Lamb Chapter 7 Web Exercise
Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research
Vignette: Waltec set up a simulation that provided important customer response data. This information was useful in determining appropriate pricing for Waltec products.
Featured URL: www.deltafaucet.com
Conducting Research
Finding useful information for planning marketing strategies can be as simple as observing which products and services seem to be enjoying the most sales. In Chapter 7 you read about some of the factors to consider when investigating the marketplace. The following exercise is designed to help you hone your research skills.
Baiting the Hook
Marco's wife spotted a full-page ad in the paper for a shelving unit at Ikea. They were impressed by the price, and the picture showed a bookcase that looked perfect. It was a handsome-looking unit with a walnut finish, and it had been marked down to only $60. This unit would be able to handle the stereo and books and other items their son Gino had to organize-just what they needed for his bedroom makeover!
Marco and Gino jumped into the car. Two Ikea stores later, they had bought not one piece of furniture but four-none of them the advertised walnut shelving unit. Why? Because although the price was low, the unit matched no other furniture in the store (or in Gino's bedroom). In the end, Marco shelled out over $400 for various items of furniture (bookcase, TV stand, side table, and desk), and took it all home for Gino's room.
Have you ever gone to a store because of a "lead" item you saw in an ad or commercial and ended up buying something different from what brought you in? Was what you bought more expensive than what you originally went in to buy? Would you have gone to the store if it hadn't been for this item? Have you ever gone into a store, lured by a bargain, and come out with more items than you intended to buy?
- Construct a research questionnaire or survey to determine best ideas for lead items for a store. Choose from one of the following stores:
- pet store
- music store
- sporting goods store
- List ideas for products or services that could serve as "lead" items to bring in customers, and have the people taking the survey rank the items from 1 to 10 (ten being the best idea). Also ask a few open-answered questions to solicit ideas you might not have thought of when you designed the questionnaire. Based on the results, decide which of the favoured items would cause customers to buy more and spend more. Remember, you don't want to "turn customers off" or make them angry when they see what you have for sale-you just want them to be attracted to other items as well, and to buy more items while they are in the store.
Research Sites:
- http://www.cyberdialogue.com Conducts custom and industry research.
- http://www.decisionanalyst.com Marketing research and marketing consulting firm.
- http://www.researchinfo.com Free marketing research resources.
- http://www.surveysite.com
On-line market research and Website evaluation.
These Web Exercises provide an additional opportunity for exploration of Chapter 7.
1. Tapping into More Information
Consider the following questions, and do some research to find answers that could affect the faucet marketing campaign you are about to launch. Look at Ikea, and at other sites about home furnishings such as Home Depot and Home Hardware.
The Questions:
- Where would you buy faucets?
- Who buys faucets? Contractors? Handymen?
- Who decides what faucets look like?
- What are the percentages of women who don't work outside the home?
Is this a big market?
- Is the faucet market highly competitive?
- How would you design a study or survey to learn more about this market?
- What do you think are the benchmarks in the faucet market?
2. How's Your Appetite?
The idea is to find out whether restaurant customers order differently because of visual cues or writing styles found on menus.
- Create two menus. Put the same items on each one, but change the
illustrations or photos of various items on the menu. Conduct a survey
to test which menu is more effective.
- Create two menus using the same photos or illustrations but different
descriptions of the dishes. On one, use the most tantalizing copy you
can think of; on the other, use plain facts-nothing very descriptive.
Conduct a study using these menus to see which is more effective.
What else could you do to research the effectiveness of various approaches for "marketing" to hungry customers?
3. Home Sweet Home
New products have been developed recently to freshen the home. In olden days people used incense or scented candles. Nowadays there are aerosol room deodorizers, plug-ins, and stick-ups. Now you can also buy spray liquids like "Febreze." On iVillage.com, two members rated this project.
User #1 gave Febreze five stars saying, "I'm big on product testing. I have a 13-year-old son who plays roller hockey and football, so I'm always looking for a better way to clean and maintain sports uniforms and equipment. My first love is Febreze. Our son's hockey pads cannot be washed, so I rely very heavy on something that will clean and remove that 'gym bag' smell. I also use this on my furniture to help with cigar and cigarette smoke. I have many types of fabrics in my house and this product has worked fabulously on all of them. (Of course, I would never try it on leather.) I highly recommend it" (August 28, 2000).
User #2 gave Febreze four-and-a-half stars, saying, "It does take out the odors but leaves a distinct fragrance behind that can be annoying if used too often" (February 24, 2001).
Find a household cleaner, a beauty product, or a food item for sale on the Web that displays reviews by those who have used it. How can you best use these testimonials from customers in a marketing campaign?
