Applied Marketing Research Part 2 PDF

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Summary

This is a follow on from part 1, where the actual research had taken place and this part drew up conclusions from the research....

Description

Rosie McGee 1604418 Applied Marketing Research Customer Experience at Zara 3546/3500 words +/- 10%

Table of Figures

Figure No.

Description

Page No.

Figure 1.

Table to show questionnaire

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details. Figure 2.

Questionnaire questions.

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Figure 3.

Focus group details.

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Figure 4.

Screenshot of Zara online

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review. Figure 5.

Question 1 Results

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Figure 6.

Question 2 results.

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Figure 7.

Question 12 results.

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Figure 8.

Question 5 results.

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Figure 9.

Question 17 results.

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Part A - Methodology Introduction to Zara …………………………………………………………...Page 2 Research Aims and Objectives..……………………………………………..Page 2

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Quantitative Research………………………………………………………...Page 3-4 Qualitative Research…………………………………………………………...Page 5-7 Sampling Techniques………………………………………………………….Page 7-8 Part B - Data Collection & Analysis Secondary Data ………….……………………………………………………Page 8-9 Primary Data- Questionnaire …..…………………………………………….Page 9-13 Primary Data - Focus Group………………………………………………….Page 13-15 Part C - Conclusions and Recommendations Conclusions and Recommendations……………………………………....Page 15-16 Reflection on Ethical Challenges…………………………………………..Page 17 Reference List………………………………………………………………..Page 17-18

PART A Introduction

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Retailer Zara is a Spanish clothing brand based in Galicia, Spain founded by Amancio Ortega in 1975. Zara is one of the worlds largest international fashion companies belonging to Inditex, the worlds biggest fashion group. Inditex also owns brands such as Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe (BusinessofFashion.com, 2018 [Online]). Ruddick (2014), explains that Zara is successful because of the brands way of ‘connecting between stores, inhouse designers and its factories’, twice a week there are orders made by store managers based on sales and anecdotal evidence from what shoppers have shown interest in store and this is then updated with new products and an order is sent out within two days (Ruddick, 2014 [Online]). It is clear to see that Zara is ahead of other fast fashion brands due to the nature of the business model and reaction to change in the industry, however, there has been recent revelation on how the company operates and the way factory workers are treated has been scrutinised in current media. Research Aim and Objectives Research Questions What are the critical and most frequent issues affecting customer satisfaction and driving the behaviour of Zara’s customers for instore and online purchases?

Research Objectives

1. To determine whether Zara’s customers’ in-store expectations are being adequately addressed by current business practices

2. To determine whether Zara’s customer online expectations are being met, and if issues happen are they being resolved

3. To explore what improvements customers want to make their shopping experiences more positive.

Methodology

Quantitative Research Questionnaire

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Survey techniques are based on the use of structured questionnaires given to a sample of a population (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). The questions asked can be asked ‘verbally’, ‘in writing’, or ‘via a computer’ (Malhotra and Birks, 2003).

Surveys are ‘simple to administer’ and the ‘data obtained are consistent because the responses are ‘limited’ meaning, there are only few answers the respondent can give, therefore less analysis is needed and less subjectivity. On the other hand, sensitivity may be an issue to respondents and affect their answers given as if information being asked is ‘sensitive’ or ‘personal’ they may not respond in a way that is true to them, lowering the validity.

The quantitative method of research that will be used to answer the research aims and objectives on Zara is an online questionnaire as it is low costing and there is no interviewer bias or the cost of an interviewer to gain this type of data (Proctor, 2000). The respondent is able to reply in their own time, and have a lot of time to think about their response, this can increase validity of the questionnaire. The survey will be available online and posted on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to prompt people to partake in the survey. This will attract a large amount of participants and generate a large amount of respondents. It is hoped to receive at least 50 responses.

How will the data be collected?

Questionnaire accessible online only

When?

Available online from 19th March-16th April 2018

Where?

