Limitations Of Marketing Research M1
M2
The limitation of marketing research used to contribute to the development of selected organisations marketing plans.
Subway
In this assignment, I will be looking at the limitation of marketing research. This will involves looking out how marketing research can help develop a marketing plan. Furthermore, I will be looking at the weaknesses of development in marketing plan.
One reason can be that Subways research including questionnaire might be asked badly towards customers which would and can be misunderstand by customers. This might cause customers to give a different answer than Subway will expect to get from their customers. Customers might give an answer that Subway might want but may be not as specific as Subway would like …show more content…
it to be. Subway can also misunderstand their customer’s answers and/or suggestions to the question in the questionnaires that have been made to get their customers opinions to their business.
Another reason can be is that customers will have different opinions on different products that Subway sells or service, this means that Subway cannot be certain on the products/sandwiches they are selling or would want to sell if there is not a majority on a product and service they provide and they sell.
Subway having/employing mystery customers to check on the services Subway is providing might not be accurate all the time because you might not be able to find all the problem within their service Subway provide.
Sometime customers might have a problem that a mystery customer cannot find within Subway business or premises.
A different reason will be that the continuous change in the market. This would have an effect on Subway business, because they would not be able to sell any of their products sandwiches/service on a long term basis as customers likes and dislikes would change along with market. Subway have to think about what products sandwiches/ or service they want to sell as the trends will be changing constantly through the year in business.
Finally Subway doing market research can help the business in a marketing plan, because it will give them precise and exact information on what is needed to create something successful. An example of this might take place in when Subway is introducing a new sandwich. They might be doing this because the old sandwiches are in decline and they are not selling anymore. Before Subway release their new products on their menus, they may need to be sure that the new products/sandwich will sell, so they do research as surveys, questionnaires, focus groups etc. within the information they have gather from the research, they then can bring out a products/sandwich that they are sure many of their customers would buy …show more content…
it.
Also Subway will have to make sure that all of their products that they are releasing to the public are healthy and they are on low calories, as they may have claimed it to be. Because if customers find out that they have been let down by Subway, customer may no longer buy Subway products, because of the lack of reassurance and reliability to customers.
Customer’s expectation will be high whenever they buy products/service in any of Subway restaurant. Subway, it will be an obligation for them to find out what their customers want internal and external in the restaurant, a questionnaire might help Subway to find out what their customers want and how much they will be willing to pay for their products. Subway might hire a mystery shopper to find out prices of their competitors, and how the present service to customers, by doing this might help Subway decide the price of their products, if they should put it up or down.
Subway creating questionnaire will help the business, as they are trying to analyse/ get customers opinion over the business. Subway doing this means that business will know exact where and why customers are happy or not happy with the service they receive from any of the Subway store. They may also want to analyse what products/sandwiches their customers by often, in order to analyse this, they business introduce the Sub card which is free for any of their customers who wishes to take it, but also it encourage customers to go to any of Subway restaurant, as the Sub card give points every time you buy any of Subway products, the company do this to persuade/attract more and more customers into the restaurant. Subway.
Questionnaire- subway creating a questionnaire for their customers will take the business as long as three months, because taking them this long, it will give the business a firm reassurance of what their customers want, or if any of their customers have a negative thoughts over the business. It will also take the business three months, maybe more as they will have to give out the questionnaire to their customers, but also the company will have analyse the result when they have gather all the data back, this is time consuming for Subway.
The questionnaire also will give Subway a reliable of information from their customers, and also will give them valid information of customers’ opinion over the business.
Sub card data- Subway Sub card will give the business an ideal of what products/sandwiches customers buy often. This sort of information will take Subway information and technology team no more than one month to analyse the data that they have collected from their customers. This job will cost Subway a huge amount of money as they may have to hire the right person to do the job, but also in the long term this information will give Subway a reliable form of data, because by then the business will know what products/sandwiches that their customers buy very often, and it will also give Subway a valid information and ideal of what they should spend their money on and what they should not spend their money on.
Sales figure- according to Subway their sales figure is the most important data that they should monitor at all time, collecting/analysing this information will take half of the business time, and it will cost them more money, as the company will have to employ a specialist to analyse their sales figure.
These gives Subway reliable information from the data they may have gathered, as it will tell them where they are losing out in terms of their sale figure been badly.
M3
Definition of Marketing- Marketing is an action or a process to promote and sell products or services according to the customers’ requirements and expectations by identifying and predicting what customers would need, want and like to have.
In marketing, products, place, price and promotion is used to help sell their products or services to customers. Products, price, place and promotion are also known as the “4 Ps” in marketing. Businesses use this a lot when marketing as it helps them to understand what types of products and services customers like to have which makes it easier for them to sell to customers. Doing this would help businesses make profits as customers would buy the products or services a lot.
