Chapter 9 Assignment MAR 3023

According to the text, competitive intelligence becomes decision-making intelligence _______.

when it has implications for the organization

Albertsons operates more than 400 grocery store locations across the country. The chain is interested in determining the category of product that is best suited to promotions at end-of-aisle displays. Albertsons selects 25 stores in different geographic areas and varies the types of products it features for two different end-of-aisle displays in each store. Albertsons measures the sales for each product category tested and compares the sales during the end-of-aisle display promotion to the baseline sales. Using this comparison, Albertsons can determine whether any change in sales was observed as a result of the promotion. Which type of research method did Albertson's use?

Experiment

American Eagle Outfitters offers its own credit card and encourages shoppers to apply for a card by offering a 15 percent one-time discount when they open an account. Thereafter, American Eagle tracks customer purchases using the credit card as part of its customer relationship management system. Upon application, credit card holders provide basic information such as their names, addresses, e-mails, phone numbers, and employment information. Which step in the customer relationship management process is highlighted by this example?

Identify customer relationships.

L.L. Bean is a well-known outdoor clothing and recreation equipment company based in Maine. It uses catalogs and its website to entice customers to make a purchase. Once customers purchase, they are placed in the customer database, and then the company follows and tracks their interactions. Clara is vice president of online marketing and has asked the database manager to identify those customers who have the highest dollar spend within the last year. She is specifically interested in knowing how many customers spend more than $2,000 a year with L.L. Bean. Which step of the customer relationship management system best characterizes Clara's request to the database team?

Identify the best customers.

The ability of the research firm to provide video as part of the research activity highlights which important advantage of mobile research?

Immediate feedback

Buckle, a retailer of jeans and fashion clothing, is considering expanding further into related product categories, and the company is interested in conducting research to understand the current shopping habits of customers and how much time they spend in the store. Buckle is planning to use an outside marketing research consulting company to gather data. The research company will record the habits of store visitors, such as the amount of time spent in the store, whether a purchase is made, which categories of products are browsed or purchased, and the role of the salesperson, as well as the number of people in each shopping group and the composition of those groups (e.g., family members, friends). This is a labor-intensive project, but Buckle believes it will provide the insight needed to make decisions on product line expansions. Which of the following is the best research method for Buckle's research consultant to employ?

Observation research

GameStop operates more than 5,800 retail stores across the United States and 14 countries. It offers a free PowerUp Rewards program that allows customers to earn points and discounts on purchases. Customers can also pay $14.99 per year for a Pro membership that offers additional benefits. More than 55 million people are members of GameStop's Rewards program, providing the company with lots of information about each member's purchasing history, such as the types of products purchased, amount spent per transaction, frequency of shopping, equipment trades, and returns. Which of the following terms best characterizes the information that GameStop owns related to its PowerUp Rewards program?

Secondary data

Yasmin works for Bath & Body Works as a category manager. She is interested in identifying the types of products that are typically purchased as gifts, as well as determining how much Loyalty Rewards Members typically spend on gifts. She consults with a database specialist at the company and learns that, unfortunately, this information is not available as part of the information captured related to transactions or purchase history, because Bath & Body Works is not currently capturing whether the purchase was for the customer or a gift. Yasmin has encountered a common disadvantage related to secondary data. Which of the following best characterizes the disadvantage related to Yasmin's research problem?

There is a mismatch between the researcher's unique problem and the purpose for which the secondary data were originally gathered.

Sherwin-Williams operates retail outlets that provide paint and supplies to end-user consumers or the "do-it-yourself" market, as well as to painting contractors in the commercial sector. In addition, each store has outside sales representatives who work with facility managers and who will ideally gain their commitments to purchase paint from Sherwin-Williams. The paint industry is very competitive, and Sherwin-Williams competes with a variety of other retail outlets specializing in paint, as well as big box stores such as Menards or Lowe's. Recently, Sherwin-Williams used a web-based survey to identify consumer perceptions of the Sherwin-Williams brand in comparison to other brands. This resulted in consumer insights about how Sherwin-Williams compares to other key brands or competitors. Sherwin-Williams plans to utilize these insights to improve its products, store offerings, and services to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. The information provided by this research endeavor is an example of _______.

competitive intelligence

Riko is a marketing director with Uniqlo, a fashion brand based in Japan. She is interested in gathering shoppers' perceptions of the brand and its stores, as well as identifying how Uniqlo compares to its competition. She is reviewing proposals to obtain feedback from 1,000 customers. One firm recommends using a web-based survey that will cost $50 per completed survey. A second firm recommends telephone surveys costing $100 per completed survey, and a third firm proposes mobile research at $25 per completed survey. Riko is surprised to see that mobile research offers the advantage of _______.

cost savings

The Pew Research Center recently published a report that noted that the majority of American workers are employed in the service sector. Specifically, "Among the major service-industry sectors, the biggest was trade, transportation, and utilities (27.8 million workers), followed by education and health services (24.3 million), professional and business services (21.5 million), and leisure and hospitality (16.7 million)." This is an example of the _______ role of marketing research.

