EOC: Forced Choice

Shantay Reaze

The person that I think had the best project in the class is Shantay.

Her project was intriguing since she was trying to add something new to her company to increase profit.  Her hypothesis was very well researched and she even looked at other companies in order to understand if the online catalog process was working for them. I think it was also clever how she threw in a go green and how paper printing is slowly declining it shows she did her research and even knew how to catches peoples attention with what is going on in todays life. Her presentation board was also very nice it was easy to read and understand and I enjoyed how she put her analysis on the board so you didn’t have to reflect back to her blog the ony thing wrong were parts of her board were not as cleanly cut, though overall I think she did a great job.

Leah Oberle

The project that I believe did second best in the class was Leah. When reading her final analysis it was easy to understand and her research made sense and would help improve her stores profit. When reading through her questions they fit well with her hypothesis and from the questions it was easy to understand what she was trying to figure out from this survey. Her board was the most professional out of the class it had clean lines and was easy to read the graphs and writing. Her hypothesis seemed as though she knew what her company needed in order to make more money through their sale products. The only thing I wish she would of done in the analysis was talk about what happened when she had people take the survey there was no information on the survey process. Out of the projects in the class to me hers was more to the point and put together.

Kassadie Moore

I put my own project last manly because my creative skills on the project board were not the best they could have been and lacked luster as well as straight lines. Though I do feel that the research I did in order to increase loyalty and profit at Nordstrom was very well understood and well researched. My hypothesis put something together that Nordstrom has been trying to improve on for years and hit one of the main reasons people shop there in the first place. My questions were well placed out by starting to understand about Nordstrom loyal customers and then moving a long from there. The questions were not erratic but rather played off one another in order to gain full knowledge.

Week 10 EOC: Evaluation

Since this class is an independent study it is a little more difficult not having too much time to spend in class to go over what is needed or expected for this class but since I have had many other classes that were leading up to this one I was able to figure out what was expected from past experience. So far in this class I have gained knowledge in marketing research and what it can do for a company. By learning the basic marketing research and how it can be applied to marketing techniques. Through the different techniques we have gone through in this class such as watching movies like 9to5 and Big have helped understand when it is a good time to use marketing research in order to help a company be better then it was. Marketing research is about knowing, understanding, and evaluating. As human beings we want to understand why things are happening. We also want to identify the best choice from the alternatives available to use and then measure the success of that choice. Marketing research can be fast, in the sense that can be completed quickly, it can be good, in the sense that the results can reflect time accurately, and it can be cheap, in the sense that the researcher can choose a less costly design among comparable research designs. I have enjoyed learning what marketing research has to offer and hope to one day be able to use in the future. During this class I have kept up with most of my blog posts and tweets though I was absent week 8 I did do the research products but I feel that they were not as strong as they could have been so I gave myself a lower grade. On my final project effort went into the survey it self and the final analysis though the board project didn’t not turn out, as it should have been. With the work I have done in this class I feel the grade that I deserve is an “B.”

Final Project Graphs

What is your favorite event to join that Nordstrom offers?

Would you sign up for a Nordstrom card if you could come to events before anyone else?

What kind of perks would influence you to use your Nordstrom card more?

On average how many times do you purchase at Nordstrom per month?

On average how many times do you shop at Nordstrom per month?

As a Nordstrom cardholder how often do you come to Nordstrom event?

As a non Nordstrom cardholder how often do you shop the events?

Would you feel comfortable with a Nordstrom employee calling you about exclusive events?

