Buyer behavior for consumer market

Buyer Behavior for Consumer Market

Introduction

In the summer of 1898, In New Bern, North Carolina, a young pharmacist named Caleb Bradham began experimenting with combinations of spices, juices and syrup trying to create refreshing new drinks to serve his customers. He succeeded beyond expectations by inventing new beverages know as Pepsi-Cola. Nowadays, Pepsi is a well known soft drink in all over the world.

From its humble beginnings over a century ago, Pepsi-Cola has grown to become one of the best-known, most-loved products throughout the world. And the company behind it PepsiCo has grown as well, standing today as the premier marketer of refreshment beverages, juices and snack foods. They have consumer in over 200 countries in the whole world. The company offers more than 500 beverages and snack that appeal to every age of consumer age group and demographic category.

Today, PepsiCo is a $29 billion company, employing more than 150,000 people speaking more than 40 languages around the globe. The company is consistently recognized for its corporate citizenship, philanthropic efforts and diversity programs.

It is the world’s fourth-largest food and beverage company and is staking its claim as the global leader in convenience foods and beverages. PepsiCo has a strong plan to continue to expand with an enormous lineup of convenience foods and drinks that provide great taste, nutrition and fun around the clock.

Here is the list of Pepsi Co brands and products.

Mirinda, 7UP (International), Pepsi Limón, Kas, Teem, Pepsi Max, Pepsi Light, Starbucks Doubleshot (Partnership), Starbucks Doubleshot, Energy (Partnership) Starbucks Iced Coffee (Partnership), Tropicana Twister, and Mountain Dew.

Model of Consumer Behavior

Consumer makes many buying decision every day. Many large companies do some research about consumer buying decision in great detail to answer questions what will customer buy, where they buy, how much they, when they buy and why they will buy those product. According to Principles of Marketing, Kotler (2008) Consumer Buyer Behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumer which are individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumptions. The entire final consumer combines to make a consumer market.

Many big companies did a lot of marketing effort to attract the consumer to buy their product. For example, Pepsi Company. The company did a lot of marketing effort to attract the consumer such as advertising, survey, promotion and apply the 4 P’s to make the consumer aware about their product.

The question here is, how did the consumer respond to the various marketing effort that Pepsi company use? Model of buyer behavior consist of Marketing and other stimuli, Buyer’s black box and Buyer Responses. Marketing and other stimuli will enter the consumer’s black box and produce certain responses. So marketers need to figure out what is in the buyer’s black box.

Marketing stimuli consist of the Four P’s which are Product, Price, Place and Promotions. Other stimuli included major forces and events in the buyer’s environment such as economic, technological, political and cultural. All the inputs will enter the buyer’s black box, where they are turned into a set of observable buyer responses. Under buyer responses there are product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase timing and purchase amount.

Consumers do not make their decisions in a void. Their purchases are highly influenced by cultural social, personal, and psychological factors. Here some of that influence the behavior or the particular market:

Cultural Factor

Cultural factor divided into three sub factors Culture, Sub Culture, Social Class. Culture is the set of basic values perceptions, wants, and behaviors learned by a member of society from family and other important institutions.

Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behavior. Every group or society has a culture, and cultural influences on buying behavior may vary greatly from country to country.

Based on the case study, we are doing a Pepsi brands in Malaysia. Malaysia has many races of people such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and many more. Now days many people choose to drink Pepsi because it is Halal and did not contain any alcohol. It is because most culture in Malaysia did not allowed them to drink alcohol. So for teenager of adult who cannot drink an alcohol drink, they can choose to drink Pepsi.

Other than that, now day culture in Malaysia more shift towards greater concern about health and fitness. This had brought a lot of huge industry for health fitness services, more natural foods and variety of diets. So for Pepsi company which serve soft drinks, they had come with a new products known as Pepsi Max which has less sugar and gas to fulfill the new culture of Malaysian people.

Sub Culture is a group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences and situations. Each culture contains smaller sub cultures a group of people with shared value system based on common life experiences and situations. Sub culture includes nationalities, religions, racial group and geographic regions.

Many sub culture make up important market segments and marketers often design products. For Pepsi company, sub culture is very important in influencing the consumer to buy their products. They need to target consumer based on their nationalities, religions, racial group and geographic regions. For nationalities, Pepsi must aware about any country that did not allowed their people to take soft drinks.

For example, India. They had once ban Pepsi in their country because of the sugar contain in Pepsi. According to Marketing, Kotler (2008), Many subcultures make up important market segments, and marketers often design products and marketing programs tailored to their needs. Pepsi should not make an advertisement which can touch the sensitiveness of any religions, nationalities and others.

Social Class Almost every society has some form of social structure, social classes are society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interests and behavior. Social class did not determined by a single factors such as incomes, but it measured as a combination of occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables. Marketers are interested in social class because people within given social class tend to exhibit similar buying behavior.

Social Factors

A consumer’s behavior also is influenced by social factors, such as the Groups, Family, Roles and status. Groups are two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals. A person’s behaviors are influenced by many small groups. Groups that have a direct influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups. Some are primary groups includes family, friends, neighbours and coworkers. Some are secondary groups, which are more formal and have less regular interaction.

These include organizations like religious groups, professional association and trade unions. For groups, it is much easier for Pepsi to attract them to buy their products. Because a single member of the groups can influences almost all the group member to follow them. For example, a leader in one group can influenced the members to buy Pepsi as part of the group activities.

Family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. The family is the most important consumer buying organization society and it has been researched extensively. Marketers are interested in the roles, and influence of the husband, wife and children on the purchase of different products and services. In this social class, Pepsi need to target the children because they are the people who will consume more Pepsi. But of cause they will ask their parents to buy the products. So Parents is the customer and Children is the consumer.

