Week 10 Final Project Analysis

Marketing today is evolved! With all the new medias we have access too marketing is turning into a even bigger world then it ever was. Before marketing just included basic newspaper and radio advertisements, now it can virtually be anything.

"It is a luxury to be understood." Ralph Waldo Emerson. These are mearly words whether you understand them is always the question in marketing and advertising. If the message isn't clear then you may have wasted your time. The marketing research project I conducted at Floor & Decor clearly shows examples of why marketing if not done correctly may not even attract consumers. When consumers are not getting the message potential sales are lost which can in turn mean millions of dollars wasted in advertising and market research, not only that but potential loss of consumers as well.

Hypothesis: Changing the marketing signage colors and details for our markdown products will increase sales volume on clearance items.

In a three week period I conducted a test to see how we could reduce the quantity of our dead sale items ( Items not being sold anymore) and increase our sales volume. The first step were basic sale signs, which listed the price and product information in black on white paper. The following week we changed our sale area completely, by adding a large banner and new signs which illustrated how many thousands of sq ft in stock and savings for each item in sale area, the signs were white with black writing and red outline. The last week we left our banner, removed the pricing signs and how sq ft we had in stock, and replaced that with these hot deals signs that are in red and yellow on white paper. Following each of these changes we watched our sales and not much changed. Last but not least we finally thought we would survey our client. What did our customer really see in our sales?

Well results show that yellow is more recognized as sale in our store. We also learned that having sale in one area is helpful, but having it throughout will increase sales on full price merchandise. Also when reviewing the survey results we found that people go in looking for sales but usually leave paying full price at this location. There were so many things that once we reviewed the surveys we knew we could benefit from these customers opinions. Plus if they know we care and we want to know they are more willing to fill them out. "Pre-testing can help you recognize what the best approach for data collection is for your circumstance." (Marketing Research for Dummies, Pg 362) We found that this is really true, sometimes you want to know so much you forget what your goal is at that time. Sometimes the biggest challenge is getting the surveys answered and accurately. "To motivate your respondents about your research and thus secure their thoughtful participation., you must compensate them in a meaningful way; after all their time isn't free!" (Marketing Research for Dummies, Pg. 363)

The most important part of market research is the research and the results, these can be heavily effected if your customer doesn't feel comfortable and if they are in a hurry. Also if the questions are not relevant to the content in which the problem is. "Identifying the correct problem is a prerequisite for solving that problem, without identifying the correct problem, you will end up solving the wrong problem." (Market Research for Dummies, Pg. 13)