Draft

Bottled Mineral Water

Proposal

Market Research

Introduction:
The bottle water is becoming increasingly popular. After the scientific revolution, the people
are having the affection on the Clean kind of water that is cheap and refreshing probably best. People
buy bottle water for variety of reasons, including convenience, fashion and taste. Some people buy
bottle water because they think it is safer than tap water. A variety of factors have resulted in a steep
increase in the amount of money being spent to purchase bottle water. It is predicted that bottled water
may soon become the nations most popular beverage.
When the consumer makes the purchasing decision, the decision will be made according to the
buying capacity as well as the mineral contents in the water. The main reason is free from impurities.
In addition the mineral water is Ground water is collected from the specific water spring which
acquires inorganic salts while underground (including mineral water, hot spring water, etc.). This
water is rich in minerals and trace elements. This water is processed through filtration, precipitation as
well as mixing waters from multiple sources, adjustment of mineral contents, ozone sterilization or
ultraviolet sterilization. For the sake of this reason the people highly desired on the mineral water in
their drinking use. The transparency type polymer bottles are used to pack the water in the required
volumes. Also they are very crystal clear. Those bottles should be kept out of direct sunlight.
Nowadays, different brands of mineral water bottles are available in different sizes in
Sri Lankan markets.

Objective of the study:

The primary request of the client is to study the difference between the demand and supply of
the bottled mineral water in the key market areas which are coming under the Central, North central,
North western, Southern and Western provinces in Sri Lanka. In addition, find out the top brands , key
suppliers customer preference as well as analyze the quality certified brands in the relevant market
area.

Research Methodology:
The proposed study would be a combination of qualitative and quantitative research which involves
group discussions as the qualitative method and desk research and sample survey as the quantitative
components. The following describes the research process that applies to collect market data

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information for the Snapshots in the reports. The research methodology can be divided into three
distinct stages, those are
Primary data collection will be conducted through the desk research.
Secondary data collection will be conducted through the individual discussion with relevant

people in the market & B2B telephone interviews with semi structured questionnaire.
Sample survey will be conducted through the well structured questionnaire. After that data

consolidation, data cross-checking and verification will be made.

Primary data collection (Desk research)

The main objective of the primary research phase is to finding out all sources of published
information. The information and data collected at this stage ensures that information is collected cost
effectively.
The following information sources are used to collect secondary data:
The internet data sources
Trade and industry magazines
National trade associations
Government and government agency statistics
Manufacturers informations such as annual reports and press releases
Available market research reports

Secondary data collection:

The main objective of the secondary research is to collect information by means of face to face
interview conduct with the key executives of the Wholesale outlets and the Supermarkets. At the same
time the interviews will be conducted with the relevant potential customers of the supermarket and
whole sale outlets in the particular regions.
Business to Business telephone interviews
After all secondary sources have been accessed during the snap data research, the relevant players will
be contacted in each identified market area. All telephone interviews are based on semi-structured
questionnaires with the key executives/ decision makers of the market leaders as well as up and down
stream players such as suppliers to and distributors of the water bottle. The market research will be
conducted based on secondary informations. There will be no restrictions in accessing the secondary
informations such as wholesale outlets and super markets as well as the manufacturers in the region.

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Data Consolidation
After the data collection process the data will be consolidated taking into account all
information collected. In this process, the data from different information sources will be evaluated
their relative validity and derive the final estimate of the market size, share, segment and distribution.
The cross check and consolidation phase ensures that all data received in the interview process
feeds into the final data according to the proportional relevancy of its source. This phase ensures that
the data derived is an accurate representation of the market and category researched, taking into
account variations of monitoring by different market sources.
Data Quality Control
All collected data will be fed through the SPSS statistical data analyser and summarized
through cross tabulation of the data.
Forecasts
All market forecasts are based on statistical forecasting techniques such as the market size,
based on the five-year historical growth. During this forecast the following parameters will be
considered. Those are customer expectation/ opinion, socio-economic drivers, new product
development technological advances, expected levels of market saturation etc. The forecast are based
on projected market volume and does take into account-projected inflation.
Market Value = All market values are expressed at either Maximum Retail Price (MRP) or other
measures as specified in the reports.
Market Volume = All market volumes are expressed in the unit relevant to the market researched
(Liters). The breakdown will be analysed in the sizes of the bottles (i.e. Litres)
Study population
The study population will be selected from following groups:
Whole sale outlets & super markets
Hotels & Restaurants
Some of the potential retail shops
Hospitals
Military units
Potential customers/ consumers (Tourists, Official staffs, Public)