Roles and Status is a person belongs to many groups, family, clubs, organizations. The person’s position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. For example, Mdm Airis plays the role of Mother, in her family she plays the role of wife, and in her company, she plays the role of manager. A Role consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the persons around them.

Personal Factors

Personal factors consists of Age and life cycle stage, Occupation, Economic situation, Life Style, and Personality and self concept.

Age and Life cycle Stage is People changes the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. Tastes in food, clothes, furniture, and recreation are often age related. Buying is also shaped by the stage of the family life cycle. Here Pepsi cannot target the all age of people to buy their products. They should target consumer from children, to teenagers and finally the adults. Because nowdays many people concern about their health. So they will try to avoid any soft drinks that have a lot of sugar and gas. This will affect their health.

Occupation is a person’s occupation affects the goods and services bought. Blue collar workers tend to buy more rugged work clothes, whereas white-collar workers buy more business suits. A Company can even specialize in making products needed by a given occupational group. Thus, computer software companies will design different products for brand managers, accountants, engineers, lawyers, and doctors.

From here we can conclude that only working people can purchase Pepsi products. But not every one of them will purchase Pepsi. So Pepsi need to find a thing or a person to influence them. For example, advertisement is the best tools to influence them or for parents, children are their best factors to influence them to buy Pepsi products.

Economic situation is a person’s economic situation will affect product choice. Life Style is a person’s Pattern of living, understanding these forces involves measuring consumer’s major AIO dimensions. For example, activities such as Work, hobbies, shopping, support. Other than that interest, Food, fashion, family recreation and opinions about themselves, Business, Products

Personality and Self concept each person’s distinct personality influence his or her buying behavior. Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to one’s own environment.

Psychological Factors

Psychological factors consist of Motivation, Perception, Learning, Beliefs and attitudes Motivation.

Motive drives a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction of the need.

Perception, The process by which people select, Organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world. Learning is Changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience.

Beliefs and attitudes. Belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something Attitude, a Person’s consistently favorable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings, and tendencies towards an object or idea.

Marketing Research Technique

INTRODUCTION

According to Malhotra (1996), Market Research can be defined as a key element within the total field of marketing information. It’s links the consumer, customer and public to the market through information which is to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions while improved the understanding of marketing as a process and of the ways in which specific marketing activities can be made more effective. This is for the reason that it’s always incorporates some form of the data collection whether it is secondary research (often referred to as desk research) or primary research which is collected direct from a respondent.

While based on the case study we know that Pepsi Co is one of the most famous company that produce soft drink and some other product. Subsequently to get the information about Pepsi Co we need to do the market research so that we will know how far the customer or consumer is satisfied with the Pepsi product as well. This is because without the market research they might be tough for Pepsi Co to know about the level of satisfaction of their customer towards their product that has been produce by them. Consequently to get the work become more efficient we will follow the step on market research which is the first step is we will apply the web site method to get the first condition and perception about the Pepsi Co.

This is because through the web site method we will get extra information such as the impression, background, financial and so on about the Pepsi Co. Next we will make some preparation on preparing the questionnaire about Pepsi Co which is in the questionnaire include some of the question about how society get know about the Pepsi Co and how much they spend to buy Pepsi product.

On top of that the 20 sheet of questionnaire has been distributed towards the people around the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC) which is the trendiest place that all people knew bout it. The data analysis will analyze by 20 people around there with the different age and occupation. Finally the data that has been collected will be prepared and presented in the best way.

Primary data collection can be considered as one of the extra sources because is needed when a researcher cannot find the data needed in secondary sources. Market researchers are interested in primary data about demographic, socioeconomic, characteristics, attitudes or opinions or interests, awareness or knowledge, intentions, motivation, and behavior. Three basic means of obtain by primary data are observation, surveys, and experiments. The choice will be influenced by the nature of the problem and by the availability of time and money.

SURVEY

According to Business Dictionary.com (2009), Survey can be defined as the collection of data from a given population for the reason of analysis of a particular issue. Data that frequently collected from a sample of a population, knows as a sample of survey. As we already informed surveys is one of the ways that are used widely in research, especially in market research to find some information or any feedback from others towards some product.

Besides that there have 4 types of survey which is include personal interview, self-administrated surveys, telephone interviews and direct observation. In order to collect the information of Pepsi Co we were applying 2 types of survey which is personal interview and self administrated surveys which are made by us as well.

Personal Interview

According to Business Dictionary.com (2009), Personal Interview can be defined as a market research technique for gathering information through face-to-face while contact with individuals. Personal interviews take place in a variety of place like settings-in homes, at shopping malls, in a business office and so forth.

One of the personal interviews is face-to face interviews which is this interview are conducted between a market researcher and a respondent. Then the data is collected on a survey. Some surveys are very rigid or ‘structured’ and use closed questions. So that the data is easy to compared with others. Further about face-to-face interviews is more ‘in strength,’ and depend upon more open forms of questioning. The research will investigate and develop points of interest.

While based on the case study, we were takes place in KLCC to do the research up about the Pepsi Co which is the trendiest area in the Kuala Lumpur. We chose this place because on a daily basis there is more people visit that place and most of them are from people around the Malaysia. Consequently we use the face to face interview because easy to get feedback from them and we can get the information on the spot. On top of that Pepsi Co can get directly more explanation from them because they can through out what they felt about the product that has been produced by Pepsi Co.

Self-Administrated Surveys

A self-administrated survey is one in which the respondent completes the survey on his or her. While as we know Questionnaires are usually printed on paper, but they might be in other ways like programmed into computer and places on the internet and ask for the respond. However, Self-administrated questionnaires present a challenge to the marketing researcher because they really on the efficiency of the written word rather than the skills of the interviewer.

