Marketing Intelligence

Task 1

Main stages of consumer decision making process

Topshop is one of the most renowned fashion brands in UK and to manage and maintain its current market position, it needs to understand the stages of consumer decision making process. Further it is described as a process or series of steps which a consume perform before making any kind of purchase. The stages are mentioned below as...

Need recognition

The stag of need recognition is considered as the first and one of the most important stage of the entire decision making process. In addition to this, without need there cannot be any kind of purchase. Topshop can create need in the minds of customers with the help of marketing and advertisement of its products and services.

Information search

An individual starts searching for various kinds of information so that he/she can identify the alternative through which the needs can be satisfied. Further consumer uses various media ways such as print, media and online in order to search for the information.

Evaluation of alternatives

This is the stage in which customer starts evaluating all those alternatives which has been identified in the process of information search. This process is considered as a very important decision as in this a person try to identify which alternative will be going to best satisfy his/her needs.

Purchase decision

After evaluating all the alternatives available, the consumer makes decision of purchase by selecting the best among all alternatives. Topshop needs to care of the fact that it provides quality of shopping experience and have a good return policy in order to influence customers and make them purchase the products offered by the brand.

Post purchase behaviour

This is the last steps in the buying behaviours process in which a customer determine whether the product or service purchase has fully satisfied his/her needs or not. For a brand like Topshop it is a very important stage as if the customer is satisfied then he will make repurchase which is very good for the brand.

Importance of understanding buyer behaviour

Buyer behaviour is defined as the sum total of intentions, preferences, attitudes and decision of a consumer at the time of purchasing a product or service. In more simpler terms it can be defined as the way in which people behave at the time of buying a thing. For example what to buy, from where to buy, when to buy and what amount to be spend n buying. For a brand like Topshop, understanding buyer behaviours is very essential in order to grow and survive at marketplace. It helps organization to identify the behaviour of people and then deliver products according to the same. The two theory of buyer behaviour are explained below as...

Cultural theory of buying behaviour

Culture of any individuals has a great impact on his/her decision making process. Further culture is determined as set of beliefs and values which a individual learn from society or community. This theory depicts that culture has strong influence over buyer behaviour.

Environmental theory of buyer behaviour

According to this theory, the environment also has an impact on the process and behaviour of buyer. Further it depicts that buying behaviour is entirely depend on situation in which the individual is. For example an individual will compare the price of Juice at the time of making purchase through supermarket but after a tired day in office he won”t compare the price and grab the bottle of juice even if the price is high. Therefore, it can be stated that environment also plays very important role at the time of determining buyer behaviour. A person may be carving to eat peanuts but if he wants to impress a friend then he/she wont buy the same. Thus, a person make decision whether to purchase a particular product or service on the basis of the environment in which he/she is living.

Factors affecting buyer behaviour

It is very essential for Topshop to become aware about the factors which affects buyer behaviour. Customers are treated as king of every business and all the efforts of companies are targeted towards accomplishment of one particular goal which is customer satisfaction. The three major factors which affects the behaviour of consumer are mentioned below as...

Personal factors

The personal factors includes variable such as occupation, economic conditions and lifestyle of an individual. Most of the time a person buys products and services on the basis of his/her personal factors. For example an individual will not buy premium products if his economic conditions is not good. On the other hand, the if a person's lifestyle is very high then he/she will not prefer to buy cheap products or low price products. It can be also stated that the nature of an individuals jobs is the one which influences the brands and products he/ she purchase. This means that a farmer will not be conscious towards brands at the time of buying product. At the time of buying clothes CEO of an business enterprise will look for more professional and elegant clothes whereas for a store operators jeans and T-shirt is also cool. On the other side of this, the age of a person also makes impact on his decision making process. For example a young and single person be more willing to buy products such as insurance policies, home, car etc,

Social factors

The social factors also affects the buying behaviour of a person to some extent. The major components of social factors are reference groups, roles and status and family of a person. Reference groups contributes significantly in the development of behaviour and attitude of a person. In case of tangible products the influence of such group on buying decision is very high. On the other hand, the role person in the family such as child, husband, wife etc. also have an affect on buying behaviour. Majority of the time people seek advice from their friends and family members before buying any kind of products or services. Buying behaviour also depends on the kind of role a person has in society. This means if a person is working as a manager and he is also a father and husband of someone then his entire process of buying behaviour will depend on these three roles.

