MKTG1047: U & Me (Which can be Abbreviated to UM) is a Fictitious Fashion Apparel Brand: Market Research Assignment, RMIT

Market Research Brief Company Background U & Me (which can be abbreviated to UM) is a fictitious fashion apparel brand that offers personalized products manufactured in Singapore. Their product range includes clothing, bags, hats, shoes, and jewelry. All products can be personalized to order – for example, customers can customize their own color combinations, and …
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Market Research Brief

Company Background

U & Me (which can be abbreviated to UM) is a fictitious fashion apparel brand that offers personalized products manufactured in Singapore. Their product range includes clothing, bags, hats, shoes, and jewelry. All products can be personalized to order – for example, customers can customize their own color combinations, and their initials can be added to purchased items.

Enjoying trends of personalized products, U & Me has experienced tremendous growth in the last 10 years. It has expanded its network and now has 8 retail stores around Singapore and a new online store opened during the COVID-19 pandemic. U & Me has 5,000 customers on its database.

Current Situation

Singapore has become one of the leading fashion hubs in the Asia Pacific region. Singapore’s apparel industry generated revenue of US$671 million (S$915.34 million) in 2018. Revenue in the apparel segment is expected to show an annual growth rate of 11.4%, resulting in an industry volume of US$1,032 million (S$1407.80 million) by 2022. The user penetration is expected to hit 37.1% by 2022, up from 31.2% in 2018.

The global fashion industry has always been one of the most lucrative in the world. Fast fashion has dominated the apparel industry over the last few decades as it is undoubtedly quick, cheap, and profitable. However, in recent years, some brands have started to offer a seamless omnichannel experience that delivers real-time personalization to customers.

There are several factors driving these trends in fashion and apparel space. First, consumers increasingly demand a differentiated and customized experience. Fashion is all about individual characteristics and preferences, and this is reflected in consumers choosing to shop with brands like U & Me. Second, brands are seeing that delivering a unique customer journey and a holistic experience across physical and online stores gains a competitive advantage.

This is something local, small brands can do to compete against big-box and online retailers, such as Amazon. Third, disruptive technology like machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) enables the delivery of hyper-personalized and rewarding experiences. Behavioural and transactional data helps to provide one-on-one recommendations, and manufacturing technology enables customized products. Small businesses, like U & Me, can capitalize on these trends as they are nimble and can pivot quickly in new directions.

Despite these positive trends, the economic, financial, and societal upheaval caused by COVID-19 impacts businesses, including U & Me. U & Me focused on diverting customers to their new online store and optimizing the online shopping journey. Now that their physical stores have re-opened in Singapore in recent months, U & Me are strategically focused on maintaining a seamless experience across their online and physical stores.

U & Me believes it is more important than ever before to understand their customer profile and enhance the customer experience in their retail and online stores. More specifically, U & Me’s CEO would like to ensure the company has a solid understanding of who exactly their customers are and how their customers think, feel, and behave in relation to the product and retail experiences at this turbulent time.

Market Research Requirements

Based on the above summary of the company background and current situation, the CEO of U & Me (your client) would like to better understand their customer profile and their customers’ experiences with the brand.

More specifically, your client has asked you to propose a market research project that addresses the following four research objectives:

1. To learn about customers’ behaviours and habits when they visit U & Me stores.
2. To understand customers’ perceptions and attitudes towards the U & Me brand.
3. To identify U & Me’s customer segments and describe the profile of the typical customer.
4. To determine the factors that drive customer experience with U & Me.

The client has requested that you include two phases of market research in your proposal, each addressing particular research objectives, as outlined below:

Phase 1: A qualitative study to explore the behaviours, habits, perceptions, and attitudes of U & Me customers.

Phase 2: A quantitative study to measure the customer profile and the customer experience at U & Me stores.

Sample requirements: Although U & Me cannot survey all 5,000 customers on its database, it does want to ensure the results are representative of all customers. In particular, the CEO wants to ensure that customers who frequently shop at each of the different retail stores (remember that U & Me has 8 retail stores across Singapore, plus their online store) are included in the sample. U & Me are prepared to pay for a more accurate and representative sample – however, the cost of their sample should be balanced with the benefits.

ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

You need to complete ALL four (4) questions below. Ensure you respond to these questions adhering to the instructions and requirements stated on pages 1-2.