Final Project Analyzation

Would adding more exclusive perks for Nordstrom cardholders will bring more loyal customers to shop specifically at Nordstrom and increase profit

We set out on this survey Sunday, June 3 2012, to examine that if Nordstrom added more exclusive perks for Nordstrom cardholders more people open cards which will bring Nordstrom more loyal customers to shop specifically at Nordstrom and increase profit. In order to examine if adding more perks would be useful to the company, we began by asking questions that would help us determine if most of the customers of the store were loyal to the store or if they just stop in occasionally, because if most people just stop in occasionally they will not likely be interested in exclusive perks offered to them or even be interested in opening a Nordstrom card. According to our survey we discovered that 36% of people shop at Nordstrom 4-6 times a month and out of those 4-6 times they make around 0-3 purchases, From this information was can see that most of our customers who shop at Nordstrom are loyal customers but they only make a purchase about every other time they are there.

Once we discovered that Nordstrom has many loyal customers we took it a step further to see if we could make already loyal customers shop more and if we could add more loyal customers to the company if opening a Nordstrom card meant they would have more exclusive opportunities.  The customers who are already loyal shop there for many reasons to come to their favorite event or for the quality customer service. We asked those loyal customers what would make them get a Nordstrom card 64% said that they would get a Nordstrom card if they were able to get early access to their favorite Nordstrom event. From that we asked which event is their favorite to come in a shop 36% said the Anniversary sale was their favorite one to shop. To discover if opening a Nordstrom card would increase profit at an event we asked already Nordstrom cardholders how often they attended an event 51% said always. We then asked customers who do not have a Nordstrom card how often they shopped an event 52% said sometimes.

Through this survey we have discovered that Nordstrom customers are looking for something exclusive they are willing to be a part of Nordstrom if they are allowed exclusive opportunities above any other customer. This led us to discover that allowing people with a Nordstrom card to come shop the Anniversary sale products before customers without a Nordstrom card they are more likely to spend more money then coming to the first day of the event. Overall I feel that the information gathered from the survey indicates that if Nordstrom offered early access to there top events for Nordstrom card holders that more people would be willing to open a card which would increase their profit. 

Week 8 EOC: Questions

By adding more exclusive perks and events for Nordstrom cardholders will bring more loyal customers to shop specifically at Nordstrom

Do you have a Nordstrom card?

Yes or No

How many retail cards do you have?

1-3

3-5

5 or more

What is your favorite event to join that Nordstrom offers?

Half-yearly sale

Anniversary Sale

10 point reward night

Trunk shows

Would you sign up for a Nordstrom card if you could come to events before anyone else?

Yes or No

What kind of perks would influence you to use your Nordstrom card more?

Free alterations

Free shipping

Exclusivity to events

More money back for every dollar spent

Would you feel comfortable about a Nordstrom employee calling you to let you know about events?

Yes or no

What alterations perk would influence you to open a Nordstrom card?

$100 free alterations throughout the year

Free alterations on all full priced denim

Nordstrom offers specific days that you can get double or triple points, would you become a cardholder if you could pick the days you received these through out the year?

Yes or no

What kind of perks would you use as a cardholder?

Week 9 EOC: Current Status

My survey hypothesis is that if Nordstrom would offer more exclusive events to for Nordstrom card holders then they would increase loyalty in customers and profit. They survey will be asked to 50 customers shopping in Nordstrom half will already be Nordstrom card carriers and half will be non Nordstrom card holders. They will be asked how often they shop at Nordstrom which will give us an idea of if we offered exclusive perks are there loyal customers to even be interested in it. We then will ask the customers about what kind of perks would influence to use their Nordstrom card or open one. Also what their favorite event at Nordstrom is and how often do they attend Nordstrom events. This will give us an idea of what kinds of things will influence them to shop more at Nordstrom and if having an early access to their favorite event would influence them. Then we will ask if they are comfortable to be called by an employee to come in for these events so that way we will be able to keep them updated on whats  going on. The survey will be taking place on Sunday, June3.