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Study areas:
The key market areas will be concerned in the Central, North central, North western, Southern
and Western provinces of Sri Lanka.
No
01
02
03
04
05

Name of the Province

Central
North Central
North Western
Southern
Western

Key market areas

Kandy and Nuwaraeliya
Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa
Kurunegala
Galle, Hikkaduwa, Matara and Hambantota
Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Beruwala, Panandura, Moratuwa and Ja-Ela.

Sample Survey
The Sample survey will be conducted selecting 300 respondents from different key market areas. Care
will be taken to select respondents belonging to above study groups.
Study Population (NOs)
No
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Key market area

Manufacturers/
Distributors

Whole sale/
Supermarket
Executives

Total

Potential
Customers/
Consumers

(NOs)

Kandy
Nuwara eliya
Anurathapura
Pollonaruwa
Kurunegala
Galle
Hikkadua
Matara
Hambantota
Colombo
Gampaha
Kalutara
Beruwala
Panandura
Moratuwa
Ja-Ela

Work Plan
Activity

Weeks
1

1. Preliminary discussion with client

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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Planning
Survey of secondary material
Preliminary discussions with market leaders
Sample Survey
Progress review meeting
Data analysis and preparation of draft report
Submission of draft report
Submission of final report

Budget
Item
Professional Charges
Cost of sample survey of 300 respondents
including the cost of sampling frame
development, questionnaire development,
enumerator training workshop, payment to
enumerators and supervision of field work.
Desk research, collecting of secondary
information from various sources
Preliminary discussion with market leaders

Unit cost

Number

Rs. ..
per respondent

300
respondents

Rs.
per person per
day
Rs...
per discussion

persons
per. days

Total Cost

NOs
of discussions

Travailing and communications

Data entry, processing and preparation of
report
Total
Terms of Payments
An advance payment of % of the total cost is required upon the commencement of the
study. The balance % should be paid upon the submission of the report.
Marketing Survey Questionnaire:
Bottled Water
1. Who are the target market segments for the proposed new products?
2. What is the approximate size of these market segments?
3. What percentage of each of these market segments does the enterprise have?

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4. What are the marketing plans of the competitors?
5. What will be the sales volume of each market segment?
6. Who are the biggest competitors?
7. Competitors prices on different sizes?
8. How do the competitors distribute their products and services?
9. What type of marketing strategies the competitors using?
10. What are the major competitors respective market shares?
11. How are the products packaged?
12. What about the competitors brand recognition?
13. How do you describe the competitors product label?
14. What are the terms and conditions agreed upon the distributors?
15. How is the each channel of distribution maintained by the competitors?
16. What promotional strategies do the competitors using?
17. What specific promotional activities are undertaken by the competitors?
18. How often the promotional activities are continued?
19. Does the competitor provide discount?
20. When and to whom?
21. How often or how much of each of these activities is done?
22. All the sizes are promoted?
23. What type of pricing strategies and policies are used?
24. Are there variations in pricing and sizes of the product in the market (Various competitors)?
25. In which, the variations in pricing based on Volume of sales, Types of customer and
Delivery arrangement?
26. What about the territorial coverage?
27. How is the performance of the distributors?
28. What type of customer service given to the target market segments before during and after
sales by the competitor?
29. Customer complaints about the brands?
30. To whom the customer complaints (Distributors, Own outlets)?
31. How do you describe about the quality, delivery and packaging of the product?
32. What can be concluded on the demand and the market for the new product
(Growing/Decreasing)?

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33. What relationship can be drawn between the types of sectors (Parato analysis)?
34. What are the fast moving sizes?
35. What are the trends on the market share of each category (sizes)?
36. Up to what extent does the label promote the company and /or the products?
37. Are the brand names contributing to the saleability of the products?
38. Are the efforts of the business to maintain or improve its relationship with the dealers
effective?