Self-administrated surveys are attractive because they are low in cost, and they avoid interviewer evaluation apprehension or worry. While based on the case study, when we do the survey about Pepsi Co we would just used pen and a paper to make the survey complete. Instead of that the people that has been ask for complete the survey questionnaire will directly respond on the questionnaire. Consequently we can get the result of the information directly of the questionnaire which is has been complete by the respondent.

Telephone Interviews

Telephone interviews also can be consider as one of the techniques that can be done to make our survey complete which is telephone interviews is also one of the key under the survey method. Telephone interview can be defined as an interview that gathers information through telephone contact with individuals. This means that the interviewers will call their respondent to get the feedback or respond from their customers. As a result the information that gathers would help us as well to make changes towards our product that has been survey.

Direct Mail

While surveys also can be made by using the direct mail which is the interviewers will send the questionnaire through the email so that the respondent can give the feedback form there using the mail responded .Example like company A which is the interviewer and in order to evaluate their performance towards society they will try to make and Direct mail interview which is they will send some question that will be in questionnaire and may be might ask about their company services that has been provided to society and they will sent the questionnaire to Company B which the interviewee.

On this cases the company will receive the questionnaire form in direct mail from the Company B. So as the respondent Company B will return the answer also in mail form which is they will send back to Company A Through this method its give lots of pros towards the company which is can save cost in order to prepared the questionnaire because through the direct mail it’s the company can save cost

OBSERVATION

The market research technique is not just only based on the survey method, this is because Observation also one of the method that can be used to collect the information on the level of satisfaction towards Pepsi product. Observation can be easily defined as the systematic process of recording the behavioral patterns of people, object and occurrences without questioning or otherwise communicating with them. Observations can be divide into two types which is having as human observation and mechanical observation. As a Marketing Research officer for Pepsi Co we were use both types of observation to know what behavior of people or society towards the Pepsi Product.

Observation as a methodical process of recording the behavioral patterns of people, objects and event without questioning or else communicating with them. Observation can be divides into two types which are as the chart show above two types of observation is Human observation and Mechanical observation which is can be implementing by Pepsi Co in order to observe their customers.

Human Observation

Human observation can be defined as self explanatory, using human observers to collect data in the study. We can do the observation by human observation. It means that we use human as the observers which is we can just look and interpret what they do, what feeling are they, or else from their body languages. We can know what their feel now such as happy, enjoy, bored and so forth towards the product of Pepsi.

Other than that through the human observation the best technique that can be implement by the Pepsi Co to evaluate their customer feelings is through facial reaction of the customer which is can be in their smiles, raised eyebrows an head nods as well. As a result we can automatically analyze how the customer sense towards the product of the Pepsi. Besides that Pepsi Co also can used the direct observation in order to observe the customer of their product. Which is they can straightly observe the customer behavior towards the Pepsi product

Mechanical Observation

Mechanical observation involves using various types of machines in order to gather the information, data, which is then interpreted by researchers. On a daily basis we are already know that with the continuing improvements in technology, there are lots of “mechanical” ways that can be used in order to capturing data in observation studies however, these new “gadgets” tend to be extremely expensive. The most commonly used and least expensive means of mechanically gathering data in an observation study is a video camera. A video camera offers a much more precise means of collecting data than what can simply be recorded by a human observer.

Based on the case study we know that in order to observe the customer we can implement the other ways which is like Mechanical Observation as a Marketing Research Officer we try to look forward on the ways of implementing the mechanical observation this is because they will make our work become more easily with the observation for employees or customers of the Pepsi Co. Otherwise Pepsi Co can used the CCTV which is to get the information without knowing by other people. Example that can be stated at here is like Pepsi Company in order to observe their employees in all departments like marketing department, chemical department which is this entire department were play and important role while producing and made the product Pepsi.

Consequently we can see the action that shows by them is humble, lazy, and friendly and so forth. Indirectly, Pepsi Co can manage or take an action towards the employee which is not performing effective and efficient towards their work. Other than that we also can used the Video in order to observe the behavioral of the customer while the purchase the Pepsi product and we can see how they felt either satisfy or not which the number of purchase.

Conclusion

While based on my point of view the conclusion that can be made at here is survey is a type of research which is comparatively costly, because it requires a staff of interviewers, but it provides the best opportunity to obtain information through probing for clearer explanations. Consequently, we can know what people in KLCC feel about the Pepsi product. This is because the respondent can tell us what they feel. Ultimately, we can know either they satisfy or not about the performance of the Pepsi product or not. Besides that the personal style (tone of voice, rewording of a question) and biases of each interviewer can affect how the participants respond and how the responses are recorded. As a result, we can get information from our recorded such as from video recorded. While from mechanical observation, we must spend more time to get the information. At the same times, we cannot observe the feeling of people in this campus because we cannot ask then but just take their photo or video. On the whole, for us, survey is the best technique to use early on in the research process when the researcher is not yet sure which questions need to be asked, because new and better questions can come out of the dialogue.

SWOT ANANLYSIS

Introduction

According to Businessdictionary.com (2009), secondary data is an existing primary data that was collected by someone else or for a purpose other that the current one. It depending on whether the data come from inside and outside the organization needing to research. In secondary data, it divided into two parts of sources such as internal and external secondary data. Internal secondary data are data that have been collected and exits inside the business firm or other organization. External secondary data is data from outside that firm.

According to Business Dictionary.com (2009) SWOT is a tool that identifies the strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of an organization. Specifically, SWOT is a basic, straightforward model that assesses what an organization can and cannot do as well as its potential opportunities and threats. The method of SWOT analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate in into internal such as strengths and weaknesses and external issues such as opportunities and threats. Once this is completed, SWOT analysis determines what may assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve desire result.

