INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT INDORE

QUALITATIVE MARKETING RESEARCH

NIKE, REEBOK, PUMA STAY IN THE FAST LANE TO CATCH UP WITH INDIA'S GROWING POPULATION OF RUNNERS

MUGAL AMIT WASUDEO 12/10/2013

The research report focuses on the proposal to use qualitative marketing research to solve business problem mentioned in the article

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Research Problem ........................................................................................................................... 2 Research Objective ......................................................................................................................... 2 Research Method and data collection ............................................................................................. 2 Defining a focus group................................................................................................................ 3 Recruiting and preparing the participants ................................................................................... 3 Conducting the focus group discussion ...................................................................................... 3 Starting off with the FGD ....................................................................................................... 3 Analyzing the data .......................................................................................................................... 4 Compile data ............................................................................................................................... 4 Disassemble data and Analyze.................................................................................................... 5 Synthesize and interpret results .................................................................................................. 5 Analysis of data example ............................................................................................................ 5 Expectations from the study............................................................................................................ 6

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INTRODUCTION

The article talks about companies involved in product innovations in the running shoe category to cater to the growing segment of runners in India. The sole criteria of customers for selecting a shoe are changing and the process is becoming more complex as the days past. Customers demands and look for much more than the fit of the shoe. There are different shoes for different purposes and the trend can be easily observed in India. Running has been observed as an emerging trend among youths in India. Many companies like Nike, Puma, Adidas, etc. are trying to effectively engage these customers through participatory events and training programs. These brands are moving ahead from just putting up their logo on the event banners to actually coming down to the events and engaging customers then and there.
RESEARCH PROBLEM

As we know, running trend in India is picking up quite fast; many sports brands as well as drinks brand (Horlicks or energy drinks) are trying to target them. The brands try to engage these customers by organizing participatory events like marathons, training on benefits of running etc. These events help them meet their target customers and understand first hand requirements from them. As per the article the research problem should focus on understanding the relationship between the involvement of brands in the participatory events and effect on the loyalty of the customers towards the brand or on the brand recall. And also does this marketing efforts result into better understanding of target customers expectations from the product which the brand offers.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to understand what factors increases the loyalty of customers towards a brand. In this case what are the product features and events a brand should focus on to serve its customers in a better way?
RESEARCH METHOD AND DATA COLLECTION

The main method for gathering qualitative samples would be Focus Group Discussions. Focus group discussion (FGD would be useful in this context as it helps to figure out the relative importance of factors that can help brands target their audience in an effective manner. Customers sometimes cannot exactly figure out the reasons behind buying a particular product from a particular brand. In that case a focus group discussion helps them reveal detailed information and generate deep insights into their buying behavior. A well-executed FGD creates an accepting environment that puts participants at ease allowing them to thoughtfully answer questions in their own words and add meanings to their answers.

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DEFINING A FOCUS GROUP

The first and foremost issue in conducting a FGD is recruiting the participants. In this case, I would first like to segment my target customers. The term target customers here means any person who is health conscious and look for running as a means to achieve it. The segmentation should be done on the basis of age. Mainly the categories would be Children (14- 17 years), Youths (18- 25 years), Adults (26- 35 years) and Older Adults (>35 years). These age categories would be further classified into Males and Females. There would be separate FGDs for participants in different categories and different gender. For example 1 FGD would have participants from Youths category and only males. Here the focus is on maintaining the homogeneity of the group and at the same time trying to get together participants who are unknown to each other. The participants would be chosen from people who participate in running based events like marathon or who are part of the training course organized by a sports brands or energy drink brands.
RECRUITING AND PREPARING THE PARTICIPANTS

For recruiting participants we would use the following techniques: Nomination- Individuals nominate people they think would make good participants. The estimated time for FGD would be around 2 hours. So nomination criteria should be that the participant should be willing to devote 2 hours of his time Random selection- If participants belong to a large but defined group (e.g. school children) then random selection could help Volunteers- Incentivize people to volunteer for the FGD

