An essay to critically evaluate the adoption of a questionnaire based methodology compared with a focus group based methodology when examining product portfolio expansion.
The purpose of this essay is to critically evaluate the adoption of a questionnaire based methodology compared with a focus group based methodology when examining product portfolio expansion. These two marketing research approaches will be compared in a general context supported by the real life example of Domestoil.
J.W. Farina is an Italian based company and is now a market leader in the production and sale of Italian oils to foreign markets, J.W.Farnia currently operates in the B2B sector selling most of its oils predominantly to restaurants, they are now considering
expansion into the B2C sector with the sale of oils called Domestoil to the U.K and are conducting market research in order to gain public response and also to gauge domestic usage patterns (especially competitors)
(web link is in appendix 1)
When devising a marketing research strategy identification of key issues is imperative to success, Burns, A.C., & Bush, R. F., (2006) model of the marketing research process highlights the four main areas of marketing research (figure 1) including establishing the need for marketing research, the research methodology, collection of data and finally its analysis. In order to establish a marketing approach for portfolio expansion. It is firstly important to determine the main need for market research as this will help identify the most relevant marketing research tool.
In the example of Domestoil the issues include the shifting of sales focus from B2B to B2C and also the expansion of their product range. With the expansion of the product range any company will try to determine what potential consumer behaviour (in terms of purchasing the product) will be. In the case of Domestoil this will be trying to establish if potential consumers would switch from competitors brands to...