Based on case study, to be comes a strong business strategy, Pepsi Co can used SWOT analysis that helped it become stronger competitor in other way Pepsi Co must identify which is their strength, weakness, opportunity and threat?

SWOT Analysis of PEPSI Co

The Pepsi Company is a leading manufacture, distributor and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, in the world. Pepsi has a strong brand name and brand portfolio. Business-week and Interbrain, a branding consultancy, recognize Pepsi as one the leading brand in their top 100 global brand ranking in 2006. The business week-interbrain value Pepsi $67,000 million in 2006. Pepsi ranks well ahead of its close competitor Coco-Cola which has a ranking of 22 having brand value $12,690 million the company’s strong brand value facilitates customer recall and allows Pepsi to penetrate markets. On the other hand, the company is threatened by intense competition which could have an adverse impact on the company market share.

Strengths

Strong brands allow the company to introduce brand extension such as Pepsi max, Pepsi Cola, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Diet, Pepsi Light over the year; the company has made large investments in brand promotion. Consequently, Pepsi is one of the best recognized global brands. The company’s strong brand value facilitates customer recall and allows Pepsi to penetrate new market and consolidate existing ones.

Pepsi has been a complex part of world culture for a very long time and they take a good qualities control of their product by take important on qualities processes n also procedures to maintain their customer satisfaction. They have a unique product image and the product’s image is loaded with over-romanticizing and this is an image many people have taken deeply to heart. The Pepsi image is displayed on T-shirts, hats and collectible memorabilia and many more.

This extremely recognizable branding is one of Pepsi’s greatest strengths. It allows them to conduct business on a global scale while at the same time maintain a local approach. The bottling companies are locally owned and operated by independent business people who are authorized to sell product of the Pepsi Company. Because Cola does not have outright ownership of its bottling network, its main source of revenue is the sale of concentrate to its bottlers.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses for any business need to be both minimized and monitored in order to effectively achieve productive and efficiency in their business activities, Pepsi have no exception. Even though domestic business as well as many international market are thriving volumes in Latin America were up 12%, Pepsi has recently reported some decliners in unit case volumes in Indonesia and Thailand due to reduce consumer purchasing power. According to an article in Fortune magazine, in Japan, unit case sales fell 3% in the second quarter of 1998. Consequently we can determine the Pepsi Weakness which is can be improve and can be make sure that in future they will never happened again.

Besides that, Pepsi on the other side has effects on the teeth which is an issue for health care. It also has got sugar by which continuous drinking of Pepsi may cause health problem. Being addicted to Pepsi also is a health problem, because drinking of Pepsi daily has an effect on your body after few years. Because its contain chemicals which could cause cancer, damage the nervous and reproductive system and reduce bone mineral density. Such negative publicity could adversely impact the company’s brand image and the demand for Pepsi product. This could also have an adverse impact on the company’s growth prospects in the international market

Negative publicity

The company received negative publicity during September 2006.The Company was accused by the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) of selling products containing pesticide residues that contained a hazardous pesticide residue. These pesticides included chemicals which could cause cancers, damage the nervous and reproductive systems and reduce bone mineral density. Such negative publicity could adversely impact the company’s brand image and the demand for Pepsi products. This could also have an adverse impact on the company’s growth prospects in the international markets.

Opportunities

Brand recognition is the significant factor affecting Pepsi’s competitive position. Pepsi’s brand name is known well throughout 94% of the world today. Its mean that the primary concern over the past few years has been to get this name brand to be even better known. Packaging changes have also affected sale and industry positioning, but in general, the public has tended not to be affected by new products. Pepsi bottling system also allows the company to take advantage of infinite growth opportunities around the world. This strategy gives Pepsi the opportunity to service a large geographic, diverse area.

Pepsi is such an experienced powerful global company, which has a basic of a great fund. So it has the ability to place an idle sum of money to the promotion. We can see that the advertisement of Pepsi-Cola is so attractive. It also invited the top famous people to advertise for it. The advertisement is so elaborate and attractive so that Pepsi gained the special prize of the advertisement Granny.

Threats

Currently the threat of new viable competitors in the carbonated soft drink industry is not very substantial. The threat of substitutes however is a very real threat. The soft drink industry is very strong, but consumers are not necessarily married to it. Possible substitutes that continuously put pressure on both Pepsi and Coke include tea, coffee, juices, milk, and hot chocolate, even thought Coco-Cola and Pepsi control nearly 40% of the entire beverage market, the changing health-consciousness of the market could have a serious affect.

Of course, both Coke and Pepsi have already diversified into these markets, allowing them to have further significant market shares and offset any losses incurred due to fluctuations in the market. Consumer buying power also represents a key threat in the industry. The rivalry between Pepsi and Coke has produce a very slow moving industry in which management must continuously respond to the changing attitudes and demands of their consumer or face losing market share to the competition. In addition, consumer can easily switch to other beverages with little cost or consequence.

Intense competition

Pepsi competes in the nonalcoholic beverages segment of the commercial beverages industry. The company faces intense competition in various markets from regional as well as global players. As well, the company faces competition from various nonalcoholic sparkling beverages including juices and nectars and fruit drinks. In many of the countries in which Pepsi operates, including the US, Pepsi is one of the company’s primary competitors. Other significant competitors include Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes, and so forth. Consequently competitive factors impacting the company’s business include pricing, advertising, sales promotion programs, product innovation, and brand and trademark development and protection. Intense competition could impact Pepsi market share and revenue growth rates.