Week 7: Example Questions

1.     What made you decide to go shopping today?

2.     Why did you decide to shop at Nordstrom?

3.     Do you shop when you need something or when you want something?

4.     How often do you go shopping?

5.     Do you currently make the bulk of your clothing purchases at Nordstrom>

6.     How far would you travel to shop ay Nordstrom?

7.     On average how much do you spend at Nordstrom?

8.     On average how many times do you visit Nordstrom during a 3 month period?

9.     Are you a Nordstrom card holder>

1. Why do you think people don’t shop at Nordstrom?

1. What is your favorite exclusive promotion the Nordstrom card offers?

Week 6 EOC: Tax Cuts?

This is an article written for people that follow political events very closely and understand politically made statements."As Congress winds up for a big debate this fall over taxes, Nevadans in a new poll are sending a strong message: Don't take away my tax cuts."Article. Nevada Says Income Tax Should Stay
Judging by the way the article is written, it leads me to believe that the questions were written in the same type of language without more information given as a preface."Asked whether they wanted the tax cuts to expire or to continue, 61 percent said "continue" and 29 percent said "expire," in the poll taken this week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 8NewsNow."Generally, people responded to the question with an eye on their wallets, which in Nevada these days are tending to be somewhat thin, said Brad Coker, managing director of the polling firm."Article. Nevada Says Income Tax Should StayThis is one thing that is going to greatly affect the outcome of the survey. The bias is immediately recognizable, and therefore, does not represent an accurate response from participants. The first question about continuing the “reduced income tax rates for individuals and other tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003” is vague and doesn’t give people taking the poll enough information about the “individuals” that are receiving the tax cuts in the first place. The question should have told who was currently getting tax cuts by indicating the percentage difference between the individuals with the tax cuts and those without. People probably didn’t even know what they were really voting for. Even the comments made after the results are bias by Danny Gonzales. The article makes it seem like the tax cuts are being given to individuals with children that are struggling to pay their mortgages. In a state where unemployment is rampant and every cent counts, asking people tax cut questions is a touchy subject. People obviously want all the tax cuts they can get so wording is critical.

Week 5 EOC: Privacy

Even though on line shopping has become one of the most popular forms of shopping today, many are still nervous to order anything online because they are worried about there card information being stolen. They have reason to proceed with caution since some companies such as Zappos have been hacked and many had their card information stolen. “Online retailer Zappos.com and its discount affiliate, 6pm.com, disclosed Sunday a data breach that compromised customer account information such as billing addresses and the last four digits of credit card numbers.” Article. Chicago Tribune. For many people finding out about this it just gives them more reason to fear what information they put online such as addresses or keeping their cards on file.Many people are nervous about buying things online due to what they think can be a privacy issue yet they are willing to have a facebook account that shows where they live and work. What they don’t know is that people are stealing the information on their social media site to help influence marketing. “Big search engines and social media websites exist to farm us for our personal data and sell it on to marketing companies.” Article. Wendy Crockcroft Web Design. As proof has shown you are not completely safe online not only are people trying to find news to get your card information they are even using your private thoughts by following what you do in order to make more money. “Keeping our private details away from prying eyes has never been more important — or difficult. With a raft of proposed legislation that threatens to spy on our everyday use of the internet and the recent allegations of cybertracking by Google and Facebook, you've got to wonder if it's possible at all to have our world wide web cake and eat it.” Article. Wendy Crockcroft Web Design.

