P3, P4, M1, M2, D1
Market research plan for a selected product using appropriate methods of data collection
I will be carrying out market research for an entrepreneur to help him decide whether opening a
coffee shop with free Wi-Fi, computer terminals and quality coffee in Wolverhampton would be a
good idea or not. Conducting market research before opening a new business or expanding into a
new market is essential in order for the company to do the right things to reach goals, make profits
and reach a break-even point in the shortest amount of time possible. Businesses must consider a
number of different things when deciding which market research method to use, including how
much they have to spend on it, the amount of time they have and the effectiveness and
appropriateness of different methods.
Objectives:
Before conducting research you must decide on research objectives which are what you wish to find
out from your research. Once objectives have been decided, it is easier to choose which research
method to use, which will achieve these objectives the best and provide you with the information
you need to open your business. Research can be done to find out a range of different things, for
example customers buying patterns, what customers prefer, competitors activity and what
advertising strategies work the best.
As you wish to open an internet coffee shop in Wolverhampton I have come up with objectives
which will help you decide whether this business idea can be turned into a successful reality. These
objectives are:
1. To investigate competition in the market/area.
2. Find out possible potential of the business and whether there is demand for the
service/product in the market.
3. To provide sufficient information and baseline for development of thorough business
proposals and the business plan documents.
Method:
In order to achieve these objectives, the correct information must be found; first I will decide
whether it will be best to use primary or secondary research and then which method I will use to
find out the information I need.
Firstly to find out what potential customers currently like about existing coffee shops and what there
ideal coffee shop would include, I will carry out primary research so I can directly ask potential
customers questions. To find this information I will conduct a questionnaire and hand it out to young
people in Wolverhampton town centre, because this is the target audience which the internet coffee
shop will be aimed at. From this questionnaire I will find out what will interest the target audience
the most and what the entrepreneur can include in their coffee shop which will draw customers in.
Handing out these questionnaires in the town centre would be more effective that doing an online
questionnaire because firstly you can hand it out to the ideal target audience to get the most useful
information- it would be pointless putting a questionnaire online and receiving responses from
people living in London as they will not be using the shop anyway. Secondly handing out a
questionnaire in person will get a higher response rate as opposed to an online/postal
questionnaire.