Business Research and Data Analysis

SPORTS AND FITNESS APPAREL STORE Introduction

In this 21st century, most of the people have become lethargic and obese due to their eating habits and lack of physical activities. Hence, there has an urge to stay healthy and fit which is crucial to lead a happy and satisfied life. To maintain a good health it has become important to take fitness as a primary concern. For the last two decades an increasing trend has been observed in sports and fitness apparel industry. Therefore, it is our duty to know, understand and meet the requirements of people according to their needs.

The purpose of this research is to describe the investor the benefit of investing $800,000 in sports and fitness apparel store in Kitchener/Waterloo region. As Kitchener/Waterloo is a hub for many academic institutions, it would be a profitable business because of the huge teenagers and adult crowd who are health and fitness conscious.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature review means reviewing the previous research done by the researchers. In phase 1 of the project we put forward the basic information on Sports and Fitness Apparel Industry. In this phase of the project we have researched more on the literature review and have elaborated our information by moving forward with our secondary research and also reviewing the previously done research.

· “Sports and Fitness Wear Market Worth USD 50.46 Billion by 2023”

This report stated that the in order to gain the customer satisfaction the manufacturers of the sports and fitness wear industry are inheriting the upgraded technologies and adding new features in their products. The customers of these premium brands look forward to use these products for improvement of their performance in a particular sport or fitness activity. In last decade, there were two latest developments. One is Moisture-wicking fabrics and the other is thermal technology(posted by Technavio on October 7, 2019 retrieved on October 8, 2019)

· “Technology for all athletes”(Under Armour)

Enhancement of technology can be seen through the competitive nature of the major players in the run of attracting customers and differentiating their products from their competitors. One of the examples for these are the Under Armour which looking forward to give tight competition to the markets biggies. There platform supports a full suite of APIs that help you track, inspire, and engage your user base. From all-day tracking to workouts to supporting hundreds of devices, our inherently social platform helps you build applications that deliver both performance and fun. Some of their advancements are as follows-

24/7 Tracking- 24/7 activity tracking with steps, sleep, distance, weight, and more

Workouts- 700+ unique activities to log and record with routes and mapping

Social- A vibrant community of connected athletes, friends, and peers

Devices- Data from 400+ activity devices from industry-leading brands.(retrieved from Underarmour.com on 8 October 2019).

CHALLENGES FOR SPORTS AND FITNESS APPAREL INDUSTRY

In the literature review it can be seen that there many advancements are being undertaken by the companies to stay in the run of the major industry and providing customer satisfaction is the main motive of the most of the companies. Opportunities bring along many challenges with it. So, there are many challenges that players of this industry must face. Some of these challenges are-

1. Sustainability - With the increase in the environmental awareness of the consumers and damaging effect of these industries on the environment, consumers are shifting their attention to more sustainable material which are made up of eco friendly fibres such as seaweed. So the companies are looking towards better product which adheres with the environment and that also satisfy their consumers.

2. Consumer demands - Nowadays, consumers start getting bored with the similar products coming up in the market. So they have started shopping more online than physically going to stores in search of a new or unique product. So this has posted a challenge for the companies to cater to increasing demand of the consumers.

3. Improved efficiency and quality - As production cost is increasing globally, so, companies are facing the challenge of keeping the cost of production low so they can provide products at a low cost to their customers. With efficiency the companies have to look towards maintaining quality as well. Some of the small companies are not able to manage speed and quality at the same time so they outsource their production to third parties.

4. Gaining competitive advantage - Competitive advantage provides the companies the motivation they need to become more effective than their competitors. Most of the brands focus on quality, pricing and trendiness. It’s not at all easy for a company to outshine their competitors until the companies provide something unique to the customers.

Questions that need to be investigated further

1 What change are expected in the taxes due to the upcoming election? What strategies can be made to combat the change?

We need to keenly investigate the expected political changes that might take place. We must take probability of changes into the consideration and be prepare for the worse. At least the results should account with two possible change that are most likely to happen, and company should have a backup strategic plan ready in that scenario.

2 Keeping online engagement of customers into consideration, what marketing strategies will attract the internet generation?

With the advancement in technology, it has been seen that people tend to remain occupied with social media and spend maximum of their leisure time on browsing online, hence keeping this major factor into consideration we can develop online product marketing strategies so that company can gain popularity on internet as well.

3 which demographic segment need to be targeted the most?

Company should find its target group based on the demand a group seeks. this will help company to focus on that group and pay more attention towards its goal by concentrating its area of research.