Online

How?

Online survey.

Figure 1. Table to show questionnaire details.

Questions Age?

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Gender? When did you last visit a Zara store? How did you feel when visiting this store? Please specify what made you feel this way? How would you describe Zara in terms of tidiness in store? Did you have contact with any staff in Zara? If yes, how would you describe the staff? Based on your experiences at Zara, what do you think they do well? When did you last order something online at Zara? To what extent do you agree or disagree? Zara's online presence (app/website) is easy to navigate Zara's online customer service is good If I have an issue with my Zara order I have no doubt Zara will rectify my issue I prefer to shop online at Zara rather than in store Which high street brands do you shop at the most? Generally, how would you describe the quality of products at Zara? Is there a Zara store in your local city/town centre? If no, please specify how far away the closest is Do you think Zara is overpriced? Would you be interested if Zara made a loyalty/points scheme available? How could your experience at Zara be improved?

Figure 2. Questionnaire questions.

Qualitative Research Qualitative research is a way of collecting primary data, it is to understand the richness, depth and complexity of consumers (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Researchers use qualitative research to help generate hypotheses Malhotra and Birks (2003). Examples of qualitative research are; focus groups, in depth interviews, observations (overt or covert) and ethnography.

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Focus Groups A focus group is a discussion conducted by a trained moderator in a non structured and natural manner with a small group of respondents (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Malhotra and Birks (2003) explain that focus groups provide an insight into the participants ‘feelings and ‘behaviour’ using their language and logic in an environment where respondents feel relaxed. Below is a table with details for how the focus groups will be conducted as this is the chosen qualitative research method for Zara’s customer experience research.

Type of Group

Mini Group 4-5 participants

Moderator

Observational, interpersonal and communication skills (Malhotra and Birks, 2003).

Group Composition

Mixture of ages/gender

Number of Groups

1

Recruitment

Advertisement of market research for Zara

Topics Discussed/ Projective Techniques

1. If Zara was a person, how would you describe him/her? 2. If you went in-store to purchase a specific item at Zara which you then learnt was out of stock, how would you feel? Would you feel angry, disappointed, would you go elsewhere to find a similar item, or would you buy it online? 3. What is your favourite high street fashion brand? If not Zara, how does this brand compare to Zara and how could Zara improve to be more like this brand? 4. Does it put you off when a store is messy? Or do you understand that because of the popularity and low price of Zara this is inevitable 5. Have you ever had an issue with ordering from Zara?

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How well did they rectify the issue? 6. How do you feel when entering a Zara store? 7. What are your reasons for shopping at Zara rather than a competitor like Topshop? 8. Do you think Zara is priced appropriately? 9. If you were to choose one high street shop to shop for the rest of your life what would it be? 10. Is there anything in particular you go to zara for? 11. Do you find think Zara's clothes have good wear and tear? 12. Would you buy a Zara product as a gift for someone? Recording

Voice recording of the discussion so that it can be studied in detail afterwards.

Time

Each group will be allocated an hour.

Venue

Small room.

Figure 3. Focus group details. A key benefit to focus groups is the ‘creative discussion’ generated as participants are able to talk about and explain how they feel in a way that they are ‘comfortable’ (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Limitations of this data collection method are how ‘intimidating’ a group scenario may be to some respondents, some may be ‘self conscious’ and ‘feeling they may be ridiculed by others’ (Malhotra and Birks, 2003), this can affect the answers from respondents and make their responses invalid as they may be just agreeing with what other participants say due to not wanting to feel like ‘the odd one out’. A focus group has been chosen as one of the methods of research due to the effectiveness of the method. As Malhotra and Birks (2003) states, a focus group can provide a ‘snowballing effect’ where one person's comment can trigger a chain reaction from other respondents. This can create an interesting, in depth discussion creating valuable feedback for Zara. The groups answers will be spontaneous, and not preempt therefore showing true feelings and an accurate view of how they feel (Malhotra and Birks, 2003).