Dependence on bottling partners

Pepsi generates most of its revenues by selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers in whom it doesn’t have any ownership interest or in which it has no controlling ownership interest. This is show based on the article on Business Dictionary in 2006, approximately 83% of its worldwide unit case volumes were produced and distributed by bottling partners in which the company did not have any controlling interests. As independent companies, its bottling partners, some of whom are publicly traded companies, make their own business decisions that may not always be in line with the company’s interests. In addition, many of its bottling partners have the right to manufacture or distribute their own products or certain products of other beverage companies.

If Pepsi is unable to provide an appropriate mix of incentives to its bottling partners, then the partners may take actions that, while maximizing their own short-term profits, may be detrimental to Pepsi. These bottlers may devote more resources to business opportunities or products other than those beneficial for Pepsi. Such actions could, in the long run, have an adverse effect on Pepsi profitability. In addition, loss of one or more of its major customers by any one of its major bottling partners could indirectly affect Pepsi’s business results. Such dependence on third parties is a weak link in Pepsi’s operations and increases the company’s business risks.

Conclusion

While based on my point of view the conclusion that can be made at here is being in such a tense competition, just like the brand Pepsi, Pepsi should not take the direct and tough attack upon it. There is no good to either side. The best wad is to keep a peaceful relationship with it and always compare with others; we should find their disadvantages and show our advantages on this aspect. Then by the people would think Pepsi Co is betted of course the most important rule is to improve ourselves to meet the consumers. Beside that the SWOT analysis is most important thing toward the Pepsi Co in order to make an improvement to their organizations which is they should make some changes on their weakness which is can make Pepsi Co become a bit worse, consequently Pepsi Co should make some changes and some improvement towards their product which is they should make sure that the product that has been produced by their company is save from any chemical ingredients not just only that the Pepsi Co also should

Marketing Research Plan

Introduction

As a Marketing Research Officer of Pepsi Co here we are going to evaluate the Market Research about the Pepsi Co. Which is based on the survey and observation that has been done by us at the place of Kuala Lumpur City Center(KLCC).Consequently based on the survey and observation that has been done there are some other things should be changes by the Pepsi Co which is all will be discuss in Survey and Observation part below this.

On top of that According to Malhotra (1996) in Marketing Research Book, marketing research can be defined as the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis and dissemination of information for the purpose of assisting management in decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing.

Based in case study we prepare the questionnaire which includes the promotion to make the survey and observation. We do the survey and observation which is uses the people of survey and observation. This is example questionnaire that we prepare around the KLCC.

SURVEY AND ONSERVATION

From the surveys that have been done by used through the questionnaire that given to people around the KLCC we got lots of information that can be used by Pepsi Co in order to improve their performance in their producing of their product. According to this survey, the promotions that used by Pepsi Co is quite lots and can be consider that most the society was aware with the products of Pepsi.

Its means that the Marketing Department of Pepsi was work out of this and gives a positive feedback toward the Pepsi Co. The techniques or method that had been applied by the department is three types of promotion which is advertising, personal selling and direct marketing. This survey shows that most of society knew about Pepsi product is through the promotion that has been establish by them which’s especially the advertisement were attract lots of people in order to purchase the products of Pepsi.

Second question is all respondent already knew about Pepsi Co was producing a various types of Pepsi product which is include Pepsi Max, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Blue, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Light and so forth Group. One of each questionnaire is about the tastes of Pepsi and how was customer determine Pepsi either they are sweet bitter, lots of gas or only good. From the surveys the result that we get is most of Pepsi respondent was said that Pepsi was lack of Gas and most of them was prefer Pepsi as their soft drink. Consequently its means that the Pepsi product still got demanded from the entire consumer even some of them said that Pepsi was sweet and some respondent said that they do not prefer Pepsi.

Otherwise, the price that set by Pepsi towards their product like Pepsi Max, Pepsi Twist, Pepsi Blue, Diet Pepsi, 7-up and Pepsi Light its really suitable can everyone is able to purchase on that. This is because if Pepsi set the higher price towards their product they might be less purchase from their customer and there will be no more repeat purchasing on the Pepsi product and Pepsi must follow their competitor price as well as they can set a new price up.

According to the questionnaire, there must be an improvement that the customer wants from Pepsi. As a Marketing Research Officer after done the surveys we get that more improvements that respondent wants from Pepsi Co which is can be like more other product that produce by Pepsi and the other taste if they can implement and Pepsi also should do more promotion so that more people will know about the Pepsi product in future. Other than that Pepsi also must set their price keeps maintain suitable so that they don’t have to getting into trouble which is should compete with their competitor as well.

Lastly, the respondent must rate for overall about the Pepsi Co in order for them to make some changes towards the performance either fells satisfaction or opposite of that. The respondent must rate Consequently based on the questionnaire question as a Marketing Research Officer we already analyze the satisfaction of respondent into three art which is satisfaction, loyal, awareness of the Pepsi product for them. As a result Pepsi Co must need to think that which part they must improve so that the rest of respondents can satisfy with them. Under this paragraph is the statistic, awareness and loyalty from the survey questionnaire that we made for Pepsi Co.

According to the graph above, the survey that we conduct at KLCC the result of 25 respondents that we interviews shown that almost all respondents aware with the word of PEPSI. It shown that Pepsi is a well known product in the market. Our respondents are consumers who are among teenager to adult.

All of them aware about Pepsi and had at least try it once in their life. Most of the respondents aware about Pepsi because the marketing strategy done by Pepsi Company had been successful establish to make the consumer aware about Pepsi products. The main promotions that attract consumer to aware about Pepsi are the advertising strategy. Most of the respondent is aware about Pepsi by watching the company advertisement in the television.

