Objectives:
-
To understand the difference between quantitative and qualitative data
-
To understand how to calculate the mean, median and mode
-
To be able to interpret the results of your data to arrive at meaningful
conclusions
Market research requires the manipulation and interpretation of a considerable
amount of quantitative and qualitative data.
Quantitative data is numerical information. Everyone involved
in making decisions about the launch of a new product must be confident in
their use of numbers, particularly statistics. They must also understand the
limitations of those figures.
Health warning
Maths is a skill for life. Make sure that you spend time every day increasing
your speed and accuracy. Do not reject a career in marketing just because you
think you are not good at maths. Most people become a lot more proficient and
confident in maths once they have to use it for work and the figures make a lot
more sense when you are interested in the outcome! |
Qualitative data is all non-numerical data. In marketing a lot of understanding
of products is gained by listening to consumers opinions through interviews and
discussion groups. It is vital to understand the emotions and reasoning of
consumers when they purchase a product. It is very difficult to analyse this
data because it is descriptive.
Ask a group of 10 of your friends what their favourite soft drink is and ask
them to describe the image of the product. You should receive quite a complex
picture.
Forecasting
First consider the market research data in table A. It may be useful to find the 'best' price at which to sell the consoles and the software. In order to do this the
following needs to be done:
1. Multiply each number of units by the suggested price and see which gives the highest overall value. For instance:
50 units x £170 = £8,500
45 units x £190 = £8,550
Repeat the calculation for each pairing of units and price to see which combination gives the highest revenue.
2. Look at the forecast of sales for independent schools
With 20% of the 2000 independent schools expected to buy in the first six months that would be 400 schools. The next six months would be 15%, or another 300 schools. That means that the first year's revenue would be a combination of sales to 700 schools at therevenue generated by the sales of consoles and software that you calculated earlier. You can then do the same calculation for subsequent year's up to the 75% market penetration that has been estimated.
What do all these calculations mean?
Calculating figures in itself means nothing; the answers need to be
interpreted. The answers should give an indication of which strategies a
business should take in its marketing. However, care always needs to be taken
with figures.
Once you have calculated these figures for the company consider the
implications of the answers for:
-
What will happen if they stick with these initial products?
-
How else might they increase revenues?
- Can they afford to ignore schools other than independent schools?
- What will be the impact of the need to replace consoles as suggested by Arthur?
After you have conducted your own research and considered sporting interests and
how they might be changing there may be other calculations you want to make
using your own research
|