MKT400
GROUP Assignment
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH [25%]
Deliverable:NOV18TH BY 11:30PM“““““““““““““““““““““““““““– Written Report [Maximum 7 pages, single spaced, excluding appendices, surveys, and summaries.]
The main project in this course will consist of GROUP research. This project requires you ALL to apply course concepts by analyzing your own purchase motivations and behaviours. Please follow the instruction guideline as listed below carefully. Your report will contain all the following headings — Introduction (topic selection), Secondary Research, Primary Research (Methods), Analysis [parts A-E], References, Appendices [survey interview guide; raw data; results; etc]
I. TOPIC SELECTION (Introduction)
Select something that purchased in the last year. It is recommended that your GROUP chooses a product that is important to you or says something about you. Keep in mind that you need to interview at least two additional consumers who made a similar personal purchase (but not necessarily the same brand). It is harder to analyze intangible purchases (i.e. a service), corporate purchases, and complicated purchase decisions such as houses, cars, computers and mobile devices- there is a tendency to describe the latter purchases at length without analyzing them. You can still choose them, however, just know their level of complexity and deep consumer behaviour profile.
Begin with a succinct introductory paragraph. State what you purchased. Describe your product or purchase process. Succinctly describe who was interviewed (maintaining anonymity), and what they purchased. Do not analyze the purchase yet- save that for later in the paper.
II. SECONDARY RESEARCH
Conduct secondary research on consumer behaviour relating to your product. You are likely to find information on target markets and on purchase/usage motivations and behaviours. It is expected that you have at least 4-8 total sources, including at least two academic sources. Also, consult one of the following sources to support your position.
1. FastCompany.com
2. Trendwatching.com/trends/ (the 2014/2015/2016 Trend Reports might be particularly useful).
3. TED.com – watch a talk for applicable insights. You may want to try a talk by Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Pink, Barry Schwartz, Lisa Gansky, Rachel Botsman, Simon Sinek or Virginia Postrel, but you’re free to use any talk relevant to your subject.
4. Mashable.com
5. Adfreak.com
6. And other scholarly articles, trade papers, and additional research.
III. PRIMARY RESEARCH: INTERVIEWS
Each Group Member will Interview two or more people so you can compare and contrast your behaviour to those of your interview subjects. At least one of those interviewed must have purchased a product similar to yours or a substitute that fulfils the same function (needn’t be the same brand). Interviewing a nonuser or someone from a different culture as a part of your research can be particularly enlightening. That said, do not interview more than one non-user. For example, ask your interviewees to fully describe how they went about deciding what to buy and making the purchase. How and when did they use the item? Probe for details. What motivated them? How do they share opinions about the purchase and the product? You’ll have to create an interview discussion guide. It is recommend that you conduct interviews after you do your secondary research and reflect upon your own purchase. Maintain interviewee anonymity in your paper, but note demographic, psychographic characteristics. Include a sample interview guide as well as interview notes in the appendix. The notes can be rough. [DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE IN THE BODY OF THE REPORT. YOU WOULD INCLUDE THAT IN THE APPENDIX.]
IV. ANALYSIS
A. Relate your purchase to the concepts covered in readings and lectures. You are to integrate an analysis that applies a wide range of course terms and concepts, yet examines key areas in depth.
B. Analyze the product category selection, brand selection and post-purchase usage. Examine cultural, sociological, and psychological factors that influenced your consumption. Focus on why she bought what she bought more than on what, where, when and how, unless it relates to the motivations and behaviour in some way. You may also analyze the customer/retail/online experience insofar as it relates to concepts covered in readings, lectures and in-class discussions. Also, please note if social or digital media played a role in influencing purchase. While it is good to use course concepts, a terminology-heavy description is insufficient. You are expected to put together a conceptually-driven, integrated analysis. If a statement is so generic that it could fit in anyone’s paper, it probably doesn’t belong in yours.
C. Briefly compare your motivations and behaviours to those of others you interviewed, and explain the findings. Explanations do more than describe, they address ‘why’.
D. Based on your observations, give advice to the marketers of your item regarding segmentation, targeting, positioning, place, price, promotion, use of social and digital media, etc.
E. Give advice pages to the marketers of your item regarding qualitative marketing research. Explain how qualitative research could help the product’s research portfolio and recommend two qualitative research techniques. Justify your recommendation and indicate how the results could potentially help with marketing efforts.
REPORT SPECIFICATION
All materials for the project should be collected specifically for this particular project and all work should be done individually. There is NO page/word count minimum, however, limit your paper to 6 pages single-spaced pages (the limit doesn’t include title page, exhibits or appendices). The structure of the paper is at your discretion, but all topics listed above should be covered well. Please DO NOT include your survey/interview template, or raw data within the body of the text (ie, within the 7 page limit). The raw findings should be attached in the appendix. In the body of text, please summarize key findings, present key statistics, and other relevant information. It might help to use headings throughout so that it can be easier to discern its structure. It is strongly recommended that you follow the suggested flow outlined in this document. Please list all your sources, including all full URLs.
You needn’t reference all of the concepts covered in the course, but it is important to demonstrate a deep understanding of consumer behaviour as well as the ability to apply the course material. You are being marked on a demonstration of critical thinking, creativity and strategic analysis. Please do not waste space defining terms- rather focus on connecting the dots and providing a thorough and deep analysis.
Submission Instructions: NOV 18. Please upload your completed Report to the “Consumer Research Report – DROP BOX” by 11:30PM.
Post any questions under the designated Assignment Forums. Additional guidance will be made available via announcements.