Final EOC

This study was especially designed and implemented for Dinosaurs and Rose to assist in determining the needs of their new Downtown Summerlin Location.  In reviewing the store it is my belief that the prices are too high compared to their competition in the area, which is causing a lack in their sales.  The survey question have been designed to answer the following questions:

Customer satisfaction?

Customer Awareness?

Customer Frequency?

Frequency of Purchases?

The following analysis of the statistical information was mined from their customer list and was sent out to 1750 customers via email. It is designed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of both retail locations.  It is only compiled from the respondents that answered the survey on Survey Monkey and it is a snapshot of their feeling and thoughts about the stores and different locations.

 

The comprehensive statistical analysis has revealed that customer satisfaction was very high with no customers being dissatisfied in any way.  Customer awareness was also very good with 75 % of the customers were aware of a second location and 44% said they would like a newsletter every two weeks. 56% of the customer found the store by word of mouth.  The stores themselves had very good customer overall satisfaction. 

In Summerlin 57% original Downtown location and 15% new Downtown location, so 72% of the surveys that had come back were customers that had visited the Downtown Summerlin locations.  This survey shows that the traffic for those locations was good but where the problem was, was in the purchases made, as only 33% made purchases and when asked why 44% said the prices were only moderately fair with another 11% coming in at not fair at all.   

Therefor it is my conclusion that based on the information that was received in the final analysis that my hypothesis is correct.  The customers are not making the purchases based on the pricing of the items in the store.

Week Nine EOC “The Darker Side of Market Research”

I know from personal experience that there are many sides to market research but when it comes right down to it, it is all about the numbers and sensationalism.  Let me expand on this, when I had my own business it was in a very small community in up-state New York.  Not much news up there you know you the annual snow storm and the weekly house fire that burnt down to the foundation. 

     Here’s the scenario: there had been a huge fire on the block in the middle of the city where my business was located.  It burned almost the entire block spreading from one ancient building (each building was over 100 years old) to another.  This fire left at least one fourth of the downtown charred.  My business was on the devastated block of the small city.  At the time I was having issues with a company I had been working closely with for over five years.  I had been doing some consulting for them in return for special favors for my customers.  Things with the company had gone south within a few short months due to a new CFO.  Even though I was friends with the vice president of the company I was in a sense being “Locked Out”. After a very lengthy conversation with the company I decided it was time to close my business, not because of the fire but because of new policies with the other company that was in effect affecting my business revenue. 

     This decision was not taken lightly by the company I was doing business with or the community in which my business was located. I had the entire 20 foot window display that faced the main street in town.  On that window I put a huge going out of business sign that said 40% off everything in the store. Within 24 hours I had every major network news anchor knocking at my door, “Why are you closing?”, and with every interview that was done we told them that it had to do with our distributer’s company policies.  That is boring news, not very good ratings in telling the truth.  No too hard to believe that with every one of those newscasts that were done we were cut off at the part when we told the real reason and the interviewer goes on to tell the viewer that we were going out of business because of the fire and bad business downtown now.  Oh the dreaded fire, catastrophe, doom and gloom, every business downtown is going to close their doors now in a widespread panic sale. Several businesses did close the following year and I would recommend reading, “The Tipping Point” to understand why.

 

     I went back years later and the massive hole on that street was still there. Some businesses had closed but over all people were still doing business. The local television stations were still in business and looking for the next great sensational story to exploit.   

     Bottom line, all that companies care about is making money and you are nothing more than a number not the individual but the demographic or populace you belong.  They don’t care if you like the seeds in your jam or not, they care that the people that don’t like seeds in their jam are the ones that spoke up.  Do you listen to what someone else is telling you or are you educating yourself and making your own decisions?  Life is about growth, change and taking responsibility. In order to have that each one of us should be thinking for ourselves and making our own educated decisions.

 

EOC Week 8 Graphing Questions

Interesting way to posts graphs that make it easier to gain the information at a glance.  This information is more readily available for people so that they are not bogged down with the details of content but just want only the facts. Also, an easier way to analyze gross content information as it is relative to the interaction between the cells.

Week 7 EOC Final Project Pitch

The store I would like to do my survey with is Charming Charlie’s.  Sydney the store manager is my point of contact at the Fashion Show Mall location.  We had a scheduled meeting for last week however she had the corporate officials come in last week so we had to reschedule our meeting for this week.  I would like to interview her as to what challenges she would like to overcome with her price points and how we can increase her point of sale in the already successful store.  

Right now the store is divided up by color and the color family which can sometimes create tunnel vision with the customer.  Corporate lays out all of the stores, so that all the stores are the same and you can go in any store anywhere in the United States and it looks and feels the same. This means that the store manager has no control over the layout of the store.  Everything is sold by its prospective color.  It is my proposal that the sales associates learn to better coordinate color and the items so that they would be able to increase their sales.