Your responses to these questions will comprise the proposal to the client, U & Me.

For brevity, you can abbreviate U & Me to UM in your responses to these questions.

All of the information you need to complete these questions is contained in the case study and the knowledge and skills you have learned throughout the semester.

QUESTION 1

This question relates to Phase 1 (qualitative study) of the market research project and more specifically, Research Objective #1 about customers’ behaviours and habits in stores. Please note, this refers to both physical and online stores.

You decide to recommend observational research to address this objective. Which specific observation method do you recommend and why? In your answer, identify the four unique characteristics of your recommended observation method, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of observation as a data collection method in general. Explain to the client why observational research is a useful method for Phase 1 and for their project overall. List and briefly explain four (4) examples of what can be observed (i.e., phenomena that can be observed) about U & me customers to address Research Objective #1.

Note: It is important that you apply relevant theory to this particular case study and the specific question i.e., do not repeat theory abstractly with no application to the case.

QUESTION 2

This question relates to Phase 1 (qualitative study) of the market research project and more specifically, Research Objective #2 about customers’ perceptions and attitudes.

The client would like to conduct either interviews or focus groups to address this objective. Which of these research methods do you recommend and why? In your answer, define, compare, and contrast both interviews and focus groups in order to justify your recommendation. Explain to the client why your recommended research method (interviews or focus groups) is useful for Phase 1 and for their project overall, including how your recommended method will build on the observational data from Assessment Question 1 (above).

Drawing on the principles of interviewing techniques, list and briefly explain four (4) different questions that would be relevant to include in either your interview guide (if you recommended interviews) or your discussion guide (if you recommended focus groups). You should make these questions specific to the U & Me case study and present the questions in an appropriate order for your interview/discussion guide.

Note: It is important that you apply relevant theory to this particular case study and the specific question i.e., do not repeat theory abstractly with no application to the case.

QUESTION 3

This question relates to Phase 2 (quantitative study) of the market research project and more specifically, Research Objective #3 about customer segments and profiles.

For Phase 2, the client has prepared a survey in advance, which includes questions about customers’ characteristics and experiences. You can see this survey on pages 8 to 10.

Considering the sample requirements given in the market research brief (page 4), make a recommendation on the specific sampling method that should be used in this research. In your answer, define the sampling method and outline the process of this sampling method, i.e. how it would be implemented for U & Me, in particular. Further, explain the recommended sampling method’s advantages and disadvantages and justify why it is the most appropriate sampling method in this case.

Note: It is important that you apply relevant theory to this particular case study and the specific question i.e., do not repeat theory abstractly with no application to the case.

QUESTION 4

This question relates to Phase 2 (quantitative study) of the market research project and more specifically, Research Objective #4 about customer experience.

In order to understand customer experience and identify factors that drive positive vs. negative outcomes for customers, the client requests that you outline a data analysis plan for their survey (pages 8 to 10).

For each of the following hypotheses, please state:

• The most correct inferential statistical test
• The test type
• The number of variables involved
• The specific variables involved in the survey and the level of measurement scale each variable is expressed upon
• A justification for why the proposed test is correct for the hypothesis

A note about formatting for Assessment Question 4: You can choose to present your response in text or a table. IF YOU CHOOSE A TABLE, you may use (1) landscape or portrait formatting and (2) single-line spacing to aid readability and a neat format.

1. Hypothesis 1: The average rating of the importance of product personalization is greater than the importance of value for money.
2. Hypothesis 2: Customer experience with U & Me is greater amongst customers who prefer to shop in-store versus those who prefer to shop online.
3. Hypothesis 3: Overall satisfaction with U & Me is positively associated with the average number of times visiting the online store per month.
4. Hypothesis 4: Preferred product is associated with the number of times visiting a U & Me retail store per month.
5. Hypothesis 5: Whether or not a customer has previously used the product personalization service is associated with the location where they most frequently shop.
6. Hypothesis 6: $ amount customers have spent at U & Me in the last 12 months predicts the likelihood to recommend the brand to others.
7. Hypothesis 7: The importance of value for money differs between levels of yearly income.
8. Hypothesis 8: Gender, employment status, the importance of online shopping experience, and ‘U & Me Club’ membership predict satisfaction with U & Me are online shopping experience.

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