Marketing Management
I. Introduction
Market research is defined as the systematic and objective identification, collectiom, analysis, dissemination and use of information to improve the decision making process for identification and solutions to problems and opportunities in marketing . The techniques of marketing research shall be used in the current business scenario so as to prepare a business research plan to address the issues faced by Pincess Cruise Lines. The market research for Princess Cruise Lines involves two steps: 1) Identification of the marketing problem and 2) Solving the problems.
Princess Cruise Lines has observed that the average age of the guests served by them is increasing over the past few years. They believe that this target segment is expected to grow over the next few years and they wish to devise strategies so as to attract this market segment towards their brand. The need to design an effective positioning strategy to attract this market segment. The market segment is categorized by the brand as Healthy-indulger sub-segment. The company also wants to retain the current consumers that are relatively younger as these consumers shall mature and gradually reach the retirement age. The company needs to devise strategies to retain and attract this young market segment..
The six steps involved in the marketing research process include:
- Problem Definition
- Development of Approach to Problem
- Research Design
- Data Collection
- Data Preparation and Analysis
- Report Preparation and Presentation
The current research paper shall involve the first three steps of problem definition, development of approach to problem and research design for Princess Cruise Lines.
Problem Definition
The present research needs to address the following parts:1. Who are the customers? What are their demographic and psychographic characteristics?2. How can Princess Cruise Lines segment the market in the best possible manner?3.How do the customers feel about Princess Cruise Lines?
4. Are the customers loyal to Princess Cruise Lines? What is the level of loyalty among the customers?
The variables identified in the current research problem include the demographic factors (age of the target consumers), psychographic factors, the customer loyalty, size of the target segment and the attitude of the customers.
The research problems in the current case study is: 1) Should Princess Cruises target mature market segment? 2) How to increase customer loyalty among young customers?
Research Hypothesis
The research hypothesis for addressing the first research problem 1) Should Princess Cruises target mature market segment? include the following null and alternate hypothesis.
H0: Mature market segment is attractive target segment
H1: Mature market segment is not attractive target segment.
The research problem may be a management research problem and a market research problem.
II. Research Plan
A research design is the blueprint designed to conduct the maket research project and outlines the processes that need to be followed in order to solve the research problem .
The type of research design for the current study shall be descriptive research as it will help in the description of the characteristics of the population (demographic and psychographic factors for customers of Princess Cruise Lines). The study shall also help in determining the number of target customers in each segment that is segmented on the basis of demograohic factors of age and psychographics. The study shall also develop an understanding of the attitude of the customers towards the brand Princess Cruises and also help in identifying factors that may affect customer loyalty.
Longitudinal research design shall be used for the current study as it involves a fixed sample of population elements that are measured repeatedly . The sample in longitudinal research design remains the same over time and therefore such an analysis provides details about the changes that are taking place in the sample population over time. The other advantages of longitudinal research designs include detecting change, collecting large amount of data, and accuracy .
- Nature of the information to be collected:
The nature of information to be collected includes information on the following components:
- Who are the customers of Princess Cruise Lines? What are their demographic and psychographic characteristics? The research shall collect information on the current customers of Princess Cruise Lines and the segmentation of the customers on the basis of demographic characteristics of age and psychographic characteristics such as interest to travel and entertainment through cruises.
- The second component involves the identification of the most attractive target segment for Princess Cruise Lines on the basis of factors such as market size (number of customers in each segment), and their psychographic variables.
- The third component involves the collection of information to determine the attitude of the customers towards Princess Cruise Lines. This shall help in determining the current positioning of the brand in the minds of the customers.
- The fourth component involves the estimation of the customer loyalty for Princess Cruise Lines and identifying the factors that may affect customer loyalty.
- Identify the population of interest, the sampling frame, and the sample from which the data will be collected
The population of interest shall include the customers that use Princess Cruise Line services at different location served by the company. A population of interest is the collection of elements that possess the information for answering the research problems .
Population of interest for Princess Cruise Lines:
Males or Females that use Princess Cruise Line service for the past 1 year.
The sampling frame is defined as the representation of the elements of the target population . The sampling frame to identify the target population shall be the demographic and psychographic variables.
The samples from which the data shall be collected shall include the customers using the Princess Cruise Lines services for the past 12 months.
- Describe the instrument (e.g., questionnaire) to be used to collect the information – including scales to be used
The instruments used to collect the information shall include survey methods that involve a questionnaire that is in structure form and is presented to the respondents to collect specific information . The advantages of using survey method for data collection are that the questionnaire is simple to be administered and a fixed alternatives for answers also reduces the variability of the results . The disadvantages of surveys are that the respondents may not be willing to participate in the survey and also the respondents may not be accurate in their responses for questions related to attitude and behavior such as brand loyalty .
The scales that will be used in the current resrarch study shall include the use of ordinal scales, interval scales and ratio scales. The ordinal scales are used as they help in indicating the relative positioning of the objects. The interval scales shall help in the measurement of the attitudes. The ratio scales shall help in determing the maket share and the parameters such as age.
- Outline the fielding technique (the data collection method for administering the questionnaire, incentives, etc.)
The fielding technique that will be used for the data collection method shall be internet based, and email based surveys. The use of internet for surveys shall help in quicker collection of responses and faster data collection and shall also help in higher response rates and keepingthe cost of he research low.
