1)Neutrogena is a manufacturer of personal care products for young adults. The company would like to extend its facial cleansers product line.
Design (1) a qualitative and (2) a quantitative research design for the company focused on this objective

Neutrogena would like to extend the facial cleanser product line, therefore we assume that Neutrogena is in the Maturity stage of Product Life Cycle, because they aim to pursue profit maximization by attracting larger market share through the product line extension of acne-prone cleanser (Liu et al. 2018, p. 147).
To achieve the objective of meeting higher level of profit, a qualitative and a quantitative research method to gain insights regarding consumers’ preferences to allow the company to develop new extension for the product line. Firstly, the qualitative method is multiple sessions of focus groups around school areas like high schools and universities, which involves total of 100 young adults with mixed gender aged 16 to 25 who are having acne-prone skin, so that we can understand the real reasons which caused pimples or zits, and their concerns on purchasing new products which are used on their own faces. Secondly, the quantitative method is brief questionnaire with three open-ended questions regarding their preferences on cleanser, such as the add-on features of cleanser such as hydration, oil-absorbing or pore-cleansing, the desired results from the cleanser and the texture desired regarding the cleanser. Although the questions in the questionnaire can be asked during the focus groups, but it is a more affordable method to use the questionnaire because focus groups require longer time and the hiring of a moderator.

2) Which methods of survey would you adopt to investigate the attitudes of a group regarding the shopping experience in Japanese department stores such as Isetan, Sogo and Mitsukoshi?

We would adopt Qualitative research method to investigate the attitudes of shoppers’ shopping experiences, because attitudes and insights of people are hard to quantify from Quantitative researches. Therefore, we use individual interview as the method to understand their perspectives and behaviours. Below are the three questions which are asked throughout the interviews:
– Why do you prefer Japanese departmental stores more than other normal departmental stores like Aeon and Parkson?
– In your opinion, what type of image is associated with Japanese departmental store?
– What type of products do you purchase mostly when you go to Japanese departmental stores?

3) Nestle conducted extensive and accurate market research before deciding to put Nespresso in production. Using web sources, press articles, and the corporate website, outline your background research and provide the reason for the success of the famous espresso brand,which featured George Clooney and Matt Damon in a testimonial and has become a veritable case of successful marketing.

According to Angnihotri & Bhattacharya (2018, p. 65), celebrity endorsement is surprisingly effective in increasing sales volume and brand awareness. For the case of Nespresso which used George Clooney and Matt Damon in advertisement could increase awareness on the products because the advertisement would gain the attention from large amount of people, as the celebrities are well-known by many people, which may avoid people from changing channels on television or transfer their attentions on something else like social media on phones.
Moreover, the advertisements featuring the big stars are effective in emphasizing certain messages that the brand wants to convey, such as Nespresso’s dedication to sustainability through the image represented by George Clooney in Medieval Ages costume, conveying the message that Nespresso is standing stably in the market for a long time (Little Black Book 2018).
Furthermore, by having celebrity endorsement, certain values associated with the celebrities will attract more buyers to purchase the products, because the good reputation of George Clooney and Matt Damon will become one of the competitive advantages of Nespresso to achieve higher market share (Knittel & Stango 2014, p. 22).

Written by:
Melissa Lee Ka Mun 5619300
Wong Zhao Li 5617649
Simin Chen 5694450
Lee Yi Sin 6316931

References
Angnihotri, A & Bhattacharya, S 2018, ‘The Market Value Of Celebrity Endorsement: Evidence from India Reveals Factors That Can Influence Stock-Market Returns’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 65–74, accessed 12/4/2019,
<https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=128436407&site=eds-live&gt;.

Knittel, CR & Stango, V 2014, ‘Celebrity Endorsements, Firm Value, and Reputation Risk: Evidence from the Tiger Woods Scandal’, Management Science, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 21–37, accessed 12/4/2019,
<https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=heh&AN=94696170&site=eds-live&gt;.

Little Black Book 2018, ‘George Clooney and Natalie Dormer Star in Latest Nespresso Campaign, ‘The Quest’’, Little Black Book, 18 October, accessed 18/4/2019,
<https://lbbonline.com/news/george-clooney-and-natalie-dormer-star-in-latest-nespresso-campaign-the-quest/&gt;.

