Marketing research and information system

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Marketing research and information system Case thirteen p269 : ipod Groupe 11 : Marion Delhaye Amélie Leclercq Eeva Siljala 1 Table of contents General

1 Marketing research and information system Case thirteen p269 : ipod Groupe 11 : Marion Delhaye Amélie Leclercq Eeva Siljala 1 Table of contents General presentation p 3 and p 4 Main issues p 5 to p 7 Question 1 p 8 to p 15 Question 2 p 16 to p 19 Question 3 p 20 to p 26 General conclusion p 27 Bibliography p 28 2

consumer electronics (Macintosh, Mac OS X,

3 billion 60 million computers sold since

2 Apple Inc Founded in 1976 by Jobs and Wozniak Computer hardware and software, consumer electronics (Macintosh, Mac OS X, ipod, ) Revenue : US $ 19.3 billion 60 million computers sold since the beginning 3 ipod products Portable media player conceived by Fadel 90 million products sold ipod shuffle, ipod nano, ipod, iphone, itunes Multitude of accessoiries 4

Apple can t afford to count on the current

online survey Builds a questionnaire of 17 multiple

3 Apple can t afford to count on the current excellent performance of ipod (e.g. strong competitors) Learning more about how consumers view ipod Marketing research : mail or online survey Builds a questionnaire of 17 multiple choice questions 5 Initial draft of the questions to be included on the questionnaire 6

4 Three Things Apple wants to know Ownership and usage patterns Number owned when used order purchased Features found most useful Different age groups use different features Accessories order purchased Attitudes Most important : style/image icon or functionality? 7 Question 1 Will the proposed questions in the questionnaire answer Apple s questions? Outline any problems and suggest solutions 8

5 Generals comments good size of the questionnaire multiple choice = easy to answer and makes the analysis easier questions are short, precise, understandable, without ambiguity 9 1. «Which of the following Apple products do you own?» Ownership patterns 2. «When do you use your ipod?» Usage patterns Question about the different situations not covered Combine questions 1 and 2 example When commuting/travelling When working/studying When shopping ipod ipod nano ipod shuffle 10

6 3. «Which accessories do you own?» Doesn t cover how or when they are used and bought Combine as above 4. «The ipod s desing is ahead of its time» Doesn t clearly cover any question 5. «The technical features of the ipod are miles ahead compared to other MP3 players» Covers the question about the functionality «itunes makes it easy to for me to find music I like» Is this necessary? 7. «I show off my ipod whenever I get the opportunity» Image/style icon 8. «Music is very important part of my life» Eliminate? 9. «It is easy to find the track I want on my ipod» Technical features 12

7 10. «I am able to find new artists I like using itunes» Repetition of question 6, eliminate? 11. «I talk about my ipod to anyone who will listen» Image/style icon 12. «Having an ipod impresses people I meet» Image/style icon 13. «I enjoy watching films a great deal» So what? «The ipod has better memory than other MP3 players» Technical features 15. «What is your income?» Eliminated? Remplaced by a question about the age 16. and 17. «Occupation and gender» 14

8 Problems and solutions Question ordering Add question about the age groups Only one question about the most useful features, rating from 1 to 5 (importance scale question) Eliminate or remplace questions 8, and Question 2 Assess the expertise required, and costs associated with, the two proposal survey methods. Wich design would you recommend and why? 16

9 Expertises required = four possibilities _ Do it yourself - personally - using a marketing research department - using a fieldwork agency Use the full services of a marketing research agency + Costs!! 17 Comparison of the two survey methods Resources Cost Speed of data collection Sampling Widely dispersed populations Response rates Experimental control Interwiewing Control of who complete questionnaire Interviewer bias Mail High Internet Very low Very high High /high 18

10 Recommendation = Apple uses its marketing research department Cheaper : no external costs, Apple has the professional, specialized people who can process effectively the internal database Faster : don t waste time to explain to any agency what it wants, have already the idea in mind Easier : simplicity of data obtaining and proceding 19 Question 3 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the two proposed methods. Wich one would you recommend and why? 20

11 Two survey methods 1. Sample Apple s customer database Divide it into owners of each category Mail 500 questionnaires to each group Collect answers Repeat the process until having answers that reflect the demographic characteristics of the owners of each group 2. Invite every 25th visitor to itunes website to answer the questionnaire until achieving responses 21 Method I Database ipod shuffle ipod nano ipod

12 Method II nb of visitors on itunes website nb of questionnaires answered Sampling methods 1st method 2nd method 1st phase 2nd phase Stratified random sampling Non random sampling quota sampling Random sampling Simple random sampling 24

13 Method I Sampling frame Only ipod s owners Distinction between current and new customers possible Reflects the demographic characteristic softhe owners Strenghts Sample unit Distinction between the 3 categories of owners Sample size Large enought (=3.000) Sample size Too many questionnaries to be sent to get this size of sample that will be representative of the demographic characteristics of the owners Weaknesses Timming Take very much time 25 Method II Sample size Strenghts Timming Sampling frame Weaknesses Sample unit Not obviously ipod owners Large enought Easy to get (at last) vistors on itunes webite Really fast No distinction possible between - current AND new owners - each category of ipod owners Don t reflect demographic characteristics Not obviously ipod owners Multiple response of the same person (incentive) 26

Recommendation = Apple uses the first sampling method to be as accurate as possible and to take full advantage of this survey, Apple has to implement a sampling method which takes into account and is

14 Recommendation = Apple uses the first sampling method to be as accurate as possible and to take full advantage of this survey, Apple has to implement a sampling method which takes into account and is representative of the demographic characteristics of the entire ipod owners population Even if hard to implement and expensive! 27 General conclusion The ideal survey method to meet Apple s expectations would be a questionnaire in three clear parts with closed-end questions: essentially multiple choice and also importance scale an Internet-based survey a stratified random sampling followed by a quota sampling 28

15 Bibliography Principles and practice of Marketing, 5th Edition, D. Jobber, chapter VII Marketing Management, P. Kotler, chapters IV and VI le_inc 29

Questions similar to the ones below have been found adequate to bring out the key issues in the case study.

Questions similar to the ones below have been found adequate to bring out the key issues in the case study. APPLE TEACHING NOTE The case can be used to illustrate the issues of make or buy and managing the supply chain. It is best used in the middle part of an operations strategy course. It not only introduces