BUS 341: Fundamentals of Marketing Research: Perspectives, Skills & Resources Mark Bodnar Business Librarian mbodnar@sfu.ca A. 1. Save-On Foods is part of a large, privately-held, firm. Would they publish any information about their strategy? Why or why not? 2. Of the key publisher types listed below, which ones are most likely to talk specifically about Save-On Foods’ strategy? 3. What information would you need if you wanted to recommend a strategy for Save-On concerning organic and locally-produced foods? 4. Is it possible to just Google “Save-On Foods” strategy and get useful answers? 5. What other sources and tools does the SFU Library offer that might make this sort of research more efficient and effective? B. Resources #1: Library Guides Identifying likely publishers gets easier as you start to learn more about key resources. Many of the major marketing resources available to you as SFU students are listed on the following guides: SFU Library Guides to… 1. Market Research http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/subject-guides/business/secondary-market 2. International Market Research http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/subject-guides/business/international-market 3. Company Information http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/subject-guides/business/company-info 4. Industry Surveys http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/subject-guides/business/industry-surveys C. Resources #2: Sample Resources (all of which are listed in the above guides or in your assignment) 1. Passport GMID 2. IBISWorld 3. Business Source Complete 4. PMB Reports 5. Ipsos News Centre 6. Other cool stuff…. Market Share Reporter, Best Customers, SimplyMap Canada, Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns/Strategies, TechNavio… 2|Page Practice Questions A. Passport GMID 1. Keyword Searching: How many tonnes of cookies were sold in Indonesia in 2014? (Hint: Cookies are a type of biscuit.) Extra: What is the forecasted value of cookie sales in Indonesia for 2019? 2. Category Browsing: Which is forecast to spend more per capita on Vitamins and Dietary Supplements in 2016 (using US$), China or Canada? Note: Start by going to Industries > Consumer Health, then Search Tree > Vitamins & Dietary Supplements, then add countries (Geographies). Don’t forget to convert the data so that its format matches your needs! 3. Browsing for related material: Find the report Organic Packaged Food in Canada. Do any of the related reports listed on the left side of the screen seem potentially relevant to my amazing SalmApple product? B. Other sources 4. Search IBISWorld for a report on “Vitamin & Supplement Manufacturing in the US.” Do you think the US information is relevant if the target market is in Canada? 5. Find the report The Future of Nutrigenomics in Business Insights. What are the market drivers for personalized nutrition? Do you think they’ve changed since the report was published? 6. Using the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB) Category Reports, look at the demographics of the people who say they “personally use Omega 3/Fish Oil” products. What region/province do the largest portion of those consumers come from? If you adjust for the size of the region/province, which area is the best represented among Omega3/Fish Oil consumers? 1. 9.32 (‘000 tonnes); 594.25 Rp billion Answers: 2. Canada: USD $37.90/capita vs. $14.30/capita for China. 3. Think laterally! Broader/related categories? Relevant consumer trends? 4. Your decision! Can you find other data that shows the US consumers are similar to us on this point? Or that the US industry is similar or the same as ours? 5. Healthy aging, consumer demographics (older cohort), chronic noncommunicable disease, etc. 6. Ontario: 39.5% of the users; BC: index number is 142 (followed by the Prairies with an index of 140). (See next page for more on how to read the PMB Reports.) 3|Page Reading the Print Measurement Bureau Category (PMB) Reports Vertical (V) percentage: A measure of the demographic profile of the users of the product/service. Of people in Canada who reported that they use [product/service & frequency], V% were [demographic characteristic on the left side]. From the image above: Of people in Canada who reported that they drink Red Bull Regular most often of all the Energy drinks, 22% were 18-24. Horizontal (H) percentage: A measure of the product/service choice of the people in a narrow demographic slice. Of people in Canada who were [single demographic characteristic on the left], H% reported using [product/service & frequency]. From the image above: Of people in Canada who were 18-24, 2.3% say they drink Red Bull Regular most often of all the energy sport drinks. Index (I): Gives you an indication of whether the V% is significant (weird). How does the reported V% number compare to the number of people in the country overall who fit in that same demographic category? 4|Page For example, if 40% of the users of a product are 12-17 (a V% of 40), but only 10% of the population is 12-17, then the Index (I) would be roughly (40/10)*100=400. From the image above: The Index number of 18-24 year-olds who drink Red Bull Regular most often is almost 200 (198), so the proportion of Red Bull Regular drinkers who are 18-24 is roughly twice the proportion of the population overall who are in the same age range. An I=100 means that for that demographic characteristic, the same percentage of people are using the product/service as are in the population overall. An index number considerably higher than 100 means that demographic characteristic is over-represented among users of the product. Conversely, an index number significantly below 100 equals under-representation. Both over- and under-representation are often of interest to marketers. Practice Questions (PMB Reports) Access: http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/CRDB4/BVAS/resource/11020 or http://tiny.cc/pmbsfu or use the QR code to the right. Be sure to carefully read the database description at the link above. There are three different types of reports available (Demographics, Readership, and Lifestyles/Attitudes), and some technical issues involved in accessing them. Not sure how to interpret the numbers in the reports? Start with our Reading the PMB Reports instructions above, then stop by the library to chat with a librarian if you still need help. 1. Demographics: Who reports that the burger restaurant they eat at most often is McDonalds? What do we know about their demographics? ANSWER 2. Readership: Almost 15% of all Canadian households with kids under 3 read Today’s Parent magazine: True or False? ANSWER 3. Lifestyles/Attitudes: What other leisure activities are the people who go golfing 10+ times a year (the heavy/frequent golfers) most likely to be involved in? How about their least likely leisure activities? ANSWER ANSWERS NOTE: The numbers below may be a bit off from what you find as they change each time new survey data is added to the reports – a few times each year These answers should at least be close, though. 1. Demographics: Consumers who report that McDonalds is the burger restaurant that they most often visit... 5|Page Tend to be 25-49 and to be parents with young kids (vertical percentages for the 2534 and 35-49 ranges of 20.2% and 27.2% and both ranges have high index values (128 and 115). Note that they 12-17 age range is also strongly represented given its size in the population overall (index=131), but people in that range still represent only about 10.2% of all the McD-Often consumers. Quite a bit less likely to be older than 50. Are significantly more likely to be in Quebec than in BC, and are especially common in Quebec City (I=181). Interestingly, 16.3% of households with couples and children living at home report going to McDonalds most often of all burger restaurants, but only 10.4% of households with couples and no children at home. (Using horizontal (H) percentages for this last comparison.) 2. Readership: Almost 15% of all Canadian households with kids under 3 read Today’s Parent magazine: True or False? TRUE – and note that this time you are looking at the behaviors of a specific demographic group, so the number to pay attention to is the horizontal percentage (H%) of 14.9%. 3. Lifestyles/Attitudes: What other leisure activities are the people who golf 10+ times a year (the heavy/frequent golfers) most likely to be participating in? How about their least likely leisure activities? For this one, go to Leisure > Restaurants > Tobacco and choose “Leisure Activities: Personally Participate.” Then click on the link for the people who said they are Frequent/Heavy (10+/yr) Golfers. Then change the report type in the upper left to “02 Report Type – Leisure.” You’ll be scanning the vertical (V) percentage column to see which activities are most/least frequently reported among the serious golfers. Most likely: Walking/Hiking: 50.3 % of the frequent golfers like to go for walks. Entertaining at home: 43.9% Gardening: 38.3% of the group enjoys gardening. Least likely: Wind surfing (1.6%) Roller hockey (2.0%) 6|Page