marketing research

Mustafa Mert Ozerden Instructor’s Name Marketing research 17 October 2018

Marketing Research to develop marketing research problem

to provide critical literature review from secondary data

to develop knowledge of the marketing research process including research design (qualitative and quantitative), data collection and sampling, data analysis and data reporting. For this task, student is required to draw on basic enquiry and analytical skills, research and fundamental theoretical knowledge, and approach it with the view that it helps to relate the material introduced in the lectures with practice.

This assessment will help student to evaluate a market situation and identify an appropriate research method to make an effective marketing and business decision. Student should use it as an opportunity to creatively design and plan a research project, and to carefully consider how they would collect and analyse primary data, but WITHOUT having to actually engage in primary data collection and analysis.

Student is required to hand in a 2,500 words based on a marketing research problem in luxury brand sector. Student need to choose a specific brand from one of the two above sectors based on a possible marketing research problem and support it using secondary research analysis (i.e. literature review). After a brand is chosen, complete the following task as part of the assessment requirement:-

Topic Heading/Outline Word Count Guideli ne

Introductio n

Outline the marketing research problem (Problem definition) and support it critically using secondary data

600

Qualitative Design

Explore the research problem using qualitative approach (justify and select ONLY one best/suitable method to use in order to explore the research problem above and develop a brief interview protocol/semi-structured questions in this section)

700

Quantitativ e design

Examine the research problem using quantitative approach by using survey questionnaire and develop the questionnaire in order to investigate the research problem using secondary sources

700

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Introduction

Outline the marketing research problem (Problem definition) and support it critically using secondary data. Approximately 600 words

Prada is a company that has been creating clothing lines, travel accessories, and some other fashion accessories like scarves and leather goods. Prada was found in 1913 by Prada brothers Mario Prada and Martino as Fratelli Prada. Being in the luxury clothing sector is highly competitive. As a big company, recently Prada faces trouble with their shares and sales that result in losing sales to competitors, losing brand image and reputation. It is recorded that Prada’s share prices fell by 29% within a three years period from 2013 to 2016 ( Ahmed 2016 ). There are quite a few reasons behind the loss of brand image that caused share prices and sales to fall. To start with pointing out the fallen demand in China which results in 50% of Prada's sales is fair. ( Anderson 2017 ) .When there are such big sales in percentage coming from one consumer's market like Asia the importance of understanding what supplies this demand as well as updating and analyzing about what can pursue the sales and the market share of one business becomes vital. Logically if there is a problem with sales in this market an in-depth analysis of what may cause this problem is needed, a couple of aspects caused this. The power of the internet and social media is crucial to understand for a business that engages with their audience in a way that serves some luxury and enjoyment by using interactive two- way direct communications. (Kim and Ko, 2012). Luxury brands want to engage with their audience using Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) since it is a platform of pursuing advanced marketing strategies and business as a whole (Brogi, Calabrese and Campisi, 2018). Prada admitted that falling behind realizing that social influencers and bloggers play a significant role in the industry nowadays triggered such loses. ( Anderson 2017 ) Blaming low online involvement is not enough. There is evidence that while trying to make more profit Prada broke some balances. Their strategy of pricing their handbags a little more expensive made the audience felt like it was a little too much. What Prada wanted was to be seen as strong as other competitors as "Chanel" or "Louis Vitton" by pricing their prices for accessories and handbags higher. Analysists found out that it was the wrong time to set prices higher. Prada's handbag prices were around 1.000 $ now it is around 1.500-2.000 ( BBC 2014 ) There is also a socio-environmental issue

Summary/ Recommen dation

Summarise and suggest the possible methods of data collection for both designs and data analysis associated with both methods based on the marketing research problem developed earlier.

500

Total word count 2500 words (± 10%

are permitt

ed)

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supporting fall of Asian sales and the market as a whole, and that is the recent clampdown on corruption which triggers peoples guilt that makes consumers think twice before spending money on luxury items. It may lead them to feel bad because of spending on specific luxury that is not a necessity. ( BBC 2014 ) It is also because of Chinese GDP growth in 2013 and 2014 fell by 1% each year. The results reflected on Prada's sales. Another excellent point is that entry-level luxury item sales rose by 48% even though the high-level luxury item buying fell 20%. (CENDROWSKI, 2018) Chinese people preferred buying high-level items overseas. Another reason why Prada lost brand image and its place among the market is that the lack of streetwear and trendsetting. What young people want to see these days is collaborations and fresh streetwear as the trend goes that way. Competitors like LV collaborated with streetwear brand like supreme. The collaboration led a majority of trend followers to think and feel like LV is a part of the streetwear game as well as high-end clothing. Young people made their minds and saved money for collaboration pieces. Most of the teens also checked LV products as they think it is what is leading as a trendsetting brand. The high-end streetwear trend has been boosting luxury brand sales by 5% to an estimated $309B, Customers are becoming younger, and it is excellent for mid an long-term gains of the industry. (Barry, 2017) Marketing research problem of Prada is losing share prices caused by many underlying points. Prada has to ask questions like "why setting higher prices did not go well." By tearing problems into subproblems will help the mogul go steady again.

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/right-brain-left-brain/how-do-you- solve-a-problem-like-prada

https://www.ft.com/content/d2349b78-9f75-11e7-8cd4-932067fbf946

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29280028

brogi, s., calabrese, a. and campisi, d. (2018). SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research. [online] Journals.sagepub.com. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5772/56854 [Accessed 18 Oct. 2018].

CENDROWSKI, s. (2018). http://fortune.com. [online] Fortune. Available at: http://fortune.com/2015/12/07/luxury-goods-china-corruption-probe/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2018].

Barry, C. (2017). Street wear bringing steady growth to global luxury market. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/ap-street- wear-bringing-steady-growth-to-global-luxury-market-2017-10/? utm_source=luxe.digital&utm_campaign=luxe-digital-luxury-news&r=US&IR=T [Accessed 18 Oct. 2018].

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Kim, A. and Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, [online] 65(10), pp.1480-1486. Available at: https://ac.els- cdn.com/S0148296311003584/1-s2.0-S0148296311003584-main.pdf? _tid=d63e1f44-d4ab-4aef- a9c9-1ec312ffc1f3&acdnat=1540665688_9e2f23d127c527fe718cd5cdacda51 7a [Accessed 27 Oct. 2018].

Methodology part contains

Survey sample questionnaire

Sampling: population, census, sample

Where do you get the sample from ?

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