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An online questionnaire has also been chosen as a research method, the reason for it being available online is so that ideally there is limited social desirability, where according to Malhotra and Birks (2003), respondents will give answers that they believe and socially acceptable or what other people may put. This is something that may have skewed results and affected feedback for Zara if a physical or face-to-face questionnaire/interview may have been chosen. Sampling Techniques

Non probability Sampling An example of a non probability sampling technique is ‘convenience sampling’ which, according to Malhotra and Birks (2003), is a way of obtaining a sample of convenient elements where, respondents are selected because they happen to be there at the time. Convenience sampling is a practical way of gaining respondents as it is the ‘least expensive’ and ‘least time consuming’ out of all sampling techniques (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Quota sampling is another non probability technique which is ‘used extensively in street interviewing’ where there is a developing of control characteristics, or quotas, of population elements such as age and gender (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Probability Sampling Simple random sampling is a probability sampling technique where ‘each possible sample of a given size has a known and equal probability of being the sample actually selected’ (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). For research into Zara’s customer experience, a sample for the focus group will be gathered by using a non probability technique ‘judgmental sampling’ which is a ‘form of convenience sampling in which population elements are selected based on judgment of the researcher’ (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). This technique will be used due to the ‘inexpensive, convenient and quickness’ of it (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). It is important that the sample used will have had shopped at Zara before so that they can answer questions on their in store and online experiences. For the questionnaire, the sampling technique will be self selecting, with less control of a researcher. As the questionnaire is available online and is able to be shared, there is no control over who answers the questions or how the questions are answered. This has an element of

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convenience sampling where respondents ‘happen to be in the right place at the right time (Malhotra and Birks, 2003), for example have come across the questionnaire online at the right time and decide to answer it. To make sure the sample is ethical, the covering of the questionnaire will state ‘This questionnaire will be looking at customer in store and online experiences when shopping at Zara. Participants must be age 18+ and have shopped at Zara at least once. Thank you in advance’. This is to make sure that respondents are over the age of 18, it also makes it clear that respondents need to have shopped at Zara at least once due to the nature of questions. PART B Secondary Data According to Malhotra and Birks (2003), secondary data is ‘data that have already been collected for purposes other than the problem at hand’, ‘before collecting primary data, the researcher should locate and analyse relevant secondary data’. Strengths of secondary data include ‘easily accessible’, ‘inexpensive’ and ‘quickly obtained’ (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Although, it is unlikely for only secondary to answer and identify everything needed in research, it can help to; diagnose the research problem, develop an approach to the problem, develop a sampling plan and formulate an appropriate research design - identifying variables to measure or understand (Malhotra and Birks, 2003). Some limitations of secondary data include ‘the data has been collected for purposes other than the problem including relevance and accuracy’ (Malhotra and Birks, 2003) this can make secondary data less useful in comparison to primary research as it may not be giving the data that is wanted.

Figure 4. Screenshot of Zara online review (Trustpilot, 2018).

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According to Trustpilot (2018), Zara has an overall rating of 1* in terms of their customer service with 88% of 229 reviews leaving bad feedback. Comments were left on the forum such as ‘absolutely horrendous customer service’ and ‘Never use Zara, they do not care’ and ‘Don’t ever shop online at Zara’. Overall, there were generally negative comments about customer service, the website, returns policies and Zara as a brand in general. It was significant that there was such a large amount of bad feedback rather than good feedback. Primary Data Questionnaire Analysis Below will be a presentation of findings gathered from the 18 question survey that gained 67 responses.

Figure 5. Question 1 Results. The first question asked the consumer for their age. Responses to this question were significant as it showed that 76.5% (52/68) of respondents were an age of 18-25 and only 1 respondent aged 25-35. This could implicate that Zara is successfully targeting a younger audience ages 18-25 but then not so successfully gaining consumers of the ages 25-35. This is interesting the survey shows that the next largest age group of Zara consumers then jumps to the ages of 3545.

