Section Three: Market Analysis
Description of the Store and Background Information:
North Park Secondary School is located at 10 North Park Drive, Brampton, Ontario. This
school was opened in 1978 and is currently a high school. The Commons Corner store is
located within the school near the cafeteria and the guidance office. The commons is the part
of the school where most of North Park students spend time before school, afterschool and
during their lunches; this is because the cafeteria and all the classes connect to this area
known as the Commons, in which the store resides. In 2005 the International Business and
Technology program or IBT was started to provide the students, who applied and got in, the
benefit of using technology which has been incorporated into the Ontario education system.
a. Population (by grade): 1365
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Grade 9: 423 (30.989%)
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Grade 10: 360 (26.374%)
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Grade 11: 320 (23.443%)
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Grade 12: 240 (17.582%)
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Grade 13: 22 (1.612%)
b. Special programs
IBT program (International Business and Technology)
Specialist High Skills Major Program: Business, and six major certifications.
c. School Board: Peel District School Board
d. Notable alumni:
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Cassie Campbell, former Team Canada Women's Ice Hockey captain, current
anchor on Hockey Night in Canada on CBC.
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Mike Harris, silver medallist in curling at the 1998 Olympics, CBC curling
broadcaster and golf professional
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Little X, music video director.
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Shomari Williams, CFL football player
e. Administrators (Principal)
f.
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Principal: Mr. P. Geale
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Vice- principal: Ms. D. Moore
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Vice- principal: Ms. J. Kipfer
Renovation (building)
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There were twenty portables in the back field of the school.
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The right wing of the school replaced these temporary classrooms through a
couple of years of renovation.
g. Usage of the Commons Corner
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The Common’s Corner Store is infrequently used for selling dance tickets,
candy and SPC cards temporarily, but most of the times it is closed.
h. Feeders school to North Park Secondary School (elementary school)
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Williams Parkway Sr. Public School
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Balmoral Public School
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All the schools from the Peel District School Board from the North of
highway 401 and have been enrolled in for the IBT program at North Park
Secondary School
Target Market:
After the crucial research was conducted (shown on the previous page), the suitable
target market for the revolutionary ready-to-drink Bubblicious bubble tea was decided to
include all of the students of North Park Secondary School. The catering of the bubble tea
will be done to both physiological needs (quenching thirst and daily nutritional values) and
social needs (fun to drink with a sense of fitting in within the peer consumer groups).
Marketing Research:
RESULTS:
After browsing through the current needs and wants of the students at North Park
Secondary School, the discovery is made that the students want a product which is quicker
to obtain, easy to carry because of the busy schedules of the students and that the product
has to be something revolutionary or unique. (Refer to Figure 1) Many of the students who
were surveyed, state that students often have to wait in line for a preferred drink in the
North Park Servery and often go to stores at least two kilometres away from the school, such
as the Petro-Canada gas station, and/or FoodLand located in Howden Plaza. (Refer to
Figure 2) To further initiate the target market, Bubblicious conducted a separate survey
which asked: how many times would you purchase ready-to-go bubble tea on a weekly
basis in an average month? The response was that if it was a summer month, then cold
bubble tea would be bought at least three times a week on average and in the other months,
it shall be bought at least once two weeks. (Refer to Figure 3.1 and Figure 3.2) Price was yet
another concern brought up in the survey. Many students wished to pay no more than $4.50.
(Refer to Figure 4) Since about seventy percent of the target market which was surveyed was
willing to buy a revolutionary ready-to-go bubble tea from Bubblicious, Bubblicious assures
that at least sixty five percent of North Park Secondary School’s population will be willing
and able to purchase this product. (Refer to Figure 5)
POTENTIAL CHALLENGES:
After gathering all the preliminary data, Bubblicious knew that product promotion
was essential, because the question of loyalty comes by when talking about successful
business corporations. So, the company noted that starting such a business will need some
time and effort of getting the word around.This project team agreed on finding appropriate
locations which can be used to promote the product to the target market. It was concluded
that the majority of students spend their time both in the Commons area and outside on the
school’s playgrounds. (Refer to Figure 6) So an effective strategy, as decided by the
company, was to post advertisements around the inside of the school, such as the hallways
and cafeteria walls. The use of technology will also take place to promote the product, such
as MySpace and Facebook, to make bubble tea more appealing to the IBT students at the
school. The announcements, that most people listen to, will be used to get the message
across. (Refer to Figure 7)
Potential Competition:
The competition which Bubblicious will be facing is a great deal of competition,
because the beverage industry is huge by itself. There will be an equal amount of direct and
the indirect competition. Most of the direct competition will be coming from the vending
machines at North Park, the North Park Servery, Tim Horton’s, the gas station stores and
FoodLand located in the Howden Plaza. However, the indirect competitors will be places
such as Lil’ Caesars, also located in the Howden Plaza and popular beverage companies,
which also provide ready-go-products such as Minute Maid; those products are mostly
brought from home by the students as they are sold in retail, but in packs of at least 12. The
nearby malls from North Park Secondary School, Trinity Commons Mall and Bramalea City
Centre, are also going to prove to be both direct and indirect completion. This is because
they also have restaurant franchises which sell drinks.
To overcome this potential competition, a discovery was made. While pricing and
location are factors that the student body considers, the quality of the product also makes a
huge difference. For example, there are wedges that are sold within the North Park Servery
for $2.50; the wedges are in a container that is about the size of a small McDonald’s fries.
Students have chosen to walk all the way to Foodland to purchase wedges at a higher price
of $3.50. This is because the wedges simply taste better and there is a sufficient quantity in
each serving. The higher quality and sufficient quantity of the food provided eliminates the
factors of cost and location. This shows that if Bubblicious ready-to-go bubble tea is made to
provide consumers with good quality, then a genuine reputation and loyalty will be formed
over time. Thus, this gives Bubblicious an advantage over the competitors.