Week 4 EOC: BIG

The movie Big has a very interesting meaning when evaluated from a marketing research perspective. In the movie they talked specifically about marketing reports while walking through the toy store and about how they can’t really give the kind of information that going to an actual store can. It’s a lot of numbers that a lot of people don’t understand. When they were in the marketing meeting Tom Hanks’ character Josh had probably one of the best points, I don’t get it. "Social desirability bias is caused by respondents desire to gain prestige." Marketing for Dummies. Ch.7 Pg. 109There are all these numbers showing that the company has grown in action adventure toys over the years but they have the potential to grow more if they made products that kids wanted even more. “It’s a building that turns into a robot? Why not a robot that turns into a bug?” "Some people may prefer to respond inaccurately to some questions, and response style biases and faulty interview behaviors may cause others to answer inaccurately." Marketing for Dummies. Ch.7 Pg.109 A unique perspective got the entire staff excited about the prospect of a new toy and even more profits because the toy sounded fun even to them. The movie offers, perhaps unknowingly, one of the ideal things that a marketer and company would want. "In marketing research, understanding consumer attitudes is often paramount, as attitudes influence opinions and choices." Marketing for Dummies. Ch.8. Pg.129 They have at their disposal their target market, a 13 year old boy who plays with and has an opinion about toys, working for them and they don’t even know it, and yet he will probably have, or at least the possibility of, having a huge impact on the financial success of the company by being able to tell them almost exactly what their main consumer will want and (have their parents) eventually buy. They have sort of been handed a focus group without having to go through and actually create the group, and it may be better because he is willing to tell them the truth whereas perhaps some children who may in fact be chosen to participate in a focus group would become nervous around the adults and may not want to be completely honest and tell the adult that the toy is not fun. 

Week 3 EOC: 9to5

For the movie “9 to 5” the marketing research that they had done was more than what I would have expected. They actually did a focus group of real women who were secretaries, and what is funny about the whole thing is that none of whom was involved with the film had any REAL office experience. " Throughout the many stages of research process, it is important that you seek out the correct information." Marketing Research for Dummies. Ch.5 Pg.72 I have never personally seen the movie but what I caught during the documentary was that there were some serious ethical issues that were portrayed throughout the movie. "
Some of the issues were that there were three secretaries who worked for a slim ball boss. The movie is a very feminist movie that deals with how women of this time dealt with the unethical issues of the workplace. "Overlooking written and oral communication skills can be frustrating."Marketing Research for Dummies. Ch.5 Pg.73Dolly Parton’s character deals with sexual harassment from the boss even though she clearly states that she is a married woman, and he makes it noted that he too is married but just doesn’t care at all. Lily Tomlin is the woman of the office who gets treated poorly even though she was one of the top employees and has been with the company forever. He passes her up on promotions and makes her get him coffee at every waking chance, it’s a very unhealthy environment for a woman of her stature and experience to be working in.
Lastly there’s Jane Fonda’s character; she is the newest addition to the office and is the most naïve. These three women came together and managed to trap him in his own home. After doing so they then took over his department while he was still trapped, and saw that productivity has increased in his absence. They keep him tied up in hopes that he will forget the incident ever happened and begins to cooperate. "When appropriate survey researchers provide an efficient and effective means for answering research questions."Marketing Research for Dummies. Ch.6 Pg.

Week 2 EOC: Survey Research

For this project I chose to do the research completed that studied, Affluent Customers in the New Economy: Food and Foodservice that was compiled by the company Packaged Facts in July 2009. The report was created to show how affluent customers (families who earn $100,000 or more per year) are likely to spend their money in the food sector, as well as where, in these times of economic hardship. The report seems to suggest that even in these times of a lesser economy, or perhaps even because of these times, that the average affluent customer is spending more money on organic and local produce and protein products as well as becoming more health conscious in general. The places where these customers are purchasing their food products is also changing with Trader Joe’s and other specialty ‘local’ stores with their exotic product and value-priced store brands.

“Research is a multi-stage process that’s often somewhat iterative – conclusions from one stage of the process can create new ideas for other stages in the process, and the linkages are both forwards and backwards.” [Hyman, Sierra. Marketing Research Kit. Chapter 3, Page 28] 

The research that was conducted by the company was that of basic research, they compiled the information so that the general knowledge would be available to whomever may need/want it but not to solve a particular problem of their own.The company seems to have used mostly descriptive research in their study, both that of their own from previous studies they have completed and those ofExperian Simmons (New York, NY) in its Winter 2008/09 National Consumer Study that ran from July 2008 through March 2009. 

