Marketing Research Proposal AT1 PDF

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Assignment 1: Market Research Proposal
Teacher: Jay Ramayah...

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BSB50215 2019

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MARKETING RESEARCH PROPOSAL: LUCAS’ PAPAW OINTMENT By Nyah, Delmah and Taylah

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

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PROBLEM DEFINITION

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MARKETING RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

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INFORMATION REQUIRED

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METHODOLOGY USED

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TYPE OF RESEARCH

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MEASUREMENT TOOLS

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STAGES OF RESEARCH

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SAMPLE OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS

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BUDGET AND TIMELINE

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REQUESTED BY

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REFERENCING

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INTRODUCTION Lucas’ Papaw Remedies is a proud, local company supplying one of Australia’s most iconic products – its pure papaw ointment. This organic cream was formulated over 100 years ago by Dr T.P Lucas, a botanist and medical practitioner who owned a successful practice. Its high-quality ingredients had always predominantly been freshly fermented papaya with a pharmaceutical grade base and it has never changed over its long existence. The formula quickly became famous for treating numerous illnesses and injuries, now it is widely promoted across Australia, New Zealand and Asian countries. (Lucas’ Papaw Remedies, 2018).

PROBLEM DEFINITION Luca’s Papaw Remedies is a 108-year-old Australian family business manufacturing the iconic, original papaw ointment. However, the company has been faced with a large amount of consumer backlash due to misuse of the product. As many consumers have mistaken the ointment for a moisturising lip balm. With the original purpose of the product being lost over the years, a natural ointment for wounds. The companies lack social media or any form of marketing campaigns, has not helped with consumer confusion. As a result, the product has become less sort out by consumers. Throughout the confusion being faced by consumers the company released a new packaging design, which made the product easier for application as a lip balm. This marketing strategy only furthered consumer confusion, as the products new design was marketed as a lip product. Due to the design of the packaging most consumers would believe if the packing is designed to easily apply the product to the lips, the formulation should be moisturising and perform like a lip balm. However, the information on the back of the ointments packaging does not state the ointment should be used for lip nourishment. Instead reads it is a natural ointment for wounds and does work well to relieve chapped lips. This new addition of product packaging is a major oversite by the company, as many consumers have been left unsatisfied with the product. Without customer satisfaction, the main image surrounding the product loses reputation, lack of social media influence and any marketing campaign won’t help promote the product as an ointment. The company has publicly stated they are not media savvy, maintain a basic website, and are not active on social media, preferring to do business in an old-fashioned way (Swinglehurst, 2018).

MARKETING RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 1. Repromoted the brand for its intended purposes and with an ethical outlook, using social media and advertisement 2. Re-market the product as a healing, antibacterial ointment and move away from the idea existing; that the product is for moisturisation. 3. Build back consumer positivity, willingness to buy and support the product’s platform. Conducting research on Luca’s papaw ointment will further the amount of information on the product and understanding where the company went wrong in regard to product design, 3

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formulation, marketing and overall customer satisfaction. Allowing consumers opinions and concerns to be analysed, providing the organisation with information to remarket the ointment in a way that promotes a healthy business and consumer relationship. Using these objectives outlined above This research will help Luca’s papaw ointment improve on the image of the company, prompting a change within the organisations current marketing techniques. The organisation should look to promote the product for the original intended purpose, a healing ointment. In doing this, consumers will be more aware of the product's purpose will aid in avoiding overall confusion and misuse of the product. This will assist in building back a positive company image and increase consumers’ willingness to buy and support the family-owned business. The company should be contacted and consulted in regard to the proposal, allowing the findings of the research proposal to be beneficial in repromotion the ointment. As the ointment and company have been under consumer scrutiny as the product only contains 4% papaw and 96% petroleum, with petroleum being an ingredient of concern. Especially due to the mix up of the product's purpose, petroleum does not act as a moisturising ingredient as its purpose is to seal in the moisture already retained (Blow the surface, 2013).

INFORMATION REQUIRED The information that is required in order to complete this market research proposal includes extensive background research on the family-owned business, along with the thoughts of the primary consumers. An in-depth understanding of the company and product should be gained to extensively understand the problems that have previously and currently been faced by the product in the market. Marketing strategies, formulation, product design, target market, and overall customer satisfaction should be considered. Contact with the business owner should be considered, to further understanding of their company and processes in order to successfully promote the product in a way that meets the demands of the consumer and the organisation. The consumer should be analysed, as the main target market holds a key part to successfully analysing what consumers want to be changed, what should be done differently. Researching the characteristics of the main consumers will allow the research proposal to be tailored to the experience and problems they’ve personally experienced using the ointment, ensuring the final survey created gains valuable information from the primary consumer market.