Television and media electronic are a major or main advertising strategy that can attract consumer easily. Because people watch television everyday. Even though television is a very expensive advertising strategy, it is more effective than other kind of advertising. Other than media electronic, newspaper or magazine also are a very effective strategy.

Most people read newspaper everyday because it is easier and cheaper to get it. Plus some newspapers are given free to the people. So once they read the newspaper, they will get notice about the latest advertising done by Pepsi. Mostly adults will read newspaper and teenagers will choose more to read magazine. That’s why magazine also is a very important in advertising tools.

As a results, Pepsi company should make some improvement to their Marketing Strategies on their product to become more fascinating so that more number of customer will aware with Pepsi products.

According to the graph above, we can conclude that people who drink Pepsi 1 to 3 times are 11 respondents, 4 to 6 times are 11 respondents and more than 10 times are 3 respondents. There are 11 respondents who drink Pepsi 1 to 3 times because they prefer other soft drinks than Pepsi. There are many Pepsi competitors in the soft drinks market such as Coke, Mirinda, 7UP, 100 Plus and many more. Each respondent have different taste and demand.

We also can conclude that respondent who takes Pepsi 1 to 3 time, they did not like a soft drinks but prefer more to juice or any healthy drinks. Because now days a lot of people try to maintain their health. This group did not loyal to Pepsi because they did not use Pepsi regularly.

For respondent who takes Pepsi 4 to 6 times, they prefer both Pepsi and other competitors. It shown that there are 11 people who take Pepsi 4 to 6 times. They have a vary choice to drinks. They did not only stick to one product. Maybe they will take a different soft drinks when they feel thirsty.

For Pepsi company, they need to add more flavor, or more advertising strategy to attract this group of respondents to choose Pepsi more than other product. Once they satisfy with the Pepsi product, they will loyal and make a repeat purchase of the products.

Lastly, there are 3 respondents who take Pepsi more than 10 times. They are the Pepsi Fans. They prefer Pepsi more than other brands. For them Pepsi serve better products than others and make them feel satisfy with the product.

From here we can see that few respondents often make Pepsi as their first choices. For them there are other better brands than Pepsi. Because Pepsi are not a very good beverage to take very often. Most of them prefer more healthy drinks such as juice and smoothie. Consequently Pepsi Co should came out with more healthy product such as less sugar, less chemical ingredients and less acid to prevent any dangerous effect towards the customers. As a result there will be more customer become loyal to their brands.

Consumer satisfaction is very important in doing a business. For Pepsi company, they need to make the consumer feel very satisfy when they purchase Pepsi products. According to the survey graph above, we can conclude that there are 17 respondents say that they very satisfy with Pepsi products.

For satisfaction level, we had conduced an experiment towards chosen respondents to try differentiating between Pepsi and Coke. We are using Pepsi Original and Coke Original. The results say that more respondents say that Pepsi have less gas but sweeter than Coke.

The taste is very similar. But most of them prefer Pepsi because it has less gas. For respondents who want less sugar in the drinks, they prefer more to choose Pepsi Max then Coke. We have one respondents who prefer Pepsi Max because it less sugar.

For consumer who gives a good rate for Pepsi satisfying level, they prefer other than Pepsi. They like to have Pepsi but prefer other drinks such as Juice, Coffee, and others. They are trying to maintain their healthy. For the reason that Pepsi product contains more sugar than other beverages.

Intended for consumer who gives an average rate, they are people who are not a Pepsi fan. Most of them think that Pepsi did not serve good beverages towards their customers. Plus, might be most of them are Coke Fan or some others soft drinks fan like Mirinda, 7UP, Sprite and so forth.

Even thought Pepsi did a lot of promotions and other marketing strategies, they still cannot expend their products if they did not suite with what customer demanded of. They need to make more research to produce a product that can satisfy their customer.

Conclusion

Based on my point of view the conclusion that can be made at here is the survey and observation should be done is proper ways while in order to get the correct information. From our survey and observation, we find out that most of the respondent was given an positive answer towards the question that has been ask but only some of them were said that not prefer Pepsi as their drink Consequently as a Marketing Research officer some method or ways should be implement in order to make the Pepsi Product become most famous brand in the world and known by everyone.

At the same times, they also have their idea or suggestion to make the Pepsi Co become stronger and excellent. An examples Pepsi Co need to be improving their product which is the ingredients which is the Pepsi should produce other then their extension product. When all of the product hat has been produce by the Pepsi has been upgrades or can be said that the improvements makes on their weakness or try to think seriously about the treat the Pepsi Co can absolutely attract their customer which is to buy their products instead which the cheaper price and good quality.

Introduction

McDonald’s restaurants are found in 199 countries and territories around the world and serve nearly 47 million customers each day. McDonald operates over 31,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more that 1.5 million people. For overall mission of McDonald is promote Diversity and Inclusion among our employees, Owner/Operators and Supplier who represent the diverse population McDonald’s serves around the globe. The vision is the McDonald’s system leverages the unique talents, strength and assets of our diversity around the globe in order to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat.

McD Malaysia

McDonald’s first made its way to our shores in December 1980 when McDonald’s Corporation, USA gave GOLDEN ARCHES RESTAURANTS SDN BHD the license to operate McDonald’s restaurants in Malaysia. We in Malaysia got our first taste of McDonald’s when McDonald’s Malaysia opened its first restaurant at Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur on 29 April 1982. To date, McDonald’s Malaysia has 182 restaurants located nationwide and is currently expanding at about 10-15 restaurants annually. McDonald’s has created many job opportunities in Malaysia. McDonald’s Malaysia employs more than 7,000 local people with 120 support staff at its headquarters managing the day-to-day operations of the McDonald’s business. There is also a regional office in Penang and Johor Bahru.

