Report

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research Design

1) Problem Definition

The main problem ABC Stationery is facing is the low level of awareness that they have in their market. Currently, their main target consumers are either commercial or residential area near Edgemont Village in North Vancouver. In addition, the store is doing well in retaining their customers by providing wide range of selections on premium products for customers. However, the operating manager is putting in minimum effort on exploiting the store’s area of improvements. Furthermore, rent expense became one of the key obstacles the store is facing for the past 3 years of operations.

Difficulties Caused by the Problem

Although the store is well known by surrounding local areas, it doesn’t mean the store has a good brand awareness. In fact, building a brand is one of the most important factors that the small business should be aiming for. Therefore, without increasing awareness of the business in the market, the store will not be able to grow towards a positive direction.

Other difficulties would be finding a point of difference between Queens’s Stationery and other successful stationary stores that generate high sales revenue which might result from a distinct product or service. Therefore, a lot of hands-on work will be required.

2)  Purpose and Benefits of Research

The purpose of this market research is to explore different avenues available for ABC Stationary to improve brand awareness and acquire and maintain customers. Through our research, we will try to discover how satisfied ABC Stationary clients are compared to their expectations and what ABC Stationary can do to increase the client’s satisfaction and encourage to come to the store. The main focuses for this research is to help ABC Stationery to understand customers’ wants, preference and satisfaction.

3) Research Objectives

The main objective will be on helping ABC Stationery to determine whether their customers are satisfied and come up with some new ways to appeal to more customers. Also, to reveal uncovered ways to generate revenue through improved customer satisfaction. By understanding customer service our research group hope to determine whether customers were overall satisfied, and if not, which step along the process could be improved or implemented. This research will hopefully allow you to satisfy your current customers but will also help attract potential new customers in the most efficient ways possible.

· Help ABC Stationary to determine whether their customers are satisfied

· Find new ways to appeal to more customers

· Uncover alternative ways to generate revenues through  improved customer satisfaction

· To determine if there are any aspects of the service procedure or any other matter that are causing customer dissatisfaction

· By understanding the customer service we hope to determine whether customers were overall satisfied, and if not, to find out which step along the process could be improved. This research will hopefully allow ABC Stationary to satisfy your current customers but will also help attract potential new customers.

4) Research Questions

5) Research Techniques   

Focus Group

   A focus group allows us to interview 5 to 7 clients who are comfortable discussing their relationship with ABC Stationary and what changes they would like to see in a relaxed formatted structure. The focus group will allow us to get a more descriptive depiction as to the thoughts and opinions of ABC Stationary clientele to use as part of our qualitative research. We will conduct three small focus groups because we want input from three different age groups: a youngest age group (18-39), an older age group (40-59) and an oldest focus group (60-89). Each age group will have different input and most likely go to ABC Stationary for different reasons. Each participant will be required to sign a release form. Another option is to implement a focus group that knows nothing about the client to see the general public’s opinions and will include possible future clients. Our first focus group consisting of existing clients will be held before our survey as to obtain a direction for survey questions. Our second focus group will consist of potential clients for ABC Stationary, which shall be found from the surrounding community (such as coffee shops and schools nearby). The focus group will be held at a location to be discussed. Both focus groups will use a mediator to start the discussion and ensure that the group stays focused and on topic.

      Example of possible focus group questions for existing clients (a discussion guide):

1)   What were your first impressions when you first walk in the store?

2)   How do you feel about the variety of product offerings?

3)   How do you feel about the quality of products?

4)   Was the layout visually attractive?

5)   How was it to find parking?

7)   How do you feel about the service that you received?

8)   How do you feel about the prices? Do you feel that they reflect the value of what you received?

9)   How did you hear about ABC Stationary? How long have you been going there?

10) Did you find what you were looking for? Were your needs met?

Example of possible focus group questions for potential clients:

1)   What features do you look for in a stationary store?

2)   What types of media attract your attention?