Once a group of viable recruits has been established, call each one to confirm interest and availability. Give them times and locations of the focus groups and secure verbal confirmation. To avoid short attendance we would invite 10- 20% more participants. The number of participants would be 8 for FGD. But we call around 10 participants for a FGD.
CONDUCTING THE FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION

Before starting a FGD a team consisting of moderator and assistant would be selected for conducting a FGD. A moderator would moderate the FGD whereas assistant would take notes and at the same time record the discussions for further analysis. Also we would like to note down the demographic details of the participants.
STARTING OFF WITH THE FGD

We would like to remind the participants that the response to the questions should be short and to the point. With all the above preparation we need to moderate the discussion with following 3|Page

questions. The questions would be adaptive in nature. The questions mentioned below will just serve as a pointer to moderate the discussion. The questioning should be done in three ways as follows 1. Engagement questions a. What is your favorite brand when it comes to buying a shoe? b. What do you notice when you look at other people shoes? c. What is most important for you when it comes to running? Is it shoes or nutritional diet? 2. Exploration questions a. Who in particular has influenced your choice of shoes? b. How to do you define a good shoe? What attributes do you look for when buying a shoe? c. Does brand matters while buying a shoe? d. How do you differentiate between brands? Is it by the product specifications or by the visibility of the brands? e. Are the events sponsored by a brand creates visibility for that brand? f. Is money a constraint in buying a shoe? Does a brand command a higher premium for the similar attributes? g. Do you believe branded products are of high quality even if they are of similar attributes? 3. Exit questions a. Is there anything you would like to add to the discussion on your preference for a particular brand?
ANALYZING THE DATA

In order for all participant comments to be understandable and useful, they must be boiled down to essential information using a systematic and verifiable process. Begin by transcribing all focus group tapes and inserting notes into transcribed material where appropriate. Clean up transcripts by stripping off nonessential words. Simultaneously assign each participant comment/quote a separate line on the page as well as each new thought or idea therein. Label each line with the participant and group number, e.g. a comment from participant 6 in group 1 would be assigned the number 1.6. Each line is then entered into an Excel database as follows:
COMPILE DATA

Use a separate Excel data base spreadsheet for each group. Within each spreadsheet, use one sheet per question.

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Label three columns on each sheet. One column for coding, One column for the participant ID#, One column for responses Enter each separate response or idea on a separate line with participant ID attached. The coding column is filled in during the next phase - analysis.

DISASSEMBLE DATA AND ANALYZE

When all comments have been entered, look for common categories or themes across the entries for each question. The most ideal situation is to ask several people to participate in this process. Once consensus has been achieved regarding the best categories for organizing the data, assign a number or letter to each category. Then assign the number/letter of the category that best fits to each entry on the sheet. Use the Excel Sort function to group entries by the categories you have assigned to them. If some entries seem inconsistent for their category, consider re-categorizing or adding another category. It may also be apparent that one or more categories can be collapsed. Arrange categories from those with the largest number of entries to those with the smallest. Repeat for each group.

SYNTHESIZE AND INTERPRET RESULTS

Identify category and sub-category heading titles. Write a short paragraph summarizing findings for each sub-category possibly noting similarities and differences across groups. Add powerful quotes to each sub-section

ANALYSIS OF DATA EXAMPLE

Group 1: Youths Question 1: What is your favorite brand when it comes to buying a shoe?

Category code A A B C

Participant ID 1.1 1.4 1.3 1.2

Response Adidas Nike Puma Fila A B C D

Coding Categories School Children College going Marathon runner Friend

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EXPECTATIONS FROM THE STUDY

The study is expected to generate correlation between the events based branding and the recall of the brand at the point of purchase. Secondly it should arrange the attributes of a shoe that are important for a runner. The research would result in a solution to the gap which exists between the current offerings from sports brands and the actual requirements of the users.

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