Liu, Y, Foscht, T, Eisingerich, AB & Tsai, HT 2018, ‘Strategic management of product and brand extensions: Extending corporate brands in B2B vs. B2C markets’, Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 71, pp. 147–159, accessed 12/4/2019,
<https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edselc&AN=edselc.2-52.0-85039172329&site=eds-live&gt;.

This blog post examines the journal article which was written by Mr. Darel, regarding the impact of viral marketing through Instagram. To understand impact of social medias on the brand knowledge of consumers, the author had distributed 100 questionnaires with structured questions to the clients of the fashion designer clothing line Maartin Shakir, who are users of both Instagram and Facebook.

The sample of the surveys encompass both genders from the age of 17 to 40 years old that are either taking up professional role at work or still studying as students, so that the results acquired from the survey are more reliable and representative of the larger population. However, before the surveying process started, the author ensured that the sample had been exposed to Instagram application before, and had seen the promotional posts posted by Maartin Shakir regarding their products.

After the data collection process, the author had found that most of the participants agreed that Instagram is a good platform to enhance the impact of viral marketing on consumers, because the higher number of followers of Maartin Shakir on Instagram allows higher number of clients to be exposed to the messages that Maartin Shakir release. Moreover, the social media platforms allow customers to freely talk about the products, which acts as a forum for consumers to share their own experiences and attract more customers to try out Maartin Shakir’s products if those are positive comments. However, even if the comments are complaining about Maartin Shakir’s products, it is still a great opportunity for Maartin Shakir to carry out service recovery by understanding the issues that consumers faced, and the company can try to compensate the customers and gain customers’ loyalty.

Above all, the data collection through the use of questionnaires can be better improved by having in-depth qualitative research such as focus groups and individual interview to further understand the different insights of the sample group. In my opinion, the use of structured questions in the questionnaires may cause the problem of inaccurate results, because the participants may simply circle or tick the established answer without further consideration. Therefore, I believe that the questionnaires may be enhanced by adding some unstructured questions like open-ended questions to dig deeper into consumers’ behaviours and preferences.

It is believed that everyone is a consumer or customer, as we make purchases and receive certain offerings from businesses such as products and services, so that we can achieve particular goals of our own (Warren, Barsky & Mcgraw 2018, p. 529). However, the intention of attaining goals from the purchases or consumption that we made, may not always fulfil our expectations.

Regarding the sentence above, it reminded me of a bad experience which I had encountered as a consumer when I was still in my Foundation Program. It was the first month of my college life, and I was excited to buy a few sets of stylish clothing, so that I could look more like a “cool kid” in the campus. So, I decided to go to Parkson in 1 Utama Shopping Mall to choose the clothes which would make me look more mature and fashionable.

I walked into the departmental store with high hopes that I could buy clothes that would make myself look more ladylike and mature at the same time. So I walked to the retail staff and told her that I need some clothes that would make me look mature, so she picked an old-fashioned dress with 1950’s polka dots design for me. Since I’m not a fan of polka dots, and I was thinking of buying something plain and elegant, I declined her politely and said that it is not suitable for me. However, she insisted that I would look great in it, and she forced me to give it a try by pushing me into the fitting room. I was stunned that a retail staff could be so pushy, but still I tried the dress and wanted to show her how weird I could look in that dress. When I was trying the dress, I realised that the size of the dress was way too small as I couldn’t pull the zip up, so I requested to change the dress into a bigger size. However, she insisted that I did not pull the zip in the right way, so she asked me to let her pull the zip instead. I could feel that she pulled the zip very hardly and I felt breathless due to the extremely tight dress on me. Suddenly, I heard a pop sound, as the side of the dress burst open. I was shocked and have no idea what to do except having my mouth wide open. She admitted that the dress was too tight for me but she blamed me for not telling her that it’s too tight. She tried to avoid responsibility, and I was so scared that I needed to buy the dress which I completely did not like. So, I ran out of the fitting room and tried to find a managerial-leveled staff to help me, but every staff that I met had no authority to judge the situation, which they only kept on asking me to buy the dress, because they said that I was the person who ruined the dress.