3)   What variety of products do expect from a stationary store?

4)   What services do you expect from or want in a stationary store?

5)   How often do you make purchases from a stationary store?

   By collecting information about the above questions, we can gather opinions, beliefs and attitude towards ABC Stationary. Also, this will provide a safe place to learn more about how to improve ABC Stationary in order to meet the needs of customers. We will make sure every contributor has an equal opportunity to share his or her concerns and comments. We believe focus groups are an excellent way to gather information because participants can piggyback from one and other ideas this way they are more comfortable to express their true feeling. Also this can help us gather a larger quantity of information in a short amount of time that we have. We would start with focus groups because we want to have a clear understanding of the big picture, which will help us figure out where the problem rises with the help of customers and employees.  After finding out where the problem arises we can move on to surveys and other research methods, which are mentioned below.

Intercept Survey

The purpose of this survey will be to find out whether existing customers are satisfied with the services and products offered and their overall impressions and thoughts of the store. This survey will be conducted by politely asking customers in the store to take a couple minutes of their time to answer about 6-9 of our short questions.

We will prepare specific short questions, focusing on internal and external questions. These questions will be very short, direct and specific. What we want to find out is their general satisfaction level and feedback of the service and products that ABC Stationary has to offer. As well, we will also be looking for suggestions regarding improvement.  

Benefits of the survey: through the survey, we can learn how to retain the current customers and acquire new potential customers, while creating more awareness for ABC Stationary. An example survey is included at the end of this document in Appendix A.

Observation of Competition

We will observe other competing local stationary stores in order to have better understanding of their service, products and how they operate.  We will be observing things such as store hours, visual layout of store, employee presence, how busy they are, atmosphere etc. The goal here is to see if we can find anything in particular that stands out as really good or bad. We can compare our findings with our observations of ABC Stationary and determine if there are things they can do to improve or, on the other hand, confirm things they are doing better than their competition.

Mystery Shopper Observation

   Mystery shopper is a flexible and cost-effective research technique that we can use to observe ABC Stationary and can be set up quickly and inexpensively. It’s a great way to get a feel of what the customer experiences on a daily basis and how new or potential customers feel when first experiencing ABC Stationary. We can observe how customers are treated and how employees perform in their work environment. The benefit of this research is that we can avoid the subjective influences, and gather as much information as we can without relying on responses from customers, gaining a first-hand experience being a ABC Stationary customer. Ultimately, the main goal here is to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of ABC Stationary by actually witnessing it.

Case Study (Backup Method)

For our case study, we will be looking at the successful business practices of a nearby office supplies chain called Staples. Staples is a very popular option for stationary supplies and we want to examine why they are successful what they do differently so we can help ABC Stationary improve and exploit potential opportunities to make their business better. This will be conducted by visiting the store and its corporate website as well as researching any Staples related articles that could give us insight into their business strategy, practices, products etc.

6) Timelines

Data Collection

Our research will consist of:

a) Three focus groups: including 5-7 participants in each group; the participants will be chosen with the help of our client.

b) An intercept survey: 20-30 for existing customers; the participants will be chosen with the help of a client.

c) Mystery shopper: there will be three visits to the shop conducted by our team.

        Their observations will be based on a mystery shopper's checklist

d) Observation: We will be observing things such as store hours, visual layout of store, employee presence, how busy they are, atmosphere etc.

7) Data Processing and Analyses

The project will collect data about ABC Stationary’s customers’ needs and wants and also their thoughts and feelings, so that data can be analyzed and products and services in the store can be improved. After completing our four methods of research, which includes a focus group, a survey, observation and the mystery shopper, the coding primary data will be sorted.  The coding technique will use for identify results in different categories.

In addition, we will translate our research results or coding primary data into charts, graphs, histograms and cross tabulations. In order to present in an easier way, we will also sort through nominal variables or ordinal variables for getting frequency proportions and make a list of ratios and confidence intervals for getting means or standard deviations.