This mission that state by McDonald Malaysia is “We aim to be the leader in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry by maximizing Profits and through our Principles of QSC & V (Quality, Service, and Cleanliness & Value) consistent with the needs of our Customers, Employees and Community.” The vision is “To be our customers’ favorites place and way to eat”.

McDonald’s Malaysia provided products and services; products they provided are McValue meals, Ala Carte items, Breakfast Menu, Local Favourites: Porridge and Ayam Goreng, Happy Meal Menu, Desserts and Beverage. Services they provided are McDonald’s Delivery Service, Birthday Parties, Large Order and Gift Certificates.

For McDonald’s Malaysia employees at corporate division and region offices hour many benefits are organized into four categories. Firstly is health and protection. For example are medical and dental. Secondly is pay and rewards. Example is company car program. Thirdly is investing in the future. Example is McDirect share. Finally is helping balance they work and life. MC Donald crews are trained on food safety matters.

In fact food safety training is part of our restaurant management modules. They are also trained to handle all food safety related complaints by customer properly. On top of that Restaurant crew must also appear healthy tidy and not suffering from any disease that can be passed via food. Those with open cuts or sores on their hands are assigned other tasks for the moment to avoid them being in touch with food or preparing food.

Corporate Image Brand Loyalty and Repeat Purchasing

According to Business Dictionary.com (2009), Corporate Image can be defined as the perceptions and impressions of an organization by the public as a result of interaction with the organization and the way the organization presents itself. This is because organizations have traditionally focused on the design of communication and advertising materials, using logos, symbols, text, and color to create a favorable impression on target groups, but a variety of additional activities contributes to a positive corporate image.

These include PR programs such as community involvement, sponsorship, and environmental projects, participation in quality improvement schemes, and good practice in industrial relations. While besides that McDonald also one of the world’s most well-known and valuable brands and holds a leading share in the globally branded quick service restaurant segment of the informal eating-out market in virtually every country in which we do business.

Serves the world some of its favorite foods – World Famous French Fries, Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets and Egg McMuffin. McDonald rich history began with their founder, Ray Kroc. The strong foundation that he built continues today with McDonald’s vision and the commitment of their talented executives to keep the shine on McDonald’s arches for years to come.

According to Business Dictionary.com (2009) McDonald’s introduced its “Forever Young” brand by redesigning all of their restaurants, the first major redesign since the 1970s. The new design for logo will include the traditional McDonald’s yellow and red colors, but the red will be muted to terra cotta, the yellow will turn golden for a more “sunny” look and olive and sage green will be added.

It shows that McDonald’s already exist in fast food market for long time ago. Ultimately, customers already know their corporate image and brand logo. So, McDonald have their own trademark with is show how delicious their product. The trademark that McDonald implements till now is “I’m Loving It”.

According to MarketingsDictionary.com (2008), Brand Loyalty can be easily defined as the degree to which a consumer will repeatedly purchase a Brand. For advertisers to achieve their ultimate goal of brand loyalty, the consumer must be perceived that the brand offers the right combination of quality and price.

This is because there are many factors that influence brand loyalty, such as consumer attitudes, family or peer pressure, and friendship with the salesperson. While based to the McDonald Company; they try to get the brand loyalty by uses types of promotion such as advertising, sales promotion and direct selling to get customer loyalty.

Based on these types of promotion, McDonald Company tries to come out the interesting advertisement that can attract customers to repeat their purchase. From time to time, customer attitude give the influence for brand loyalty. It is because McDonald always thinking about customers satisfactions with their products and services.

According to Business Dictionary.com (2009), Repeat purchase can be easily defined as consumer purchase of the same brand purchased on the previous purchase occasion. Its means that when customers felt satisfy with products and services that has been produce by McDonald, as a result they will be repeat their purchase. This means that McDonald products and services were in good condition.

The ingredients that McDonald used for made the meals also fresh, Halal and good quality. With the strategic place is also one of attraction by McDonald for customers to make them repeat purchase their product. For examples, McDonald always opens their outlets that have more available people come and buy their products. At the same times, McDonald can keep their brand loyalty and it makes McDonald Company can stand in fast food market in the long run.

SURVEY AND OBSERVATION

Consumer is an asset to a McDonald company. We need to do a survey among the consumer to get more information about McDonald Company. For that purpose, we had prepared the survey questionnaires for consumer at a City Center of Kuala Lumpur which is KLCC. We choose KLCC because it is where many consumers will go to have their meals. Plus KLCC is one of the most popular and attract a lot of local visitors and foreigner.

We target a consumer who works around that area and people who come for window shopping, eating, watching movie and many more. We choose them because they also the customers that will be purchase or not the McDonald products and services. At the bottom, we show the survey questionnaire that we prepare the customers McDonald.

We already did do the survey questionnaire by doing it around the KLCC area. Refer to survey questionnaire, all respondents aware about McDonald product. It shows that McDonald is the famous brand in the fast food industries. The best McDonald menu that respondent like are Mc Chicken and Big Mac which it both have 10 out of 24 respondents and the remains are other menu.

From our survey, the respondents now notice about latest promotion that establish by McDonald Company. They aware about Mc Donald latest promotion which is Mc Value for Lunch. They aware about the new promotion because most of them are having lunch around the KLCC area. Consumer who is working around KLCC area are the main target of Mc Donald to make their promotions successful. It is because they are in a hurry and need a food can serve them quickly. So Mc Donald is the best choice. The overall rates that give by respondents are good and excellent. It shows that they satisfy with McDonald products.