Psychological factors

Psychological factors such as motivation, perception, beliefs and attitude also affects the behaviour of consumer. Majority of the time a person buy products and services on the basis of his/her perception regrading the same. Other than this, the attitude and belief of people are also important factors. For example it may happen that even if a product is very good and is of high quality, an individual do not buy it because of his belief. Motivation will drive a person to develop his/her purchase behaviour. This is the only reason by brands always try to motivate and encourage people to buy their products with the help of promotion and effective advertisements. Perception of a person also helps him to determine whether he should buy a products or not. A person wont buy products which he thinks of cheap quality and harmful for health.

Relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchase

On the basis of case study it can be stated that there is a direct relation between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchase. Brand loyalty can be defined as the tendency of individual to continue buying products and services of a particular brand over other marker players. On the other hand, corporate image is defined as the view and opinions of people in market about a brand. Repeat purchase is a process in which consumer continues making purchase form a particular brand, irrespective of what other market players are offering. From the provided case it has been observed that Topshop has always taken care of its corporate image at market place. Rather than focusing on the need and demand of one particular market segment, it has focused on satisfying the need of various market segments. The biggest example of this is introduction of Topman and Top girl in the year 1982.

Further achievement such as cool brand leader in the year 2002 and 2001 have helped the brand to develop a distinctive corporate image. It is only because of corporate image that the people in market are encouraged to buy the products offered by Topshop. In addition to this, by offering latest design every weak, it encourages brand loyalty form customers which further leads to repurchase. A person cannot be stay loyal if he/she is dissatisfied with the products. By offering quality and latest design, Topshop makes the customer loyal towards the brand and gives them a clear reason regarding why they should prefer and buy products of Topshop over its competitors. High corporate image leads to brand loyalty which further result in repurchase.

Market research technique

Market research is defined as the process in which a person or company collect information regrading the need, demean, taste and preference of people in the market. For a business like Topshop market research plays very important role in growth and success. Every organization is required to have information regrading the need and demand of customers in market. If the organization is offering products which are not in demand then it wont be able to survive for long time period. To stay competitive and achieve high degree of customer satisfaction it is very essential for organization to carry out adequate market research. Along with this, it also helps firms to ensue the success of their marketing campaigns and increase sales. Market research assist in designing the most effective marketing campaigns by having a direct impact on their minds. It also supports in getting competitive advantages as it makes an organization aware of the strategies and tools which its rival is using. The different techniques of market research which can be used by Topshop are mentioned below as...

Quantitative research technique

Topshop can use the quantitative technique of market research to become aware about the need and demand of people in market. Further in this technique the brand will be required to gather information from large sample group. Extensive surveys can be conducted for this aspects.

Qualitative techniques

Topshop can also use qualitative technique of market research to gather data regarding its customers. In this technique the brand will be required to determine a specific group of people which is also termed as focus group. The data will be collected from this group and will be further analysed to understand current need and demand of customers.

Secondary research

Topshop can also use techniques such as secondary market research. The brand can take various books, journals and online sources into consideration which provides information about the current demand of people in market. One of the main reason behind adopting secondary sources is that it will contains data and information which has been already collected by someone else. This will help researcher to developed in-depth knowledge with regards to the topic under investigations. Other than this, getting data from secondary sources is less costly and time consuming as compared to data collection from primary sources. With the help of assessing research which has been already conducted by someone else, the scholar will be able to accomplish this study in best possible manner.

Sources of secondary data to achieve marketing objectives

Secondary data is termed as the data or information which has been already collect and used by someone else. The two market research objectives are stated below as...

• To increase the sales of Topshop UK by 10% in the next one year
• To expand the market share by opening 12 new stores in next six months.

The fashion retail industry of UK is growing with a very good pace which means that there are enormous opportunities for businesses to develop. The household consumption of UK on clothing and footwear is £59 billion which is quite significant. The value of fashion industry has been increased from £21 billion in 2009 to £26 billion in 2014. UK is also considered as the centre of manufacture and designing the best and high quality of fabrics all over the world (UK to the world, 2015). All the facts and figures means that there is a wide range of opportunities for Topshop to increase its sales and expand its operations. The limitations of the market research findings is that appropriate data regarding the changing need and demand of customer is not available. Therefore, the researcher will have a lot of difficulty finding the frequent changes in the customers need and preferences. Other than this it can be also stated that in this industry wide number of customers are present and the need differs from one person to another. On the other hand the findings are valid because no misinterpretation of information has been done. The data has been collected only from those souse which has been published after the year 2005. other than this online information that is published after 2013 has been taken into consideration. The information has been collected from reliable sources which means the market research findings are reliable. Only authentic sources and relevant information from those sources have been used in the present study.

Task 2

Market research plan

The plan for market research is mentioned below as...

Background

The fashion and retail industry is growing with a very good pace and is providing potential opportunities for businesses to grow and develop. In order to gain competitive advantage over other market players organizations are required to understand and deliver products according to the need and demand of people

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