolyn, 2010).

Ideal choice

The research design that is preferred is interviewing. The face to face interview with the top management will be the ideal choice as the interviewer will have an opportunity to get the first hand information on the marketing of Muji between Japan and China. Face to face interview with President Satoru Matsuzaki will enable the researcher to have fast hand information on the number of stores the company is planning to open in China. In addition, the researcher will understand the rate at which the company is planning to expand in the Chinese market and the driving force for the expansion (Tomioka, 2016).

Data Gathering Activity

Details of Sample

Method of Data Analysis

Which Research Objective This Data Informs

Questioners

Preparation of 200,000 questioners which will be randomly distributed to Muji customers in the 100 randomly selected Muji stores in China

Statistic

The product mostly bought by the customers

Products offered by Muji

Surveys

Randomly obtaining 2000 email address from the randomly selected 100 Muji stores in China.

Statistic

The product mostly bought by the customers

Products offered by Muji

Interview

Interviewing the top management

Systematic analysis

Performance of Muji in the Chinese market

Research

Reviewing of the 2015 to 2016 articles

Systematic analysis

Performance of Muji in the Chinese Market

Ethical consideration

In any research carried out at any field, the researcher should ensure that he or she is always honest. The researcher needs to ensure that the obtained data are recorded as they were obtaining from either the secondary and primary sources without modifying the obtained report or data. The researcher should ensure that he or she has not fabricated, misrepresented or falsify any obtained data or information. He or she must not mislead the colleagues, the public or granting agencies. A part from the researcher being honest, he or she must ensure that there is transparency in the presentation of data or information. The researcher must ensure that the obtained data, results, idea, tools, and resources are shared among the colleagues. During the process of data or information collection, the researcher should ensure that any conversation that was made confidential should remain confidential. Some of the information that is always known to be confidential is personal records, some specific papers, trade and military secrets. The researcher needs to ensure that in each and every organization, there are rules and regulations that govern them. He or she must ensure that these rules and regulations are obeyed to the latter (Rasnik, 2011).

Planning and any special resources required

The research will need a computer which will be used to send and access surveys for various customers. A printer will be vital for this research as it will assist in the printing of the questioners that will be distributed to various customers. The research will first start with the random collection of the email from the various customers. Secondly the research will engage in the delivery and distribution of the questioners. Last the research will interview various top managers of Muji Company. After the completion of the interview, the researcher will finally analyze the questioners, surveys and the information obtained from the interview.

Referencing

Brown, M.T., 2003. An analysis on online marketing in the sport industry: User activity,

communication objectives, and perceived benefits. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 12(1),

pp.48-55.

Burns, R. B. (1997). Introduction to research methods. Addison Wesley Longman.

Businessdictionary.com, n.d. Marketing Strategy. Web

<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing-strategy.html> accessed April

21, 2016.

Kanagal, N., 2009. Role of relationship marketing in competitive marketing strategy. Journal of

Management and Marketing Research, 2, p.1.

Kanagal, N.B., 2013. Promotions as market transactions. Journal of Management and Marketing

Research, 13, p.1.

Marian, P., 2015. Japanese retailer Muji Plans 50 New Stores a Year in China. Web <

https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/japanese-retailer-muji-plans-50-new-stores-a-year-in-

china/ > accessed April 22, 2016.

Milner, B., 2014. Japanese Retailer Muji Styles Ambitious Global Expansion plan. Web <

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/japanese-

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22, 2016.

Mishima, D., 2015. Doing Great in China but not In Europe. Web <

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Doing-great-in-China-but-not-in-

Europe?page=2> accessed April 22, 2016.

Opdenakker, R. 2006, September. Advantages and disadvantages of four interview techniques in

qualitative research. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social

Research (Vol. 7, No. 4).

Rashford, N.S. and Coghlan, D., 1989. Integrating Organisational Behaviour and Business Policy

through Organisational Levels. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 10(1),

pp.3-8.

Rasnik B. David, 2011. What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important? Web <

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/ > accessed July 6, 2016.

Shahmansuri, E. and Ghanbari, S., 2013. A Survey on Financial Strategies in Corporations.

Universal Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 3(9), pp.7-20.

Thomas Connolly & Carolyn Begg, 2010. Fact-finding Techniques. Web <

http://home.kku.ac.th/wichuda/Sa/Slide/MIT/MIT_C2Fact.pdf > accessed July 5, 2016.

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