METHODOLOGY USED Surveys: To complete the market research proposal a survey will be sent out to a minimum of 40 participants, containing structured and disguised questions. Using structured questions which have a limited number of responses allowed for submission. Combined with unstructured questions where the respondents can select multiple choices as a grouped answer. Undisguised questions, using straightforward questions assuming those taking part in the survey are willing to answer. Disguised questions should be used where necessary to reach a further understanding of a consumer’s personal experience and feelings towards the product without giving away key information that may bias the respondents.

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Non-interactive Media: The survey will be sent out to the sample group of 40 participants who have used the product previously through email. Email Surveys: The survey will be distributed out to the sample group of participants through email, which will be an effective method. Sending the survey through email will increase the time of distribution and will prompt a fast response from the participants and provides lower distribution and processing costs. Ethical Issues: The survey should aim to not include any gender, racial, age or religious bias. Each question that requires a participant to respond with personal information should be given the option to decline to do so. Personal information obtained throughout the process of the survey should only be used for the purposes outlined and should not be used for anything else, as it is confidential and sensitive information. Responses should be recorded honestly and should not be altered in any form of bias results.

TYPE OF RESEARCH Exploratory and some descriptive research will be conducted to analysing the target market of the product. Causal research is also a qualitative method, but unnecessary for this product’s proposal. All research will be performed using secondary data, exploratory research intends to only explore the research questions and study the problem. Despite not providing conclusive evidence, it will determine the research design, sampling and the method of collecting data (Research Methodology, 2019). On the other hand, descriptive research studies characteristics and the demographics of the target market population, this is helpful to define how and why the product’s purchasing patterns occur (Question Pro, 2019). This will begin with a survey that is manually constructed through Google Forms and email it out to at least 40 participants with at least 40 responses. In this process, a focus group will be effectively put together to collect open-ended responses out of bias and thoughts (Quain, 2019). They may be carried out to meet in a comfortable environment and talk about the experiences they’ve had with LPO. The research of secondary data is performed before or after this stage to establish accuracy and information. Sources will be found externally by studying the website information, social media platforms and general logistics and sales. It is important to look out for media reports and statistical data that are open to the public, then sharing any information will avoid consequences (Business Jargons, 2017).

MEASUREMENT TOOLS Quantitative methods are used when conducting online surveys. As the online surveys are conducted through Google Forms, the surveys will be emailed separately and 48 hours is the waiting period. Survey responses ware gathered together in a spreadsheet on Google Sheets. Google Forms will be used for this qualitative technique because it is simple to use, trusting and widely known itself. This way, a summary of responses can be placed and organised to your preferred way.

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For focus groups, the qualitative technique would put the product problem in the perspective of the audience. A question will also be included in each survey for whether or not they’d like to participate in a focus group meeting and the award they may get out of it. 10 research questions from the sample will be selected to ask the group although they are laid out in concentrated activities using sticky notes and pens. Data will be recorded with responses, notes and feedback from the meeting. Another qualitative method in this research would only be the study of secondary data, this is because there was limited knowledge on the problem definition. This means researching the given information on the original website as well as going through customer reviews. External websites may also be looked upon like blogs, newsletters and articles to see what they say about the product, Facebook may also hold relevant information about the company. Yearly data reports and profit summaries are normally public and may also be researched (Business Jargons, 2017).

STAGES OF RESEARCH A market survey will be created to email out to about 60 people or so, at least 40 responses to this survey are needed. 10 need to be close-ended using specific attitude scales, 5 should be open questions that can extend to other subjects like experiences and the last 5 must be demographic questions. Participants will be chosen for a focus group of 8-10 people, 10 questions will be mentioned and evaluated during this process. Secondary research may be conducted at any time during these stages, firstly the situation is diagnosed by setting priorities and gathering information. Then determine alternatives to time and budget constraints while testing concepts for new strategies, therefore new ideas can be generated for marketing purposes.