Product
Customers like to buy the right product and/or service which suits them because customers would not want to buy a product or a service that is not right for them as they would have to have that product or service once they buy it depending on the rules, terms and conditions and the policies of the business the customer has bought the product from. Some businesses accept returns and/or exchanges and others do not accept it. Subway also provide leaflets in some of their shops/restaurants to advert their products to customers, by doing this customers would want to see the products that are on meal deals such as buy one get one free.
I have decided to choose Italian BMT as my Sub product. . My Sub Italian BMT will contain Genoa salami, pepperoni, and black forest ham, your choice of veggies, cheese, and dressing on your bread of choice. It's by far my favorite subway sandwich. This is because from my marketing research most customers said they like Italian BMT, this means that more customers would buy my Italian Sub as more and more customers prefer it and it would be cheat and affordable. The different between my products with other fast food businesses, will be that the healthy ingredients, because that I found out that most customers will buy my products because the products that I am offering them is a healthy products.
Price
Customers like to buy products and/or services at the right price. If the price for the products and/or services is expensive then customers would be put off and they would not or are unlikely to buy it. Customers would buy the products and/or services for the price the business has put it up for if the customers feel and know it is worth it. Sub Customers would most likely buy the businesses products that are on sales as all prices on products have been reduced. I have used a low pricing strategy on my products because, to market research that I did I know that more customers will buy my product on a low pricing and that they will not buy any of my products if products were high in prices, due to the inflation in the economy.
Place
Customers like to buy products and/or services from places they know are good and reasonable as well as buying products and/or services from places that are easy to access. Customers want to buy products and/or services from places they know are good and reasonable because they do not want to buy products and/or services that are rubbish and not worthy buying and paying for it. Also, customers want to buy products and/or services from places close to their home because they want to go far and go on a long journey just to get a product. They also would buy products/or services from companies that has got a good reputation of treating their customers good and putting customers first.
I would be targeting customers that are within the Leicestershire region. I would be doing this because I want it to work for my customers and make it easier for them to access my restaurant. As by doing this customer would come to buy Sub more and more as the restaurant won’t be far for them to access at any time of the day.
Promotion
Businesses should promote their products and/or services in an attractive way and in a relevant way to the product so that customers would instantly want to buy products and/or services that they find attractive and know what they are. However, they would not want to buy products and/or services that they find unattractive and are confused and/or do not know about what the product and/or service is about due to the fact that the product and/or service has not been advertised and presented properly and in the right way. Customers would sometimes class those businesses as an unprofessional business and are show a bad image of their business. They have also introduced a Sub card that allows customers to use whenever they buy food in any of the Subway shops they will collect points and will use the points to buy food for free. By introducing this Sub-card they are persuading customers to buy their products.
I would be promoting my Sub through radio and television media. I would add value awareness of my products by displaying the health benefit of eating my Sub. I would also be opposing other fast food, and the achieve I would gain from this would be featuring actual customers with before and after photos of weight loss as well as nutritional information to compare other fast food sandwiches. Also I will promote my Sub through billboards. I will generally placed along highways and busy streets, this is because you'll be guaranteed that customers will see my advertising. Therefore, customers will notice my billboard advertising my Sub whether they like it or not. Another added benefit is that many customers that I am targeting will be traveling the same route repeatedly, such as their work commitment to work each day. This means that customers will see my billboard regularly, which makes it more likely to stick in their mind.
I would be advertising my Sub on billboards and on TV about the different sandwiches I make and sell. I will also use British Gymnast Louis Smith, who is a famous gymnast; I will use him to star in my advertisement to attract customers to buy my products due to his celebrity status. I will also advertise on buses, public toilets, and leaflets, I would be doing this because then more and more customers would be aware of my Italian Sub.
D2
Justified recommendation for improving validity of the marketing research used to contribute to the development of Subway.
There can be an improvement made to the market research Subway do.
For example, the questionnaires can have questions that are more detail and specific so the customers can be more specific in the answers and/or suggestions they give. Subway should ask customers about the problem, service and/or difficulties they have with the products and/or service Subway provide. By doing this means that it will be less confusing and stressful for Subway as well as creating fewer problems.
Subway should ask its customers to rank or rate the products and/or service in order for their preference and be more specific by stating by why they like the product and/r service so Subway can have more of an idea on what they should sell and improve on. This procedure would also make it less confusing and less stressful for Subway Subway should have several mystery customers at the same or similar time instead of one doing different tasks to find out the problems they have with products and/ or services and/ or to find ways to improve their products sandwiches/ or services.
Subway should make a large sample so they can have more accurate information and findings on what customers want.
Subway should also put some products on trial in certain places and if it is a successful trial then they should put it in all their shops. This would also help Subway if they try this when the trends changes to see how successful the new products so they do not waste their money on something that might not be successful.