This would be a training issue with the sales associates and possibly learning or cross training coordinating colors and which colors look best or compliment additional colors.  This would help to promote diversity in the store with different color associated with accessories and different looks that could be combined in different coordinating colors. For instance if someone were to purchase a purse with a pink and yellow flower pattern the sales person would not only be able to coordinate pink and yellow but possibly add green to the mix because of the green foliage behind the flowers, thus making the color combinations of yellow and green along with green and pink as well as pink and yellow and this would give the customer several different looks as well as increase the individual sales

EOC Week 6: Deeper Meaning of the Film Big

In the first part of the film there is a situation set up where the characters are talking with each other about the company and what is going on with the direction of the company as a whole.  This is an important scene not because of what is being said but because of what is going on behind the characters.  You can see that they are in a room with a two way mirror and they are supposed to be observing the children playing with the toys behind them. This would be considered direct observation. “Direct observation can produce detailed records of what people actually do during an event. The observer plays a passive role, making no attempt to control or manipulate a situation, instead merely recording what occurs. Every effort is made for the interviewer not to interject him- or herself into the situation” (Zikmund & Babin, 2010).  The important thing to remember is that even though there is no intervention on the viewer’s part, this is not an accurate sampling because the conditions are controlled meaning that the children only have a limited amount of toys to play with, which is why the toy company is not getting the accurate information it needs to be successful in the market place.

Soon after that scene we see Josh in FAO Swartz playing with another adolescent boy.  Josh gets shot with a laser gun and enacts his death on the floor of the toy store. Josh soon realizes that he is being watched by the president of the toy company he is now working for and gets embarrassed as he stands up to have a conversation with him.  The president of the toy company soon comes to the realization that Josh would be an excellent candidate for contrived observation. “Most observation takes place in a natural setting, but sometimes the investigator intervenes to create an artificial environment to test a hypothesis. This approach is called contrived observation. Contrived observation can increase the frequency of occurrence of certain behavior patterns” (Zikmund & Babin, 2010). The president sets up an office where Josh can play or evaluated the toys that are in production to gain a better understanding of how successful the toys will be once they reach the market place and are sold to the general public.

What did you learn? From your project? From class discussion?

EOC Week 6

What did you learn? From your project? From class discussion?

This project gave me a deeper understanding of how people think and react to different scenarios like packaging.  Although, my product was not based on traditional guidelines for fragrances because of my target demographic, I did come to the realization that packaging has more to do with the success of a product as opposed to the price point for this demographic.  I also gained a better understanding of the different types of questions based on the classes’ questions and how their information was gathered and defined.  That information changed the outcome of the report that was done.

The class discussion brought to light several different scenarios that changed my thinking on the product image.  I think the most impactful point brought up was the example of the salad bowl.  The grocery store does not sell the single serving size salad in a square bowl even though it would be more convenient to store an item in a square container.  Instead they sell the single serving size salad in a round bowl because that depicts the image associated with eating the salad.

My project was based on a great idea and concept but I put too much into the cost instead of the story and the packaging of the project.  In defining the packaging it gives the consumer a bigger image of the product projecting a story of the wearer to associate and connect with.  In the event that I did create this fragrance I would use a small atomizer instead of a canned fragrance like a deodorant.  The canned fragrance would have been associated with a lower price point like something that could be purchased at a grocery store of drug store which is not where I want to be.  In the future I find that it would be helpful to not only work in a group, because of the information you can piggyback off of but, it gives you a broader base of information because not everyone asks the same sample questions.

 

 

Survey Results

1. How many bottles of perfume do you own?

50 % as many as 12 bottles – 5 different fragrances.

50 % few as 3 bottles – 2 fragrances

2. What income bracket do you identify with?

            (0-25,000)     (26,000-42,000)      (43,000-58,000)     (59,000-75,000)     (76,000+)

80% declined to answer this question and the ones that did answer were in the 43,000-58,000.

 

3. Which outdoor sport do you prefer?

(Beach and water sports)  (Hunting, camping and fishing)  (Pool and backyard activities)  (None)

Beach and water sports with write in on Canoeing, Waterskiing, and Hiking.

 

4.  Do you wear perfume because?

            A. it makes you feel sexy

            B. it covers up body odors

C. it helps attract the opposite sex

            D. you enjoy the fragrance

Every person surveyed circled all of the above.

 

5.  What perfume or cologne do you currently wear?

Angel; Issy Milgake?; Dark Kiss; Light Blue; Euphoria; Lovely; Eternity; A Cqua di Gioia; Cool Waters; and Warm Vanilla were just a few of the most popular.

6.  Why do you like that perfume?                        

 Some of the write in answers were as follows: Makes me feel rich; makes me feel sexy; Makes me happy; I want people to associate that smell with me; I get recognized for my perfume; I like the attention I get when I wear perfume.

7. How often do you apply fragrance?
a.) once in the morning- this was 50 % of my answers
b.) 2x daily- 25% responded with this answer
c.) morning & night- 25 % responded as this was their first choice.
d.) only night 

8. You prefer a scent reminiscent of:
a.) true love - this was the number one answer at 70 %
b.) summer - this was the last choice at 10%
c.) home - no one like this answer.
d.) faraway lands - this came in second at 20 %

 9. Which clothing store would we be most likely to see you in?                                      
Banana Republic; All Saints; Black Market, White House. ; Anne Taylor Loft; Aeropostale; The Limited; Everything but the Water; bebe; J Crew; Zulily; and Zappos.

10. If you were offered a free designer brand perfume, which would you choose?

Angel; Lovely; A Cqua di Gioia; Cool Waters; Light Blue; Euphoric; Eternity; anything by Michael Kors; anything by Calvin Klein and anything by Coco Chanel or just Chanel.