SAMPLE OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. Research question 1 will examine how often they had to use this product. 2. Research question 2 will examine if the product is affordable for them 3. Research question 3 will examine whether or not they would share/recommend this product to others 4. Research question 4 will examine how the respondents rate the product on 1 to 10 scales 5. Research question 5 will examine if they were satisfied with the product’s outcome 6. Research question 6 will examine how the respondents feel towards the product 7. Research question 7 will examine if they feel that the product packaging is informative 8. Research question 8 will examine if the respondents agree that the product fulfils its healing purposes. 9. Research question 9 will examine if the respondents think there should be more awareness made for the product

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10. Research question 10 will examine if the respondent Is aware the product should ideally be used as an ointment not a lip balm 11. Research question 11 will examine if customers/people have had problems using this product 12. Research question 12 will examine what they believe the product is most commonly known for 13. Research question 13 will examine what purpose the respondents use the ointment for 14. Research question 14 will examine if the respondent Is aware the product should ideally be used as an ointment not a lip balm 15. Research question 15 will examine what benefits they have experienced when using this product 16. Research question 16 will examine gender 17. Research question 17 will examine the age 18. Research question 18 will examine where they go to buy this product 19. Research question 19 will examine if the product is affordable for them 20. Research question 20 will examine if the product is child-friendly

BUDGET AND TIMELINE Analysing and identifying the current market needed for the Lucas’ Papaw Ointment. An estimated time of 1 week will be needed. This time will be used to understand the current market, assessing the consumer's needs and whether they have been met. When focusing on the consumer segmentation part of the research this will identify consumer segments that share similar or common characteristics amongst the consumers. Variables such as age, gender, location of where the product can be easily accessed, and also look at lifestyle and purchasing motivations. Conducting an online market survey. In order to receive feedback from a total number of 40 minimum participants, an online survey done on google forms consisting of 20 questions will be prepared and sent to 60 participants who have used or are currently using the Lucas Papaw ointment. This will be sent out at the beginning of the week to ensure an adequate amount of time is provided for the participants to thoroughly answer all questions and ensure maximum feedback from all participants who may be busy and need more time. The survey questions will include 10 closed-ended questions, 5 open question and 5 demographic questions, this will be prepared on google forms which do not incur any costs.

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 ocus group consisting of 8-10 participants. F This will be held in Southbank at no cost as it will be in a public area however a total of 10 pieces of 25grams Lucas Papaw Ointment will be purchased from Chemist Warehouse at the cost of $5.99 a total expenditure of $60.00. This focus group will participate in an activity that will focus on the product itself, and 10 elaborate questions will be taken from the first 20 questions to retrieve primary data from these survey questions. This will take 24 hours to provide incentives (the 25grams of Lucas’ papaw ointment) for people to participate in the focus group activity; all information gathered will then be compiled and provided as primary research. Inclusively, a significant amount of detailed secondary research will be done within these time frames which saves effort and expenses. Overall an estimated time of three weeks and a total expenditure of $70.00 ($60.00 for the 10pcs of 25g of Papaw ointment) plus an additional $10.00 for the focus group activity to be spent on pens and sticky notes that can be bought at the Reject shop in the city, this will be budgeted for this market research. All primary research will be conducted online and in Southbank which is deemed the most convenient location as it is less than 5 minutes away from the city, this reduces costs and travelling and saves time.

REQUESTED BY Jay Ramayah Tafe Queensland South Bank

REFERENCING Below the surface, 2013, Lucas papaw vs Vaseline , viewed 7 August 2019: http://lookbelowthesurface.blogspot.com/2013/06/lucas-papaw-v-vaseline.html Business Jargons, 2017, Secondary Data Collection Methods , viewed 14 August 2019: https://businessjargons.com/secondary-data-collection-methods.html Lucas’ Papaw Remedies, 2019, Our Company , viewed 6 August 2019: https://lucaspapaw.com.au/our-company/ Quain, S, 2019, The Focus Group Research Method , viewed 14 August 2019: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/focus-group-research-method-17464.html Question Pro, 2019, Descriptive Research: Definition , viewed 14 August 2019: https://www.questionpro.com/blog/descriptive-research/ Research Methodology, 2019, Exploratory Research , viewed 14 August 2019: https://research-methodology.net/research-methodology/research-design/exploratory-researh/ Swinglehurst, 2018, Setting the story straight, v  iewed 7 August 2019: https://lucaspapaw.com.au/setting-the-story-straight/ Chemist Warehouse, 2019, Lucas Papaw Ointment, viewed 21 August 2019: https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/buy/41820/Lucas-Papaw-Ointment-25g

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Euromonitor International, 2019, Lucas Papaw Ointment , viewed 21 August 2019: https://blog.euromonitor.com/8-ways-identify-market-opportunities-business-growth/

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