4 what strategies need to be implemented to make the business withstand the competition in the market?

As sports and fitness apparel have always been in demand, getting started with such a demanding business can also provide a strong competition in the market, hence knowing and understanding the competitors can help to come up with strategies that will help in thriving in the competitive environment.

5 what factors can be brought in place to make the store more environment friendly?

Environment being the important factor need to be taken into the consideration, hence what rules and regulations must the store follow to put this factor in place and help to be more

eco-friendly.

RESEARCH STRATEGIES

 Experiment

Experiment includes the important variables which need to be considered during the study. These kinds of variables would make the study more goal oriented for the investor. Variables such as volume of sales and pricing strategies used by store.

 Action research

Action research include the gathering data of performance of apparel store in terms of sales and cloth material provided during creating model and again data is collected based on last year sales and material quality to compare it from previous year. Action research also tells about the comparison of materials used during the manufacturing of the product.

MIXED METHODS

 Interviews

Interviews are also a way to estimate the performance of apparel store. While performing the research face to face, interviews taken can help in understanding more about the products related to the apparel store.

 Observation

Observation is used to describe the survey taken related to the store. This would be mainly observed about the people or groups that how they behave or what is their intention related to the store. As a result, majority of people will be motivated towards the material which will be provided to them.

 Questionnaires

It is one of the most critical components that must be focused throughout the research. Things like which material, style, volume and pattern should be kept in-store must be determined by analysing the taste and preferences of the available market as well studying the demographics should be a deciding factor as well.

EXTENT OF INTERFERENCE WITH THE STUDY

Extent of this study was both combination of minimum and moderate used in this research study it is described how these two are included in the study as follows:

o MINIMUM

Minimum was come into play when researcher does not used or have any kind of interaction related to the specific unit These kind of extend are used to provide the information related to the unit for example questionnaires were designed for each and every individual or group for answering the questions related to the material of the cloth used by the apparel store.

o MODERATE

Moderate extent follows dividing the individuals into two groups and assigning them questions related to different variables related to the apparel store for example group no 1 will be assigned questionnaires related to the quality and design of the store that is what they would like to suggest the store to add in the product. Another group will be asked questions related to the working environment and employees that are working in the store like what kind of behaviour would you expect from the employee working inside the store.

STUDY SETTING: CONTRIVED OR NOT CONTRIVED

 NOT CONTRIVED

This kind of research is a kind of not contrived study because this study is carried in between the working natural environment where work proceeds normally it is generally kind of field study because in this no kind of setting is required to perform the research.

o Field study

Field study is that kind of study which is generally performed no particular setting is created finance and sales department of the store were highlighted and correlated with each other to compare the no of sales done by the store in the current year and different kinds of financial incentives were used by store to expand the business

UNIT OF ANALYSIS

The unit of analysis refers to the level of bunch or aggregated data which was collected through the different analysis stage during the period of the time. Unit of analysis are of various types such as dyads, group level, department level, organization level, city level, country level. This research generally follows three kings of analysis:

 Dyads

 Group

 Department

DYADS

Dyadic unit of analysis stands for the data which is collected from the groups or peoples which are in a tie or link like mainly relationships and marriage. The sample data is based on two variables. Similar concept was followed in this research like majority of data in case of dyads is collected from different persons for whom their partners are not measured.

This research also pays highlights on the data where people rate each other or people who have more than one partner. Measurement was taken only on the basis possible outcomes which were measured on the basis interval level of measurement.

GROUP ANALYSIS

This kind of method is generally concerned with the understanding of inner mind of human. This kind of data analysis is applied on couples, families. In this study mainly groups which are related to any category such as families couples and other socio interest groups were formed and questionnaires related to design, material quality, working environment were given to each group and ask them for their feedback.

This kind of analysis can provide different feedbacks from different groups under different categories.

DEPARTMENT

Department unit of analysis generally based on the comparison between two departments that mainly describes the work comparison between two departments and what other thinks about the work of another department.

TIME HORIZON

CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

The data is collected and gathered over a period of months which helps in answer the questions which are related to the research this study also helps in identifying and getting feedback from different groups or individuals.

Data mainly consist of the suggestion which was collected over the period of time from different individuals or from a person which are working in the different positions or levels of another organization this study last about a week and information gathered is also based on the units which were taken as sample.

CONCLUSION

It is a good choice to invest in the apparel store in Kitchener/Waterloo area as it is a hub for students and people in student life tend to look fit and smart. Hence other factors such as change in taxes must be taken into consideration before opening the store.

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