- Explicitly state any known shortcomings of the research design.
The research design is longitudinal and therefore is non-representative in nature. This means that the sample collected for the research study may not be the true representative of the entire population. Response bias is also a disadvantage of the research design. The new respondents may give inaccurate responses so as to stay in the research. The panel members may lose interest over time and opt out of the research study. The initial incentives presented to the respondens may lose interest with time. For example if the Princess Cruise Lines provides discount to the customers that participate in the research study, the customers may be initially attracted to participate in the research study but may later loose interest in the research. The response error may be a common shortcoming of the research design as many respondents may not answer the questionnaire completely and such responses may have to be eliminated from the research study in order to maintain the validity and accuracy of the research data.
III. Conclusion
Princess Cruise Lines has observed that the average age of the guests served by them is increasing over the past few years. They believe that this target segment is expected to grow over the next few years and they wish to devise strategies so as to attract this market segment towards their brand. The need to design an effective positioning strategy to attract this market segment. The market segment is categorized by the brand as Healthy-indulger sub-segment. The company also wants to retain the current consumers that are relatively younger as these consumers shall mature and gradually reach the retirement age. The company needs to devise strategies to retain and attract this young market segment.
The techniques of marketing research shall be used in the current business scenario so as to prepare a business research plan to address the issues faced by Pincess Cruise Lines. The market research for Princess Cruise Lines involves two steps: 1) Identification of the marketing problem and 2) Solving the problems.
The present research needs to address the following parts:1. Who are the customers? What are their demographic and psychographic characteristics?2. How can Princess Cruise Lines segment the market in the best possible manner?3.How do the customers feel about Princess Cruise Lines?
4. Are the customers loyal to Princess Cruise Lines? What is the level of loyalty among the customers?
The variables identified in the current research problem include the demographic factors (age of the target consumers), psychographic factors, the customer loyalty, size of the target segment and the attitude of the customers.
The research problems in the current case study is: 1) Should Princess Cruises target mature market segment? 2) How to increase customer loyalty among young customers?
The type of research design for the current study shall be descriptive research as it will help in the description of the characteristics of the population (demographic and psychographic factors for customers of Princess Cruise Lines). The study shall also help in determining the number of target customers in each segment that is segmented on the basis of demograohic factors of age and psychographics. The study shall also develop an understanding of the attitude of the customers towards the brand Princess Cruises and also help in identifying factors that may affect customer loyalty.
Longitudinal research design shall be used for the current study as it involves a fixed sample of population elements that are measured repeatedly . The sample in longitudinal research design remains the same over time and therefore such an analysis provides details about the changes that are taking place in the sample population over time. The other advantages of longitudinal research designs include detecting change, collecting large amount of data, and accuracy .
The nature of information to be collected includes information on the following components:
- Who are the customers of Princess Cruise Lines? What are their demographic and psychographic characteristics? The research shall collect information on the current customers of Princess Cruise Lines and the segmentation of the customers on the basis of demographic characteristics of age and psychographic characteristics such as interest to travel and entertainment through cruises.
- The second component involves the identification of the most attractive target segment for Princess Cruise Lines on the basis of factors such as market size (number of customers in each segment), and their psychographic variables.
- The third component involves the collection of information to determine the attitude of the customers towards Princess Cruise Lines. This shall help in determining the current positioning of the brand in the minds of the customers.
- The fourth component involves the estimation of the customer loyalty for Princess Cruise Lines and identifying the factors that may affect customer loyalty.
The population of interest shall include the customers that use Princess Cruise Line services at different location served by the company. The samples from which the data shall be collected shall include the customers using the Princess Cruise Lines services for the past 12 months.
The instruments used to collect the information shall include survey methods that involve a questionnaire that is in structure form and is presented to the respondents to collect specific information . The advantages of using survey method for data collection are that the questionnaire is simple to be administered and a fixed alternatives for answers also reduces the variability of the results . The disadvantages of surveys are that the respondents may not be willing to participate in the survey and also the respondents may not be accurate in their responses for questions related to attitude and behavior such as brand loyalty .
The scales that will be used in the current resrarch study shall include the use of ordinal scales, interval scales and ratio scales. The ordinal scales are used as they help in indicating the relative positioning of the objects. The interval scales shall help in the measurement of the attitudes. The ratio scales shall help in determing the maket share and the parameters such as age. The fielding technique that will be used for the data collection method shall be internet based, and email based surveys. The use of internet for surveys shall help in quicker collection of responses and faster data collection and shall also help in higher response rates and keepingthe cost of he research low.
The research design may have certain limitations. The research design is longitudinal and therefore is non-representative in nature. Response bias is also a disadvantage of the research design. The panel members may lose interest over time and opt out of the research study.
It is expected that after conducting the research study in accordance with the selected research study Princess Cruises shall be able to collect valuable information for the following components:
1. Who are the customers? What are their demographic and psychographic characteristics?2. How can Princess Cruise Lines segment the market in the best possible manner?3. How do the customers feel about Princess Cruise Lines?
4. Are the customers loyal to Princess Cruise Lines? What is the level of loyalty among the customers?
The answers to the above questions shall help in finding the answers to the final research questions:
1) Should Princess Cruises target mature market segment?
2) How to increase customer loyalty among young customers?
References
Malhotra, N. K. (2004). Marketing Research An Applied Orientation. New Delhi: Pearson Education Inc.
