Market Research Plan
Before a company decides on the manner of delivering a new product to its market, it has to conduct a market research so that it can define some of the ways in which it can maximize the implication of the launch. The business entity of focus in this paper is a fashion apparel store called Diva Junction. This firm plans to introduce a new product in the form of sun dresses in preparation for the approaching summer. The business has been in existence for about five years and despite this experience in the market, the product is has been mostly associated with has been winter jackets. Due to the seasonality of the jackets, the CEO decided that the firm ventures into other clothes so that the sales during summer can increase, leading to the creation of the sundress line.
Market research is a necessary action whenever any company intends to introduce a new product because it helps in understanding the target market so as to provide relevant products. Furthermore, the plan helps in saving time and money as well as effort because it streamlines activities involved. Overton, Volkman, and Silver-Pacuilla (2008) express that this program is essential in the current market because it has become more competitive (Liu et al., 2013).
The steps involved in formulating a marketing plan include:
Setting Goals and Objectives – at this stage the marketing executives at Diva Junction need to determine the market they will target in comparison to their current one, determine the budget for the project and the time frame for this exercise.
Determine the survey questions or problem statement – Once the firm sets its objectives; it has to establish design the questions that will guide its survey. This can be in the form of quantifiable nature or qualitative for deeper information that would help on making other decisions based on the details revealed.
Selection of the survey distribution strategy – in this stage, the experts will determine the sample size that would be considered realistic, and the best channels to use depending on the demographics.
Laying out the criteria for data collection – after determining the data needed for the marketing research, the firm will have to determine how it will collect the information from the selected market. It could be in the form of online surveys, or through mobile phones.
Making of strategic decisions in consideration of the information gathered - The data collected from the market research will assist the staff at Diva Junction to make more accurate decisions that can be implemented as valid action plans.
Recommendations
In the process of setting goals and objectives, the firm can choose to focus on the brand awareness, which would help in assessing the expected buying behavior. It is also at this point that the target audience will be chosen since the market is definitely too large. In this case, the company can target youths aged between 16 and 30 since they are the ones that seem to shop most for summer due to the lifestyles they lead. Focusing on a particular group helps in minimizing error meaning the experts can more accurate results and realize a greater return on investment because of the reduced budget spent on marketing.
In the determination of the survey questions, the marketing team can focus on asking the target audience about their preferred designs, color themes, fabrics and suggestions as part of the qualitative segment. In terms of quantitative information, Diva Junction can ask about the expected price range, expected purchase quantity per store visit, and the age group as the main components that would influence the buyer behavior.
After selecting the questions, the company will have to choose a means of getting the questions to the audience. For this age group selected, both avenues of online social media and mobile device platforms are practical. The selection of these techniques is based on the nature of the audience, which is expected to be technology savvy. As for the collection, the two modes are also applicable because of the means of data collection that have been selected by the marketing team at Diva Junction.
The final step of the plan is to come up with decisions considered to be strategically appropriate after reviewing the collected data. The company can incorporate the floral print in bright colors such as neon blue, pink, green and yellow for the audience between 16 and 19. As for the group between 20 and 25, the more bandage-like designs would be better to allow them to show off their bodily features in their summer festivities. The colors are not critical for this group. The last group would be best suited with subtle colors such as sky blue and baby yellow skater-like dresses because they are free yet flattering to the body.
References
Liu, N., Ren, S., Choi, T., Hui, C., and Ng, S. (2013). Sales Forecasting for Fashion Retailing Service Industry: A Review. Mathematical Problems in Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/738675/
Overton, C., Volkman, C., and Silver-Pacuilla, H. (2008). Understanding Consumer Needs through Markey Research. Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits, 5(1), 1-6
