Ch 4 Mini Sim on Marketing Research

You hold a meeting with the VP of Marketing and others to define the main focus of the research. Which of the following questions would best serve eCompeteUSA at this time?

Can we increase eCompeteUSA's market share by targeting nontraditional niche (small) audiences?

Your boss stops by to see how the research is progressing. She's concerned about your research plan. "I don't think we are ready to run causal research on the effects of advertising. I think we should re-evaluate the descriptive research options."

Research the attitudes that U.S. women and consumers over 35 have towards the eSports industry.

You consider the situation, roll up your sleeves, and get to work. What should be the first step you take in obtaining the information you need to help eCompeteUSA move up in the eSports industry?

Set up a meeting with the VP of Marketing and other involved parties to define the problem that needs to be solved.

Having decided what you want to research, you now must decide what sources to use to gather your data. The following secondary resources are available. Which will you choose to use first? Bear in mind that using in-house databases costs very little, whereas using a commercial database will incur considerable expenses.

Use in-house year purchase history data from the past 10 years, which contains consumer profiles.

MY PROGRESS-31% O Mentoring Moment: Research Types Defining the research problem and research objectives...

1. Thirsty Athletes -Descriptive research 2. Hypotheses Help - Exploratory research 3. High Heels - Casual research 4. Yoga Love - Descriptive research 5. Price Hike - Casual research 6. Distinctive Coffee - Exploratory research

After defining the problem that eCompeteUSA wants solved, you need to determine what type of research objective to pursue. What type of research objective would be most appropriate given eCompeteUSA's research problem?

Descriptive research

Decision Point: Choosing Your Primary Sources Having decided to use primary sources to obtain data, you need to decide what sort of primary sources you will use. The following three options are suggested by the researchers within the market research department. Choose the one you think best suits your research objectives.

Performing a survey that focuses on consumer knowledge, attitudes, and preferences towards the eSports industry.

You are now tasked with developing a research plan that would best support the research objectives you have just chosen. You consider your options and narrow them down to the following three

Research the attitudes that U.S. women and consumers over 35 have towards the eSports industry.

Having chosen to use a survey to obtain descriptive data on eSports attitudes, you now need to decide how to contact consumers. You want to gather a large quantity of data fairly quickly, while not incurring high costs. How will you collect this data?

Telephone interviews

Decision Point: Do You Want Primary Sources? Having decided what secondary sources you will use, you now need to decide whether you elect to use any primary sources for obtaining data. This will involve setting up targeted research to answer the questions that you need answered. Note that this research will be carried out in-house by the market research department, but will be quite expensive. Select an option from the choices below and click Submit. You will use the research department to gather attitudinal data relevant to the research problem and objectives you have set. You will not use any primary sources. They are too expensive and you feel the secondary sources you have chosen should be sufficient to gather the data you need.

You will use the research department to gather additional data relevant to the research problem and objections you have set.

When writing the questionnaire you decide to include a question that will allow you to classify consumers by consumption level. Which of the following questions should you include in the survey in order to accurately discover this information?

Would you classify yourself as a heavy, moderate, light, or non-consumer of eSports memorabilia and tickets?

Decision Point: Presenting Your Findings You have worked with the research department to implement the research plan. The team has gathered the data, checked it for accuracy, and coded it for analysis. How should you present your findings so that the VP of Marketing can best utilize them?

Present only those important insights and findings that you think will be useful in the major decisions made by management.