The Purpose & Methods of Market Research (AQA GCSE Business)

Swim to Success (STS) is a programme that teaches young children how to swim through weekly lessons. It was developed by Jade Jackson, an ex-Olympic swimmer. Jade employs swimming instructors who deliver the programme using the pool facilities at gyms across the North East of England.

To help bring in extra revenue and cover her costs, Jade is developing a new business plan to launch a range of Swim to Success branded swimming products. Jade gave questionnaires to parents to find out which products would be the most popular and what prices people would pay. The results of one of Jade’s questions is below:

Jade was also planning to sell her products through the STS website, where parents currently book lessons. To develop the e-commerce part of the website, more investment is needed, particularly to make sure payment information is secure. Once the website has been developed, Jade thinks she will be able to manage it herself. However, she would be unable to package and post orders every day as she thinks that she has more important priorities. For example, responding to customer queries, organising employee timetables and checking cashflow.

Another option for Jade is to sell her products at the gyms where STS lessons take place. Most of the gyms already have a small area with goods for sale, such as water bottles, gym bags and towels; however Jade would have to negotiate a monthly rental fee.

Swim to Success (STS) is a programme that teaches young children how to swim through weekly lessons. It was developed by Jade Jackson, an ex-Olympic swimmer. Jade employs swimming instructors who deliver the programme using the pool facilities at gyms across the North East of England.

To help bring in extra revenue and cover her costs, Jade is developing a new business plan to launch a range of Swim to Success branded swimming products. Jade gave questionnaires to parents to find out which products would be the most popular and what prices people would pay. The results of one of Jade’s questions is below:

Jade was also planning to sell her products through the STS website, where parents currently book lessons. To develop the e-commerce part of the website, more investment is needed, particularly to make sure payment information is secure. Once the website has been developed, Jade thinks she will be able to manage it herself. However, she would be unable to package and post orders every day as she thinks that she has more important priorities. For example, responding to customer queries, organising employee timetables and checking cashflow.

Another option for Jade is to sell her products at the gyms where STS lessons take place. Most of the gyms already have a small area with goods for sale, such as water bottles, gym bags and towels; however Jade would have to negotiate a monthly rental fee.

Reusable drinks bottles are becoming more popular. Jake Webb is a product designer. A couple of years ago, Jake noticed that young people wanted to drink cold water on the go without having to buy single-use plastic bottles. He thought there was a gap in the market for lightweight, stylish bottles.

Last year, Jake developed a product he called the BEco Bottle. He bought some second-hand equipment to begin manufacturing bottles. The equipment can only produce small quantities meaning the unit cost per bottle is high. Jake has had to turn down orders with tight deadlines because production is so slow. Jake has also struggled to find a supplier who can provide the materials in the small quantities he needs. He eventually found a supplier, but it was unwilling to negotiate on the price.

When he set up his business, Jake used the Internet to collect secondary market research for his business plan. He used an Internet search engine to try and find up-to-date information to support his idea. Jake found a market research report from three years before. The report did not focus on Jake’s target market and he did not recognise the name of the company that had conducted the research. However, it did help him identify sales figures and trends for reusable bottles.

Sonya has been working for a large business selling party products.

She recently organised a party for her daughter. Sonya’s friends were so impressed they have asked her to organise parties for their children.

Sonya visited a local play group to carry out primary market research. She asked 40 parents there to complete a survey. Sonya wanted to find out if these parents would pay her to organise a party for their children. The results of two questions are below.

Question 1 – On average how much do you spend on your child’s party

Question 2 – Would you use a party planner?

Sonya believes she has identified a gap in the market for organising children’s parties and is planning to start her own business.

TradeUp is a high street retailer that buys, sells and exchanges second-hand entertainment products and technology. These products include video games, mobile phones and tablet computers. TradeUp was established in 2002. The number of TradeUp stores since 2015 is shown below.

To keep up with a growing market, TradeUp has used franchising since 2015 to expand rapidly as it had limited funds available to set up stores itself. To open a TradeUp franchise, each franchisee must make an initial investment of £150 000. This money is used to design and fit the shop, purchase opening stock and train managers. Franchisees must pay TradeUp an ongoing royalty fee of 7% of their revenue.

One franchisee is Amelia Appleby. Amelia has had an idea to sell home appliances such as vacuum cleaners and microwaves, but she is unsure which products would be popular. Amelia is keen to present her idea to TradeUp as soon as possible, but she knows that she needs market research to support her proposal. Although Amelia is busy running her store, she has decided to conduct a focus group with her regular customers. To encourage customers to participate, Amelia will pay each of them a small fee. In the past, Amelia has used questionnaires to collect feedback from customers. These were placed on the shop counter for four weeks for customers to complete, but she had a very low response rate.

Reusable drinks bottles are becoming more popular. Jake Webb is a product designer. A couple of years ago, Jake noticed that young people wanted to drink cold water on the go without having to buy single-use plastic bottles. He thought there was a gap in the market for lightweight, stylish bottles.

Last year, Jake developed a product he called the BEco Bottle. He bought some second-hand equipment to begin manufacturing bottles. The equipment can only produce small quantities meaning the unit cost per bottle is high. Jake has had to turn down orders with tight deadlines because production is so slow. Jake has also struggled to find a supplier who can provide the materials in the small quantities he needs. He eventually found a supplier, but it was unwilling to negotiate on the price.

When he set up his business, Jake used the Internet to collect secondary market research for his business plan. He used an Internet search engine to try and find up-to-date information to support his idea. Jake found a market research report from three years before. The report did not focus on Jake’s target market and he did not recognise the name of the company that had conducted the research. However, it did help him identify sales figures and trends for reusable bottles.