Detractors claim that scanner-based research is like “driving a car down
the road looking only in the rearview mirror.” What does this mean? Do
you agree?
Scanner based research is conducted by organizations to monitor the buying and consumption patterns
of the customers. It consists of various techniques including electronic monitoring tools like Television
meters, laser scanners to capture the information of the customers.
The primary objective of the technique is to answer various marketing questions including
Impact of new advertising? Minimize media costs? Change ad frequency? Do sales change if ad
frequency changed? Sales cannibalized from existing products by new product
The motive is to capture the customer behavior to forecast the future customer buying behaviors. As it
involves the use of historical data to predict/forecast the future the statement it is analogous to driving
a car down the road looking only in the rearview mirror is apt to a large extent. But it has its inherent
benefits too.
Advantages
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
Involves Time savings
Helps to Predict the Future to some extent.
Helps to learn From The Past
Keeps Companies Looking Ahead
Helps companies to remain Competitive
Helps to reduce Inventory Costs
Helps to give way for new business opportunities
Disadvantages
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Monetary cost to install and analyze.
Overemphasize on decision making.
Transfer of power to algorithms rather than human judgments
Not always correct but taken as benchmark by many managers.
Why do you think Red Lobster relies so much on Internet surveys to
track customer opinions, preferences, and criticisms? What are the
advantages of online questionnaires versus traditional surveys
conducted over the phone or through the mail?
Advantages of online questionnaires versus traditional surveys conducted
over the phone or through the mail:





Low costs. Since online surveys involve lower overhead costs, collecting data is cheap.
Automation and real-time access. As soon as Respondents input data it is stored electronically
automatically. To analyze it is easy and is streamlined and can be referred to, immediately.
Less time to capture data. As the deployment and return times are pretty less compared to other
methods. In case of bad contact information, you can know it immediately.
Respondent’s Convenience. It can be answered at the pace of respondents and provide with plethora
of opportunities to respondents to start a survey, stop, and complete it later.
Flexibility. Complicated patterns and logic are easy to employ. There are many restrictions which can
be integrated like single answer or multiple answers to cut down the errors.
Anonymity. Interviewers can also influence responses in some cases. Also the respondents can be
anonymous about their response and hence can be truer during response.
Because of the above reasons Red Lobster would have gone for online surveys and did not rely on
conventional methods. It was faster, cheaper, convenient, easier and more reliable to capture the data
by this mean.
Go to www.redlobster.com and click around. How well do you think the
site appeals to the educated, affluent, and over-50 crowd that the chain
wants to reel in? What are the primary messages that it communicates
about the restaurant, and how effective are they? How does the site
attempt to capture information about its customers? (Nye, Patterson,
Robbie)
Fresh, Live
Different
Connecting
with
customers
Celebrate,
Largest
Variety
7 entrees,
Variety
Special
Promotion
Campaign
Social
Network
Integration
How well do you think the site appeals to the educated, affluent, and over-50
crowd that the chain wants to reel in?
As the website is targeting the educated, affluent, and over-50 crowd, the aesthetics are pretty natural
and clean. The lobster in the picture looks juicy and gives the image of freshness. The option of special
menu is to position it for affluent as it provides a sense of uniqueness for the customers.
What are the primary messages that it communicates about the restaurant,
and how effective are they?
The primary message is that they are leader in Lobster dishes. The Lobsters are fresh and they serve it
differently. They have been pretty effective in communicating the message. The theme of the website is
of red which acts as a culinary appetizing and the communication on the website is coherent to the
central theme.
How does the site attempt to capture information about its customers?
The website provides an option for the customer to join the club to give them exclusivity and would
provide them with ready dataset of target customer who are interested so as to provide them
information about the upcoming events. Also there is an incentive for the customer in terms of birthday
gift in terms of coupon on birthday to increase sale and also to instill connect with customer which
would lead to increased trials. Also the social networking integration in terms of facebook would provide
them with increased referrals
Red Lobster’s closest competitor in the seafood-dining business is Joe's
Crab Shack. Check out their Web site at www.joescrabshack.com and
compare it to Red Lobster’s. How does their marketing approach differ?
Do you think they’re appealing to the same types of customers? How
does the Web site try to get information from its customers?
How does their marketing approach differ? Do you think they’re appealing to
the same types of customers?
Joe Crab Shack on the other hand has a different marketing technique and are targeting to different
set of customers. In a way from the case we can say, It has marketing technique quite similar to
what Red Lobster had earlier.
The Primary message is not much on freshness but on Price (through happy hour). The central image
does not talk about freshness but regular crab which would looks pretty regular. It seems to be no
frill restaurant with focus on tasty and cheap food.
It also has similar facebook integration with almost similar benefits. Although the facebook likes are
on the order of 300k compared to 3 million for red lobsters. The picture shows beer and bun
complemented with lobsters. So it basically gives an image of regular restaurant. The pirate in the
corner gives an image of the traditional nautical themes.
Also unlike Red lobster’s it does not have option for recipes and health tips etc through which later
tries to connect with the target customers in a better and more holistic manner.
How does the Web site try to get information from its customers?
So the connect page is pretty basic in terms of integration through various major social networking
platforms. Unlike red lobster they don’t have a club or birthday treat but provides a free apatizer
when you connect. There is also a donate for social cause option.
There is another option of shop on the website to buy apparels under the name of buy JOE’s Stuff to
increase the connect and enforce repurchases by loyal customers.
Suppose Red Lobster was wondering how well its new interior design
was being received by customers at a redecorated restaurant in
Columbus, Ohio, and hired you to create a questionnaire. Write one of
each: an open-ended question, a closed-ended question (either
dichotomous or multiple choices), and a scaled-response question.
Dichotomous: Did you like the current design of restaurant better than previous design?
o
o
Yes
No.
Multiple choices: What did you like in the new design?




Interior Décor
Service time
New menu
Taste
Scaled-response question: On the scale of 7 rate the new design of the restaurant
1
o
2
o
3
o
Open-ended question: Any feedback?
4
o
5
o
6
o
7
o