From our observation, the price also fit for each meal and customers get more value from what the pay. An example, McDonald has “McDelivery”. They provide this condition because they must give the easy ways for their customer buy their food. They just order what they want and worker of restaurant deliver for them. So, customers feel their satisfaction is taking care and just wait at home or office to get the food. They cannot waste time and money to go buy McDonald. So, they pay a bit but get more value. Based on this statement, directly shows that customers already satisfy with McDonald products and services. It is because McDonald always fulfills customer’s desire. So, that’s why customers give the higher rate for products and services that provide by McDonald Company.

McD VIP Stickers is also one of the services offer by Mc Donald’s. Most respondent aware about Mc Donald VIP sticker but they did not known what is the usage of the sticker. Most of them said that the purpose of VIP sticker is to get a discount from Mc Donald. Actually the purpose of Mc Donald’s VIP sticker is consumer will get a free discount and some fries free provided for them.

Other than that, we found that McDonald always open 24 hours for their customers. It shows that they have the loyal customer that always come and buy McDonald products. In the weekend, the McDonald outlet always full with customers. It is because the McDonald products are satisfied the customer need and wants. The respondents also knew about warranty that provide by McDonald such as customers can refill the water, if the food that customers buy is not hot, they can change for the new one.

The workers also friendly with their customers and always help them when customers have a problem. Consequently, it shows the good services that provide by workers. The environment in McDonald outlet is comfortable because they want their customers happy when come to their outlets. When customers come to McDonald outlets, they can search whatever they want because McDonald provides the internet services. At the same times, McDonald can make their pros from the services of internet because when customer came they can search and eat McDonald meals. Or else, get new customers also possible because they give good services to customers.

Graph of Awareness, Satisfaction and Loyalty.

We used the three types of graph to describe the awareness, loyalty, and satisfaction of customer toward Mcd. We chose to made the graph because we wants shows our result clearly and easy to understand.

Based on survey, we found out that all of respondents are aware about McDonald products and services. It means that McDonald is the famous fast food not only in Malaysia. The respondents are aware with McDonald Company because of promotion. When new products enter the market, McDonald uses the types of promotion tools to promote the products. They use the advertising, sales promotion, and direct selling to attract customers.

For examples, the latest promotion conduct by McDonald which is Mc Value for Lunch. The nearest place is one of part that influence respondents go to McDonald. For example more respondent go to McDonald in KLCC because this outlets are in the city center of Kuala Lumpur nearest with them

Refer to the survey we can simply say that most customers are loyalty with McDonald products. It is because the products and services that provides by McDonald Company is good. For examples, respondents say that the products are delicious, tasty and simple. Services that shows by employees are faster and customers can get the meals directly. Nowadays people always busy and they do not have time to cook at home and served to their children. The others alternative that is buy McDonald meals.

McDonald takes this opportunities that try to solve this problem that customers just come to our outlets to get the meals. McDonald produces many meals for customer like Breakfast Meal, Happy Meal and others. All meals that provide by McDonald are healthy because McDonald do not wants their food will give effect to customers. So, that’s why customer loyalty and repeat purchase for the products and services that provide by McDonald Company.

For overall survey, 17 respondents that satisfy which is excellent and 3 respondents satisfy which is good and 3 respondents just give average rate. It shows that respondents are very satisfied with McDonald product and services. It is because the quality that provide by McDonald are high. McDonald only uses the quality ingredients that all ingredients must Halal and fresh. At the same times, they can attract the Muslim people because in Malaysia, they are the big population.

If the McDonald is always offer a new products, they can absolutely attract more customer to purchase their product. But it will happen if only Mc Donald can serve a good quality products that can make customer feel satisfy when they are having their products. For example, Mc Donald only offer a few products of chicken. If they produce more chicken products such as chicken chop, it can attract most of the KFC consumer to try them.

RECOMMENDATION

McDonald is the famous fast food in the world. To make McDonald to standing for long time, they must improve their performance which is can control the fast food industry. From our suggestion or opinion, to be a largest fast food, McDonald can get more local manager to training in oversea such as Sydney Australia. When they go to the training, they can study more about their education. When they have more knowledge and skill, they can provide new idea for firm. They also can give training to their staff. When staffs know more about organization, with this, company can run more influent and systematic. So, it can increase performance firm to more good.

From menus aspect, McDonald can supply new menus for customers or develop menus that all ready exist. They provide health, safe and halal menu with more. It is because in Malaysia have variety race especially for Muslim people. McDonald also can develop prosperity burger that just supply in Asia Pacific. McDonald can add more packages for services or products. Example, they can create package for lunch couple. When they supply the package, it can give big impact for firm because it can get attractive enthusiasm couple especially among teenagers to come McDonald. So, profit will increase.

Lastly, our suggestion is give more scholarship for community and employees. Example scholarship to community is for student. It can encourage student for study with more good. With this, it can bear an excellent and responsible student. For employees, job’s quality will increase. So the impact for the firm, it will move developed and demand for products and services will increase.

CONCLUSION

Based on my point of view the conclusion that can be made at here is McDonald has the possible and potential in order to organize the fast food industry. This is because McDonald has a strong supportive from their customers. Customers will always think about the brand of McDonald Company which’s the best qualities compare to their other competitors such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and so forth. Beside that McDonald also illustrate the good corporate image and on the same time they hey can stand for long times in fast food industry.

On top of that, based on survey questionnaire, most of respondent were totally satisfied with McDonald product and services which are give them more benefit and values. Respondents also agree for the price that state by McDonald products. The nearest and strategic place and good quality of products is one of influence that customers want to repeat the purchases. From the observation that has been done by us we can see that McDonald were operation their outlets for 24 hours.

They have the gracious workers that always help their customers. McDonald also give a free services that they provide internet to customers who wants searching. And on the same time they were attracting to get the new customers is possible. It is because based on their performance it shows that McDonald has opportunities to get more customer