Team members Lucie Lemière Marie Lignier Théo Pernot Maeva Wisman, Eva Dupont Pauline Gac Lou Kerjean Question 1 : Explain why company decided to use each of the following methods : (1) participant observation (2) interviews (3) focus group (1) Participant observation: allows the company to understand the habits of their prospects through their eyes ; brings out the ideas taken for granted by the participants. Similarly, observation can allow Cerenity to gain access to deviant or hidden hygiene habits and face the true reality of consumers. Finally, observation can reveal the unbiased natural hygiene habits of consumers and allows us to see how they can use the product. It brings a context to build the next step of the study and build a good interview. (2) Interviews: analyse customers consumption habits / behaviours and capture insights, to establish factors to build the best attributes to communicate on their product : the one that makes the product desirable. With this method, you allow consumers to add an affective aspect in their answers. Compared to participant observation, interviews allow the discovery of answers to questions that resist observation. Interviewees reflect on past events / their lives. It is a more ethically defensible method that is less intrusive and allows for broader coverage of the topic. Question 1 : Explain why company decided to use each of the following methods : (1) participant observation (2) interviews (3) focus group (3) Focus Group: helps to understand how the consumers build their evaluation on the product regarding other consumers who represent the social interactions and influence. Consequently, you can find the additional value of communicating and how to target them in an efficient way. Compared to interviews, focus group also implies an affective aspect, and it allows to confront a consumer to social interactions by questioning and challenging each other. This method makes it possible to obtain a wide range of opinions, it’s a very useful method for carrying out market research that makes it possible to understand why people have certain opinions. Question 2 : Explain why the sample size and sample selection affect the findings of the study ? What would you do differently ? Problems Recommendations Only targeted SEC A women. Moreover the bigger the sample is, the more detailed and representative is the result. “The broader the scope of a qualitative study and the more comparisons between groups in the sample that are required, the more interviews will need to be carried out” (Warren 2002; Morse 2004). For example, why giving the product to 30 students and only interviewing 9 of them? → The brand should interview more people in terms of quantity (only 22 respondents). The more responses there are, the more reliable the trend that emerges. Only interview people from 20 to 28 years old. Interview people from larger age range: not only people from 20 to 28, we need a larger scale. Having just students is not representative enough and can bias the result. Furthermore older women tend to care a lot about their health and could also be a good target. “Past experiences of the respondents, others were a result of their first experience of using the product in the trial.” Maybe it wasn’t relevant to make a non-user group that tried the product for the first time AND a user group that talked about their past experience. Instead, it could be more relevant if non-users are given the product at the same time and have the same time to test it, which is more objective (talking about past experiences is less spontaneous and can be altered by other factor and end-up useless) → Focus group should include non-users only, that would have received and experienced the product during the same period of time, for the first time. Trial for non-users have been during 1 week. Trial for non-users should have been longer than 1 week, which is not representative in terms of context. We recommend to test it during 30 days. The focus group with too much people. Separating the discuss group was a good idea but they should made focus groups with less women (2 groups of 5-6 for example). Question 3 : Based on the research findings, propose a promotional and communication strategy for this product. Recommendations about promotion: ● Set free samples in mall toilets, airports, bars, clubs… etc, for example in vending machines. ● Bundles including the spray and others products of the brand in supermarkets. ● Discount on the brand's products for the purchase of a spray (poster in the stores). ● We can market the product in beauty e-retailers (Sephora, Nocibé, Doctipharma, etc.), in generalist pur players (Amazon, Cdiscount) and destockeurs (ex : Veepee, Showroomprivé, etc.). ● Exposure : ○ Sell the spray in a large range of stores : supermarkets, drugstore, beauty shops, ... ○ Distribution in small corners / vending machines in crowded places (airports, train stations, malls…). Question 3 : Based on the research findings, propose a promotional and communication strategy for this product. Recommandations about communication ● Conducting a kick-off campaign by displaying free samples of the product in overcrowded places such as train stations, airports, malls … and put posters on toilets of these places. ● The communication campaign should mention the product while being educational and giving sanitary information. Also relating to women’s situation they faced with in the past “I generally do not use the toilet if I do not find it clean enough, but if I have to, I use tissues and hand sanitiser to clean it for my own comfort” to make them feel concerned and involved. ● Focus on how the product works, since such disinfectant product doesn’t exist in India and people don’t necessarily know how to use it ● Claims about the result of this product on health.