I felt so helpless and I was trying to hold back the tears that came out of fear. There was no witness that the retailer staff was the culprit to the burst dress, but there was only a burst polka dots dress as the evidence. In the end, I told them that even if I do pay for the dress, I would still write a letter to the top management and post the happening of the incident on various social medias to ensure that I get the justice that I deserve. They seemed to be afraid, therefore they admitted that it’s their own fault for forcing me to wear the dress and for forcing me to pay for the dress which I didn’t ruin. At last, I walked out of Parkson with huge disappointment and anger without making any purchase, and I walked towards Isetan and Aeon to search for clothes.

There is a saying that says that “Customers are always right”, was originated in 1909 by Harry Gordon Selfridge (Kjerulf 2014). Although sometimes customers could be wrong too, but it is a really frustrating experience to be accused as doing something wrong when I was actually innocent. Therefore, I feel very angry, because it was the unprofessionalism of the retail staff, who did not respect the preferences of customers in terms of style and size, which caused the happening of the tragedy. Moreover, the other staffs who blamed me for ruining the dress without further understood how and why it happened, were another proof of unprofessionalism.

Secondly, I also feel sad for the unacceptably low level of customer service in this modern world where customer centricity is highly valued. This is because according to Diallo et al. (2018, pp. 69-70), the satisfaction of customers after receiving the products or services is crucial for the survival of the business, as customers’ satisfaction will lead to customers’ loyalty that allow the business to retain their customers.

Thirdly, I felt very disappointed in Parkson, which is why I decided to not buy from Parkson anymore, which I even asked my friends and family to boycott Parkson. Therefore, it is observed that customers’ dissatisfaction may lead to negative word of mouth which acts as an obstacle for a business to attract new customers, because the negative word of mouth would reduce the new customers’ purchase intention (Luo et al. 2018, p. 1). In this case, many of my friends started to prefer other departmental stores such as Isetan and Metrojaya as their shopping destination, which proves that word of mouth is a powerful tool that determine the success of a business.

Furthermore, after the incident, I started to perceive the brand as an inferior brand when compared with other departmental store, because the poor service quality signaled to me that Parkson was not willing to value and train their employees to increase the service quality to serve the customers better. Therefore, I perceive Parkson as a business that does not respect both their employees and customers, which is why I think that it does not deserve good sales. It is clearly seen that one little incident that caused customers’ dissatisfaction could cause the customers to turn to other competitors, which will disadvantage the business in many areas, such as customers’ loyalty, sales volume, brand image and profitability.

Lastly, I believe that the discovery of the subject Consumer Behaviour is very important for businesses to understand the intentions and decisions behind every purchase from customers. Otherwise, businesses may fail to meet or satisfy the needs and wants of customers, thereby losing potential customers and even lead the business into insolvency.

References

Diallo, MF, Diop-Sall, F, Djelassi, S & Godefroit-Winkel, D 2018, ‘How Shopping Mall Service Quality Affects Customer Loyalty Across Developing Countries: The Moderation of the Cultural Context’, Journal of International Marketing, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 69–84, accessed 15/3/2019,
<http://ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=134377815&site=eds-live&gt;.


Kjerulf, A 2014, ‘Top 5 Reasons Why ‘The Customer Is Always Right’ Is Wrong’, Huffington Post, 15 April, accessed 15/3/2019,
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-kjerulf/top-5-reasons-customer-service_b_5145636.html&gt;.


Luo, H, Huang, W, Chen, C, Xie, K, Fan, Y 2018, ‘An Empirical Study on the Impact of Negative Online Word-of-Mouth on Consumer’s Purchase Intention’, 2018 15th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM), pp. 1-6, accessed 15/3/2019,
<http://ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edseee&AN=edseee.8465093&site=eds-live&gt;.

Warren, C, Barsky, A & Mcgraw, AP 2018, ‘Humor, Comedy, and Consumer Behavior’, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 529–552, accessed 15/3/2019,
<http://ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=131677674&site=eds-live&gt;.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton