Conclusions from Primary Research

After carrying out primary research around Nottingham, my group decided to meet and discuss our findings and analyse them further, this will help us to determine the following:

- Where we feel the opportunities lie
- What market level we want to work at
- Who our ideal target consumer might be
- What sort of retail environment we would want to create
- Where we would want the product to be sold (e.g. department stores/online etc)

During the meeting we decide that the most effective way to collate our information for comparison would be to split up the different areas between us. This way we could go away and write up all our notes and thoughts on the different retail spaces we visited, before meeting again to compare our findings and ideas in a much clearer and organised way. 

The areas that I focused on were the two major department stores in Nottingham that we chose to look at; these were John Lewis and House of Fraser. The document below contains my written up notes on both of these stores as well as my own comparative opinion.

Primary Research in Nottingham

Primary Research in Nottingham

During today's lecture we were introduced to a group activity that required us to carry out primary research, on the perfume market, within Nottingham. The lecture gave us a list of key places to visit during the day, including department stores, specialist stores, and a variety of stores that range from economy level stores to the higher end designer/luxury stores. The specific list of where my group chose to go is shown below:

- John Lewis

- House of Fraser 

- Boots

- The Perfume Shop

- The Fragrance Shop

- The Body Shop

- Wilkinsons  

- Keihls

- Lush

- Jo Malone

- Aveda

- Molton Browns

During the lecture we were also given a list of 9 points to consider when gathering information in Nottingham, these are as followed:

1. PRICE

- Market Level - Economy/Mid Market/Luxury

- Shifts in market level/perceptions/players in new markets/level hybrids/cross overs/masstige/uber luxury

- Are new gaps or newly defined sectors emerging?

- Are there opportunities here?

2. GENDER

- Male/Female/Unisex

- Shifts in gender narratives/codes/languages/gender balances/neutrality/unisex/gender polarisation

- How does the gender messages (strong or weak) relate to the price point or the target age group?

- Are there opportunities here?

3. AGE

- Target consumer - Range/Generation/Demographic etc

- How does the communication/narrative/packaging/promotional/tactics reflect the target age group?

- Are certain age groups being under-represented?

- Are there opportunities here?

4. STORY

- Product Narrative 

- Name/Copy/Strap line etc

- What are the key phrases/name/language being used?

- How would you categorise the type of message? - Emotion/Consequence/Location/Ingredient/Celebrity

-  Are the relevant stories/resonate messages not being used?

- Are there opportunities here?

5. TREND 

- Adoption of Fashion

- Motif/Pattern/Cultural/Social/Historical etc

- What are the key trends related icons/motifs/patterns/colours being used?

- Are there key trends in reference certain historical/social/cultural phenomenon that are being underused?

- Are there opportunities here?

6. OBJECT

- Packaging/Bottle/Label

- Visual codes/colour/semiotics/silhouette etc

- What are the key aspects?

- How do the key aspects of the design signal the relationship to the market level/weight/quality/

interaction/sound

- What are the basic print/construction/manufacturing elements? (cost)

- Are there opportunities here?

7. RANGE

- Star product VS Full range

- How has the star product been developed in terms of range extension?

- Seasonal/Limited edition/special edition?

- Are there opportunities here?

8. CONTEXT

- Retail Environment/Visual Merchandising

- How is the product reflected and supported by point of sale/display/in store promotion etc?

- What are the more innovative aspects of these at the various market levels and key distribution channels?

- Are there locations being underdeveloped in terms of possible touch points?

- Are there opportunities here?

9. USP (Unique Sales Point)

- Innovation/Points of Difference

- What examples of sector deviation/maverick approaches/challenge strategies and unique perspectives can you find?

- Are there opportunities here?

Initial Perfume Research

After meeting with my group for the first project in Module 2, we have decided to put together a group Pinterest on which we can post all our research of existing products in our sector as well as our own designs and ideas. Below is a link to this Pinterest:


Before putting this together I did my own research of existing products on my own Pinterest account, below is a link to the 'Perfume Research' board that I've created and some screen shots of this:

http://www.pinterest.com/alicehoar/perfume-research/

I also created a board for all imaged of perfume; including bottle designs, advertisements and images that may inspire us later in the project. This board could provide ideas for our own designs and adverts within the module. Below are some screenshots of this board and a link:

http://www.pinterest.com/alicehoar/all-things-perfume/

Jack Wills Market Research Results

Below are images of the graphs created on the website Survey Monkey (https://www.surveymonkey.com) to visualise the results.

Here is an image of one of the graphs within the final presentation, showing how it will be displayed and visualised.

Market Research for Jack Wills

To help with our group research on Jack Wills we decided to create a questionnaire to ask our peers within our course and outside of the course. We felt this would really help use to get a clear sense of the consumers opinion. Below are the questions we came up with for a paper questionnaire to be handed out, and also the digital version created on survey, which we have shared via social networking and our blogs.

Paper Version Questions
The questions within this questionnaire are very location specific as these are to be handed out directly to the audience we wish to gain feedback from:

•Male/Female

•How old are you?

•What course are you studying at Uni?

•Does fashion play an important part in your life?

•Do you follow trends?

•Do you shop in any of the following – Abercrombie& Fitch/Hollister/Ralph Lauren/Zara/Topshop/River Island

•Do you shop in Jack Wills?

•If Yes, what products do you own?

•If No, have you ever been into a Jack Wills store?

•Have you ever been on the Jack Wills website?

•What social media sites do you use?

•Do you follow any of your favourite brands of social media? 

•Do you follow Jack Wills on any area of social media?

•Do you use loyalty cards?

•Did you have a Topshop loyalty card?

•Did you go to the Urban Outfitters launch party in Nottingham?

•Do you visit your student union?

•Would you be interested in a collaboration event between your SU and a well known brand?

•Did you go to carnage?

•If yes, would you go again?

•Have you heard of the Jack Wills Seasonnaires?

•Do you think brand ambassadors are important for a brand and their promotion?  

Digital Version Questions

The questions created for this version of the questionnaire where much more specific in the
answers that the participant would provide. We were also limited to 10 questions, hence the
shorter length. We used a site called www.surveymonkey.com to generate this questionnaire,
which would allow us to reach a wider audience. 

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/23GFS8V

Click here to take survey