The limitation of marketing research used to contribute to the development of selected organisations marketing plans.
Subway
In this assignment, I will be looking at the limitation of marketing research. This will involves looking out how marketing research can help develop a marketing plan. Furthermore, I will be looking at the weaknesses of development in marketing plan.
One reason can be that Subways research including questionnaire might be asked badly towards customers which would and can be misunderstand by customers. This might cause customers to give a different answer than Subway will expect to get from their customers. Customers might give an answer that Subway might want but may be not as specific as Subway would like …show more content…
it to be. Subway can also misunderstand their customer’s answers and/or suggestions to the question in the questionnaires that have been made to get their customers opinions to their business.
Another reason can be is that customers will have different opinions on different products that Subway sells or service, this means that Subway cannot be certain on the products/sandwiches they are selling or would want to sell if there is not a majority on a product and service they provide and they sell.
Subway having/employing mystery customers to check on the services Subway is providing might not be accurate all the time because you might not be able to find all the problem within their service Subway provide.
Sometime customers might have a problem that a mystery customer cannot find within Subway business or premises.
A different reason will be that the continuous change in the market. This would have an effect on Subway business, because they would not be able to sell any of their products sandwiches/service on a long term basis as customers likes and dislikes would change along with market. Subway have to think about what products sandwiches/ or service they want to sell as the trends will be changing constantly through the year in business.
Finally Subway doing market research can help the business in a marketing plan, because it will give them precise and exact information on what is needed to create something successful. An example of this might take place in when Subway is introducing a new sandwich. They might be doing this because the old sandwiches are in decline and they are not selling anymore. Before Subway release their new products on their menus, they may need to be sure that the new products/sandwich will sell, so they do research as surveys, questionnaires, focus groups etc. within the information they have gather from the research, they then can bring out a products/sandwich that they are sure many of their customers would buy …show more content…
it.
Also Subway will have to make sure that all of their products that they are releasing to the public are healthy and they are on low calories, as they may have claimed it to be. Because if customers find out that they have been let down by Subway, customer may no longer buy Subway products, because of the lack of reassurance and reliability to customers.
Customer’s expectation will be high whenever they buy products/service in any of Subway restaurant. Subway, it will be an obligation for them to find out what their customers want internal and external in the restaurant, a questionnaire might help Subway to find out what their customers want and how much they will be willing to pay for their products. Subway might hire a mystery shopper to find out prices of their competitors, and how the present service to customers, by doing this might help Subway decide the price of their products, if they should put it up or down.
Subway creating questionnaire will help the business, as they are trying to analyse/ get customers opinion over the business. Subway doing this means that business will know exact where and why customers are happy or not happy with the service they receive from any of the Subway store. They may also want to analyse what products/sandwiches their customers by often, in order to analyse this, they business introduce the Sub card which is free for any of their customers who wishes to take it, but also it encourage customers to go to any of Subway restaurant, as the Sub card give points every time you buy any of Subway products, the company do this to persuade/attract more and more customers into the restaurant. Subway.
Questionnaire- subway creating a questionnaire for their customers will take the business as long as three months, because taking them this long, it will give the business a firm reassurance of what their customers want, or if any of their customers have a negative thoughts over the business. It will also take the business three months, maybe more as they will have to give out the questionnaire to their customers, but also the company will have analyse the result when they have gather all the data back, this is time consuming for Subway.
The questionnaire also will give Subway a reliable of information from their customers, and also will give them valid information of customers’ opinion over the business.
Sub card data- Subway Sub card will give the business an ideal of what products/sandwiches customers buy often. This sort of information will take Subway information and technology team no more than one month to analyse the data that they have collected from their customers. This job will cost Subway a huge amount of money as they may have to hire the right person to do the job, but also in the long term this information will give Subway a reliable form of data, because by then the business will know what products/sandwiches that their customers buy very often, and it will also give Subway a valid information and ideal of what they should spend their money on and what they should not spend their money on.
Sales figure- according to Subway their sales figure is the most important data that they should monitor at all time, collecting/analysing this information will take half of the business time, and it will cost them more money, as the company will have to employ a specialist to analyse their sales figure.
These gives Subway reliable information from the data they may have gathered, as it will tell them where they are losing out in terms of their sale figure been badly.
M3
Definition of Marketing- Marketing is an action or a process to promote and sell products or services according to the customers’ requirements and expectations by identifying and predicting what customers would need, want and like to have.
In marketing, products, place, price and promotion is used to help sell their products or services to customers. Products, price, place and promotion are also known as the “4 Ps” in marketing. Businesses use this a lot when marketing as it helps them to understand what types of products and services customers like to have which makes it easier for them to sell to customers. Doing this would help businesses make profits as customers would buy the products or services a lot.