descriptive

Jasmine is the manager of ticket sales for the Houston Texans, a professional football team. Since their debut in 2002, the Texans have entertained fans in NRG Stadium, which seats close to 72,000 people. Jasmine is responsible for season ticket sales, game-day sales, and group sales to ensure maximum ticket revenue for the team. She recently hired a marketing research consultant to assist her in determining the best approach for marketing season tickets. Jasmine must allocate her marketing budget across various options such as outbound telephone calls, direct mail, radio advertising, print media, and social media. She is hopeful that the marketing research will help her identify the most effective allocation of her budget across these various options. In this case, marketing research is _______.

improving Jasmine's decision-making

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is an annual event held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The festival organizers are interested in capturing participant reactions and perceptions of the food vendors. They invite concertgoers to register their mobile phone numbers and then send surveys to attendees via their phones. During the last festival, more than 35 percent of attendees participated in the research. This example highlights that mobile research offers the advantage of _______.

increased response rates

Netflix dominates streaming services, and the company is now spending almost 50 percent of company revenue on developing original content for its subscribers. However, Netflix is concerned with the introduction of Disney+, a proprietary streaming service for a monthly subscription fee. As a result of Disney's new streaming service, Disney removed all of its titles from Netflix. Therefore, Netflix is interested in determining the best types of content—movies and/or series—to maintain and grow its subscription base. Netflix can use its proprietary data of customer streaming information to gain insight into this issue, since Netflix knows what content people are watching and when they watch it. Netflix's desire to determine the best type of content to offer in order to maintain and/or grow its subscription base is an example of a _______.

marketing research objective

Miguel receives a survey from Gillette about his shaving frequency, and whether he uses an electric razor. Miguel responds that he shaves twice a day with a normal razor, although in truth he only shaves four to five times per week. This is an example of _______ error.

measurement

Aisha is a marketing researcher who is using a new methodology to understand consumer decision-making. Her research involves using an MRI machine to examine the brain patterns of participants. She recently played different types of music such as classical, pop, rock, and rap music to identify the areas of the brain that were activated by the music. This is an example of _______.

neuromarketing

The College Board is interesting in gaining insights about students' changing needs and the type of information that would be helpful to them as they make decisions about which college to attend and which areas to study. To accomplish this, the organization hires a marketing research consultant who recommends a(n) _______. The research firm will identify individuals in their database who are high school sophomores or juniors who have taken the PSAT test. Students will be recruited to participate in a web-based discussion forum that will be led by a moderator. The look and feel of the web-based platform is like a chat room, so all participants can see all questions and all responses. The information is captured by the research firm and is available for review and analysis. Typically, individuals only participate in a single discussion session.

online focus group

Harley-Davidson enjoys an almost cult-like following for its motorcycles. Most Harley buyers are members of the Harley Owners Group, or HOG. The company offers a variety of benefits to HOG members, including special rides featuring celebrity owners such as Jay Leno and tie-ins to movies using Harley motorcycles. HOG also presents a unique opportunity for Harley-Davidson to gather marketing research insights. The company has recruited several thousand members to participate in ongoing research activities where participants receive gifts such as special shirts or hats for their cooperation. Members typically agree to participate for one year. Members interact with each other and answer company-directed questions via a custom-designed website. This is an example of a(n) _______.

online research community

Aldi, a grocery retailer, is using market testing in select cities around the country to measure consumer response to curbside pickup. As they do with other retailers, consumers order items from Aldi online and schedule a pickup time to retrieve their items. Based on preliminary results, Aldi estimates that the addition of curbside pickup will lead to a 15 percent increase in store sales, especially in suburban and higher income locations where shoppers are willing to pay extra for convenience. In this example, Aldi is capitalizing on the _______ role of marketing research.

predictive

American Express has millions of customers who carry its credit card. It is interested in learning more about its customers' perceptions of the many benefits and partner companies associated with American Express, so it is launching a research study. The company plans to use a _______ sampling method in which each person who has an American Express credit card has a known statistical likelihood of being selected to participate in the study.

probability

Ida is a category manager for a men's fragrance company. She is interested in learning more regarding how men make decisions about buying cologne or aftershave. She has spoken with several marketing research vendors and has learned that _______ is the most popular technique for gathering primary data.

survey research

Chili's is a large restaurant chain that now offers patrons the opportunity to order and check out using a kiosk at their table. Customers have the option to rate their experience as they checkout and pay. Chili's uses this experience survey to ask about diners' experiences with the restaurant, such as the friendliness of the staff, quality of food, restaurant ambiance, and the customers' likelihood of dining with Chili's again. The survey also gathers the specific store location where the consumer dined to enable the company to identify high- or low-performing restaurant locations. Identification of high- or low-performing locations helps Chili's act quickly to take corrective adjustments when necessary. This highlights an important advantage of online surveys, which is _______.

real-time reporting

Consumer packaged goods companies such as Procter & Gamble rely on supermarket purchasing data compiled by companies such as SymphonyIRI to understand how their products are selling, in what quantities, and in which package sizes. In addition, they can obtain data about price points, whether consumers utilized coupons, or information about other in-store sales promotions. SymphonyIRI provides _______ data to consumer goods manufacturers.

scanner-based research

Frito-Lay has been analyzing sales data compiled by a third-party company and has noticed that sales of baked varieties such as Baked Cheetos and Baked Lay's potato chips are higher in suburban markets compared to urban grocery outlets. This information will assist Frito-Lay in their individual store planning sessions as account managers meet with store managers to discuss inventory and stock positions. The information Frito-Lay is utilizing is called _______.

scanner-based research