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Figure 6. Question 2 results. Only 5 males responded to the survey whereas 63 females had responded. This statistic is reiterated in question 18 ‘How could your customer experience at Zara could be improved?’ which had one response of ‘A better menswear selection’. This is surprising as the menswear market is currently growing faster than the womenswear market, it would be expected that Zara would take advantage of this trend and create more focus on menswear (Fashionunited.uk, 2018). According to Fashion United (2018) Zara’s is the fifth biggest menswear company in apparel. This figure would assume that a lot of marketing and targeting would be aimed at men which has not been shown in this survey. Answers related to Zara’s staff was a recurring trend throughout the survey, with mixed opinions but the majority of respondents having negative feedback on staff in Zara. For example respondents were asked how they felt when they last visited a Zara store ‘Very happy, Happy, Undecided, Unhappy, Very unhappy’ 16 answered with ‘undecided’ and 3 ‘unphappy’ and 1 ‘very unhappy’ the next question asked respondents to ‘please specify what made you feel this way’. Some answers based on staff were ‘The people that work in there were very unwelcoming and unhelpful made me feel worthless’, ‘Not many staff around, clothes are a mess and thrown around everywhere’, ‘The staff weren’t very friendly’, ‘Not very friendly’, ‘Staff are rude’, ‘Staff don't go out the way to help you but love the items I bought’, ‘Rude cash worker’ and ‘Sales assistants were snobbish and rude’. These comments would explain some the answers of ‘unhappy, very unhappy and undecided’. This shows obviously that there is an overall issue with some of the staff in Zara. It would be wrong to assume that this is the same for every Zara store as the question asked about the ‘last visit’ and the majority of respondents may be from the same area therefore commenting on the same stores.

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Another question with regards to Zara staff asked was ‘if you had any contact with staff at Zara, how would you describe them?’. This resulted in the majority (17 respondents) answering ‘friendly’ which is positive, however 11 respondents answered with ‘unfriendly’ this shows that the customer experience at Zara can be very different and that it depends which store you are shopping and who you may get serving you. Respondents that answered with ‘other’ and specified their answer with ‘distant’, ‘seemed a bit bored’ and ‘Can be quite rude at times, seem disinterested in customers’. Overall, there was a negative theme when when talking about staff at Zara.

Figure 7. Question 12 results. Respondents were asked ‘To what extent do you agree or disagree with the statements below… I prefer to shop online at Zara rather than in store’ this came with a clear response of 18 voting 1 meaning they would rather shop in store than online and only 8 voting 10 - those who would prefer to shop online than in store. This is significant as it shows despite the negative comments on tidiness of Zara stores, customers would still rather shop in store than online. This is interesting as currently the assumption is that etail is taking over physical retail stores and taking away in store sales. This would show Zara that they may need to bring some focus to their stores merchandising, tidiness, customer service overall experience e.t.c.so that their customers stay loyal to them.

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Figure 8. Question 5 results. When asked ‘how would you describe Zara in terms of tidiness in store?’ respondents answered mostly with ‘okay’, then with ‘tidy’ from this, it can be assumed that most of the time Zara stores are tidy, however as most answers are with ‘okay’ meaning that the tidiness could be better. As stated above, this is something that could be worked on to make sure customers keep shopping in store at Zara as this is what Zara’s customers prefer to do, rather than shop online. Focus Group Analysis The focus group commenced on 26th March 2018 with 4 participants, 3 females and 1 male with an age range of 19-23 years old. The first question asked was ‘If Zara was a person, how would you describe him/her? The female respondents answered with ‘indie’, ‘fashionable’, ‘neutral’, ‘floral’ and the male participant answered with ‘stylish’ and ‘cosmopolitan’. When asked ‘what do you mean by cosmopolitan’ he replied with ‘ ...