Product
Customers like to buy the right product and/or service which suits them because customers would not want to buy a product or a service that is not right for them as they would have to have that product or service once they buy it depending on the rules, terms and conditions and the policies of the business the customer has bought the product from. Some businesses accept returns and/or exchanges and others do not accept it. Subway also provide leaflets in some of their shops/restaurants to advert their products to customers, by doing this customers would want to see the products that are on meal deals such as buy one get one free.
I have decided to choose Italian BMT as my Sub product. . My Sub Italian BMT will contain Genoa salami, pepperoni, and black forest ham, your choice of veggies, cheese, and dressing on your bread of choice. It's by far my favorite subway sandwich. This is because from my marketing research most customers said they like Italian BMT, this means that more customers would buy my Italian Sub as more and more customers prefer it and it would be cheat and affordable. The different between my products with other fast food businesses, will be that the healthy ingredients, because that I found out that most customers will buy my products because the products that I am offering them is a healthy products.
Price
Customers like to buy products and/or services at the right price. If the price for the products and/or services is expensive then customers would be put off and they would not or are unlikely to buy it. Customers would buy the products and/or services for the price the business has put it up for if the customers feel and know it is worth it. Sub Customers would most likely buy the businesses products that are on sales as all prices on products have been reduced. I have used a low pricing strategy on my products because, to market research that I did I know that more customers will buy my product on a low pricing and that they will not buy any of my products if products were high in prices, due to the inflation in the economy.
Place
Customers like to buy products and/or services from places they know are good and reasonable as well as buying products and/or services from places that are easy to access. Customers want to buy products and/or services from places they know are good and reasonable because they do not want to buy products and/or services that are rubbish and not worthy buying and paying for it. Also, customers want to buy products and/or services from places close to their home because they want to go far and go on a long journey just to get a product. They also would buy products/or services from companies that has got a good reputation of treating their customers good and putting customers first.
I would be targeting customers that are within the Leicestershire region. I would be doing this because I want it to work for my customers and make it easier for them to access my restaurant. As by doing this customer would come to buy Sub more and more as the restaurant won’t be far for them to access at any time of the day.
Promotion
Businesses should promote their products and/or services in an attractive way and in a relevant way to the product so that customers would instantly want to buy products and/or services that they find attractive and know what they are. However, they would not want to buy products and/or services that they find unattractive and are confused and/or do not know about what the product and/or service is about due to the fact that the product and/or service has not been advertised and presented properly and in the right way. Customers would sometimes class those businesses as an unprofessional business and are show a bad image of their business. They have also introduced a Sub card that allows customers to use whenever they buy food in any of the Subway shops they will collect points and will use the points to buy food for free. By introducing this Sub-card they are persuading customers to buy their products.
I would be promoting my Sub through radio and television media. I would add value awareness of my products by displaying the health benefit of eating my Sub. I would also be opposing other fast food, and the achieve I would gain from this would be featuring actual customers with before and after photos of weight loss as well as nutritional information to compare other fast food sandwiches. Also I will promote my Sub through billboards. I will generally placed along highways and busy streets, this is because you'll be guaranteed that customers will see my advertising. Therefore, customers will notice my billboard advertising my Sub whether they like it or not. Another added benefit is that many customers that I am targeting will be traveling the same route repeatedly, such as their work commitment to work each day. This means that customers will see my billboard regularly, which makes it more likely to stick in their mind.
I would be advertising my Sub on billboards and on TV about the different sandwiches I make and sell. I will also use British Gymnast Louis Smith, who is a famous gymnast; I will use him to star in my advertisement to attract customers to buy my products due to his celebrity status. I will also advertise on buses, public toilets, and leaflets, I would be doing this because then more and more customers would be aware of my Italian Sub.
D2
Justified recommendation for improving validity of the marketing research used to contribute to the development of Subway.
There can be an improvement made to the market research Subway do.
For example, the questionnaires can have questions that are more detail and specific so the customers can be more specific in the answers and/or suggestions they give. Subway should ask customers about the problem, service and/or difficulties they have with the products and/or service Subway provide. By doing this means that it will be less confusing and stressful for Subway as well as creating fewer problems.
Subway should ask its customers to rank or rate the products and/or service in order for their preference and be more specific by stating by why they like the product and/r service so Subway can have more of an idea on what they should sell and improve on. This procedure would also make it less confusing and less stressful for Subway Subway should have several mystery customers at the same or similar time instead of one doing different tasks to find out the problems they have with products and/ or services and/ or to find ways to improve their products sandwiches/ or services.
Subway should make a large sample so they can have more accurate information and findings on what customers want.
Subway should also put some products on trial in certain places and if it is a successful trial then they should put it in all their shops. This would also help Subway if they try this when the trends changes to see how successful the new products so they do not waste their money on something that might not be successful.