TABLE 5.5 Chloe’s Research Cust. # Looked at? Picked up? # Picked up # Bought Item(s) Notes 1 No No 0 0 None Got bagel 2
Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 3:06 pm
TABLE 5.5 Chloe’s Research Cust. # Looked at? Picked up? #
Picked up # Bought Item(s) Notes 1 No No 0 0 None Got bagel 2 Yes
Yes 2 0 None Couldn’t see which ones were picked up 3 Yes No 0 0
None Quick glance at bars 4 No No 0 0 None Bought pastry 5 Yes Yes
1 1 Could not tell Looked at one bar and then bought different
brand 6 No No 0 0 None In a hurry 7 Yes No 0 1 Kind, I think Didn’t
examine, but just grabbed one and bought at checkout Chloe noticed
a problem right away with her plan. The store manager didn’t want
her to approach customers, and she was not able to tell what the
customers purchased without doing so. So, she was doing her best.
Her tally so far had yielded the following: Forty-two customers had
gone through the line since she began her count. Of those, 20
seemed to at least look at the bars, though she couldn’t be
absolutely sure they were not also looking at other snacks since
the bars were mixed in with other snacks. Of the 20 customers she
counted who looked at snacks, 8 had picked up a bar to examine
it. Two of those picked up a second bar to look at it. And 7
of the 8 people who picked up a bar bought one. Two people had not
picked up a bar at all, but had just grabbed one at the counter as
they paid; they bought it seemingly without any real consideration.
Perhaps these folks always got the same thing, but she couldn’t be
sure. After she finished her counts for the day, she spoke briefly
with one of the employees behind the counter to get an idea about
which flavors were most popular, since she couldn’t effectively
count them as the customers made their purchases. According to the
employee, nuts (especially almonds) and chocolate together were the
most important combination. Other combinations that sold well
included nuts (almonds or peanuts most often) and fruit (raisins
and cranberries were most common) or chocolate and fruit.
Single-flavor bars didn’t sell well, and bars that didn’t sell well
were often replaced with something that would. Other flavors that
were gaining in popularity, especially in combinations, included
caramel, blueberries, and pistachios. She reflected on this
information and decided she needed additional details about what
specific flavors would and wouldn’t work for customers buying at
Starbucks. She decided to create a survey that would help her make
some decisions. She especially wanted to get some more specific
information about which flavors it would make sense for TSL to
offer. The Survey Chloe decided to use a survey to identify flavor
preferences for bars. She created a short survey that could be
completed by a customer within a couple of minutes. She wanted to
make the survey easy to complete but also comprehensive enough to
identify specific flavor options that had promise. Figure 5.12 is a
copy of her blank survey. The Results Chloe spent a few hours each
week at different coffee shop locations in the area for two weeks.
In total, she collected 173 surveys. The results are summarized in
Figure 5.13. She knew she would need to report the key results to
the management team at their next meeting in a few days. A major
question they would ask would be which flavors would make sense
based on her research. She began jotting ideas on a notepad to get
started. Running Case Questions What was the marketing goal of the
observation research? The survey? Which of the two research
approaches yielded the most important insights about customers? Was
it necessary to do both pieces of research, or would it have been
possible to just use one or the other? Did the two pieces of
research work together? Explain. If you were advising TSL in this
situation, would you have recommended a different research approach
or additional research? Aside from the summary of key findings, can
you draw any additional insights from the results? What other
questions do you think should have been asked on the survey?
Picked up # Bought Item(s) Notes 1 No No 0 0 None Got bagel 2 Yes
Yes 2 0 None Couldn’t see which ones were picked up 3 Yes No 0 0
None Quick glance at bars 4 No No 0 0 None Bought pastry 5 Yes Yes
1 1 Could not tell Looked at one bar and then bought different
brand 6 No No 0 0 None In a hurry 7 Yes No 0 1 Kind, I think Didn’t
examine, but just grabbed one and bought at checkout Chloe noticed
a problem right away with her plan. The store manager didn’t want
her to approach customers, and she was not able to tell what the
customers purchased without doing so. So, she was doing her best.
Her tally so far had yielded the following: Forty-two customers had
gone through the line since she began her count. Of those, 20
seemed to at least look at the bars, though she couldn’t be
absolutely sure they were not also looking at other snacks since
the bars were mixed in with other snacks. Of the 20 customers she
counted who looked at snacks, 8 had picked up a bar to examine
it. Two of those picked up a second bar to look at it. And 7
of the 8 people who picked up a bar bought one. Two people had not
picked up a bar at all, but had just grabbed one at the counter as
they paid; they bought it seemingly without any real consideration.
Perhaps these folks always got the same thing, but she couldn’t be
sure. After she finished her counts for the day, she spoke briefly
with one of the employees behind the counter to get an idea about
which flavors were most popular, since she couldn’t effectively
count them as the customers made their purchases. According to the
employee, nuts (especially almonds) and chocolate together were the
most important combination. Other combinations that sold well
included nuts (almonds or peanuts most often) and fruit (raisins
and cranberries were most common) or chocolate and fruit.
Single-flavor bars didn’t sell well, and bars that didn’t sell well
were often replaced with something that would. Other flavors that
were gaining in popularity, especially in combinations, included
caramel, blueberries, and pistachios. She reflected on this
information and decided she needed additional details about what
specific flavors would and wouldn’t work for customers buying at
Starbucks. She decided to create a survey that would help her make
some decisions. She especially wanted to get some more specific
information about which flavors it would make sense for TSL to
offer. The Survey Chloe decided to use a survey to identify flavor
preferences for bars. She created a short survey that could be
completed by a customer within a couple of minutes. She wanted to
make the survey easy to complete but also comprehensive enough to
identify specific flavor options that had promise. Figure 5.12 is a
copy of her blank survey. The Results Chloe spent a few hours each
week at different coffee shop locations in the area for two weeks.
In total, she collected 173 surveys. The results are summarized in
Figure 5.13. She knew she would need to report the key results to
the management team at their next meeting in a few days. A major
question they would ask would be which flavors would make sense
based on her research. She began jotting ideas on a notepad to get
started. Running Case Questions What was the marketing goal of the
observation research? The survey? Which of the two research
approaches yielded the most important insights about customers? Was
it necessary to do both pieces of research, or would it have been
possible to just use one or the other? Did the two pieces of
research work together? Explain. If you were advising TSL in this
situation, would you have recommended a different research approach
or additional research? Aside from the summary of key findings, can
you draw any additional insights from the results? What other
questions do you think should have been asked on the survey?