 “[…] The research plan addresses the research objective.” [Hyman, Sierra. Marketing Research Kit. Chapter 4, Page 36]

Because they used these previous reports from both themselves and also Experian Simmons, the data would be considered secondary and more than likely would also be considered cross-sectional seeing as it was compiled and analyzed in a short period of time and not over the course of years.

 “[…] Analysis reveals that the true problem is the distributors’ […] inability to explain the products’ value to potential customers.” [Hyman, Sierra. Marketing Research Kit. Chapter 3, Page 29]

Week 2 BOC: Online Quiz

1. 1. What is a booty pop, and what is its significance?                                                               Introducing Booty Pop! Now you too can have a Hollywood backside that turns heads! No expensive surgery or overpriced trainer required. Go from FLAT to FAB in just seconds with Booty Pop padded panties… Comfortable enough to wear every day… Stunning enough to get notice with every outfit! Jeans… shorts… or even that fitted dress… every booty looks better with Booty Pop!Booty Pop is a lined panty with padding in the buttock area to give a women with a flat bottom a nicely shaped butt. In Primeval Days, the buttock was the primary sexual attraction, not the breast (It all goes back to the caveman!).
   
   - In Ancient Greece, Spartan women performed bottom kicking. They would kick their booty to make it bigger and firmer.
   
   - In the late 16th Century and early 17th Century, artist Peter Paul Rubens was best known for portraying full-bodied women with large derrières. In fact, today the term “rubenesqueis” defined in the dictionary to mean a “voluptuous woman.”                                                            So basically the significance of the booty pop is to bring one of womens most primary sexual attractions.
   
2. 2. Who spends more $$$ online, men or women?  Proportion? (%, $)                                          As it turns out men are the ones who spend more money online above the women
3. 3. Who spends more time online, men or women?                                                                          In a study women were found to be the ones who spend more time online over males. In terms of time spent, 18+ women have outshined men of the same age group in every part of the world. In Asia Pacific region, women spent 17.9 hours on the Internet, while, men spent 16.6 hours. It is 7.2% more time spent by women than men.
4. 4. What advantage do marketers have for women shopping online than men? Women are very easily influenced by marketing you can get a women to spend to much on something due if it is marketed to them right. It could be something you tell them they need to have or something that their family needs to have. Studies have shown that women are no strangers to lousy deals they overpay for health care and mortgage. Now it has shown that women pay more then men on bathroom products.

Week 1 EOC: What I am expecting from this class

Once I leave this class I expect to know what marketing research is and what it does for business. As well as how it I also hope to understand basic marketing research and how to apply it to the marketing techniques. “Marketing research is about knowing, understanding, and evaluating. As human beings, we want to know what’s happening in our world and understand why those things are happening. We also want to identify the best choice from the alternatives available to use and then measure the success of that choice.” Marketing Research for Dummies. Chapter 1 Page 9. I hope to learn the intellectual and artistic activities that go into marketing research to help solve the marketing problems by obtaining the necessary information and interpret it in a creative way. As well as the good things that can come out of marketing research and how easy it can be to use. “Marketing research can be fast, in the sense that can be completed quickly, it can be good, in the sense that the results can reflect reality accurately, and it can be cheap, in the sense that the researcher can choose a less costly design among comparable research designs.” Marketing Research for Dummies. Chapter 1 Page 10. Another thing I hope to learn is why and when to use marketing research. In each business there is a time to use marketing research in order to help your business be better then it is but when and why is it a good time to use and what kind of things you need to learn. Some of the best times to use marketing research are when you want to better understand your customers, when you need to discover what went wrong in your business, when the additional information meaningfully reduces uncertainty associated with selecting the best course of action, and when it exceeds the estimated cost. “ You should plan to conduct marketing research if it can help you make a better decision; that is, a decision based on external evidence and careful analysis rather than a spouse’s or friends intuition. Specifically, the goal of marketing research is to help managers and business owners select the best among alternative viable courses of action.” Marketing Research for Dummies. Chapter 1 Page 22