Marketing Research Paper Rubric The author is associated with 247researchpapers.com , which is a global custom writing company. If you would like help in custom writing or term paper writing and essays, you can visit 247researchpapers.com Marketing Research Paper Rubric Introduction Kudler Fine foods is a gourmet grocery store that is now undertaking expansion of its services and making its operations more efficient, as a result of the significant growth it has been experiencing. It is a food store with a large retail space stocked with domestic and other imported produce. The following paper therefore justifies the need for marketing research in the development of the store’s marketing strategies and the importance of additional market research. The importance of competitive intelligence has also been analyzed regarding the development of the store’s marketing strategies and tactics (Mcquarrie, 2005). Importance of marketing research Marketing research in kudler Fine Foods is important because it would mean matching the needs of the consumers with the products of the company. This would maintain a positive relationship between the consumers and the company. Kudler Fine Foods therefore needs to make use of entire aspects in order to succeed in determining the services to offer and on whom to offer them. Among the areas that require consideration on how to obtain best results, include market research, technology, and good control of market factors and integration of its products. Marketing research, as a function of the company, must enhance creating and communicating values to customers and manage its relationship with the customers in order to benefit as an organization and to benefit its stakeholders (Spaeth, 2000). Research has shown that marketing, in any business, is not a choice but an essential part to be incorporated in all the operations. Before the company introduces a new product in a market, it 1/3 Marketing Research Paper Rubric is always good for a market research to be performed. In market research, data and information are gathered and analyzed in order to define various problems as well as opportunities that are linked to the introduction of the product. Kudler Fine Foods has established customer surveys in determination of opportunities and in addition to this; they are planning implementation of a system to help tracking customer purchases. The company also performs studies on the size of the markets and trends in food marketing as well as services benchmarking. So far, KFF has conducted two surveys about customers; one conducted in 2006 and the other in 2007. The company has used these surveys as an avenue to data collection as one of the steps to carry out market research. During data collection, questionnaires comprising of alternative questions are used to give the respondents an opportunity to rate areas, using a scale with short descriptive adjectives. There are 10 questions in total with a range between ‘strongly agree’ and ‘strongly disagree’. The two surveys are potentially high in their value because they give the company a direct view about the feeling of customers about its services and products. This helps the company to analyze how efficient it is in the operations (Rudelius, 2006). Market research is therefore important because it helps the company to gather and record data in a systematic way for analyzes about its clients and rivals in the market. When market research is well conducted, it leads to creation of business plans that are long term and helps in launching of new services and products, fine tune those products that are already in the market and expand market boundaries. The company can therefore determine the part of the population in the market that is likely to purchase the new products and services. Market research would help the company to improve efficiency in its operations and enhance customer purchase cycle; loyalty of its consumers is increased. When market research is conducted carefully, Kudler Fine Foods marketing strategy and tactics would yield projected results; expanding its services. This would help the company maintain its competitive advantage as well as its uniqueness and therefore earn more money than it spends. The research would help increasing the quality of the company’s products and increase revenue instead of a loss (Mcqua rrie, 2005) . Areas where additional market research is needed Additional market research such as establishing competitive intelligence profiles that are accurate is needed, in order to come up with more appropriate decisions in regard to the growth of the its markets. The company currently is lacking a policy that governs the contracts between the company and its suppliers. The founder of the company, Kathy and her assistants design generic forms that serve as agreements between the company and the current suppliers. Organic producers require an implementation of contract in order for them to develop certainty about the market of their produce. It is also important for the company to consider that, a contract should be regarded with a lot of weight because it is an agreement that is legally 2/3 Marketing Research Paper Rubric binding between the company and the local organic growers. Another area that requires additional market research regards pricing of the products. This is because it is risky to charge consumers for cooking classes unless Kudler Fine Foods guarantees its consumers of efficiency by its services and products. However, if the company fails charging for the cooking classes, it would be hard to make profit; the classes follow a plan that is self-funded and there are several unforeseen costs such as cost of hiring celebrities and renowned chefs to teach the classes. It is also important for the company to conduct research to ensure that it produces high quality products and services and ensure increase in revenue in carrying out this program to avoid making losses. Price is an issue to the customers of the company. It is therefore not wise for the company to introduce high profit margin merchandise through its promotions. Currently, Kudler targets high-class consumers who are ready to spend extra money for its fine foods. It is therefore advisable for the company to conduct additional market research in the field of pricing because although the company is located in an area where the resident earn high income, the customers may not indefinitely be associating the extra cost of the company’s product with high value of the products (Spaeth, 2000). Conclusion Kudler Fine Foods Company anticipates increased rate of high margin food as well as beverages by its customers in order to get its customers forming a social network that spends more time at Kudler. More time in the store will result to increase in revenue and frequency at which the customers visit the company. Consumers would contest for more high-ticket items and even bring more friends to the evening parties. Although the company prefers having evening parties combined with classes in the firm to having them outside, the firm also organizes cooking classes for its guest at their homes for an extra cost. The importance of such programs is that they encourage marketing by word of mouth and consumer’s loyalty. It is therefore justifiable that marketing research is necessary for Kudler Fine Foods in the development of the store’s marketing strategies (Albaum, 2004) . ORDER NOW 3/3