1

ILSC Business College

MARKET RESEARCH PLAN Project D.A. Garden

Research to identify the target market of the business

A research plan proposal

May 2014

Prepared for: D.A. Garden Supplies

Prepared by:

ILSC Business College

213 Adelaide St 4000

BRISBANE

QLD

Australia

Contact: Dott.ssa Caterina De Filippo

A response to a brief from Dott.ssa Caterina De Filippo

2

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Introduction and Background to the research 4 1.1 Historical Background 4 1.2 Sales’ history 5 1.3 Description of current market efforts 6 2. Statement of the problem 7 3. Consumer Analysis 8 3.1 Identified market segments 8 3.2 What needs does A.D. Garden serve 8 3.3 The typical "buying" process 9 4. Competitor Analysis 11 4.1 Identifying the Competition 11 5. Objectives of the research 11 5.1 Primary objectives 11 5.2 Secondary objectives 12 5.3 Information to be supplied as a result of the research 12 6. Desk Research 13 6.1 Purpose 13 6.2 Procedure 13 7. Qualitative Research 14 7.1 Purpose 14 7.2 Specification of Data Collection 15 7.3 Population and Sampling 15 7.4 Procedure 18 8. Quantitative Research 19 8.1 Purpose 19 8.2 Population and sampling 20

3

8.3 Procedure 20 9. Relevant legislation 20 9.1 Food legislation 21 9.2 Employing people legislation 22 9.3 Equal employment opportunity & anti-discrimination 22 9.4 Trade Practices Act and Fair Trading Laws 25 9.5 The Privacy Act 26 9.6 The Code of Practice 27 9.7 NGISA Code of ethics 28 10. Resources 29 10.1 Human resources 29 10.2 Financial resources 29 10.3 Physical resources 29 10.4 Specification of information sources 30 11. External market research assistance 30 12. Research locations 30 13. Types of data 31 14. Data processing methods 31 15. Project implementation plan 32 15.1 Gant Chart details timing 33 *Data from these sources will continue to be gathered regardless of the completion of the exercise. 33 16. Cost estimates 34 17. Conclusion 34 A. Appendix Qualitative research 35 A.1 Focus Group Q&A for D.A. Garden Café 35 A.2 Visitors’s survey Linkert scale 36 B. Appendix Quantitative research 37 B.1 General Survey within the suburbs - Online Survey 37

4

1. Introduction and Background to the research 1.1 Historical Background

D.A. Garden was established in Brisbane in 2001 and has become

very popular in the CBD and the surrounding areas.

The company is divided into tree sectors: garden nursery, The Cafè

and the landscaping supply.

The nursery provides quality plants, with an equally professional

and friendly service to match. The qualified staff and large plant range will

help create or enhance any kind of gardens.

The cafe is conveniently located inside the nursery and and it was

recently extended. It has a large menu, modern and sophisticated setting

and the trading hours have been extended as well so that nowadays it

opens at the same time as the nursery and it closes one hour earlier.

The Café offers both takeaway foods and sit-in dining. The menu

is very wide which includes a variety of beverages, made-to-order

sandwiches, salads, gourmet pies/sausage rolls, quiches and savory

slices, chips/wedges, cakes and slices, ice creams and sorbet, and during

the winter it also provides a kids menu and a variety of soups and

casseroles.

Major competitors are a large Bunning’s store which is located

about 2 kilometers from the company location, and a new café was

recently opened around the corner which operates Monday - Friday

offering breakfast and lunch, specializing in gourmet food and beverages.

Although the main idea of D.A. Garden is great there are some

issues that need to be looked at because of the overall drop in profit over

the last 2 years.

By undertaking market research, there are many advantages because it

will provide some answers that may be required for future decision

making.

5

1.2 Sales’ history

During the 2011-2013 fiscal year D.A. Garden spent $324,013.22 on

their expenses. The main three areas where they invested the most of the

money included 70.00% spent on promotional activities, 5.00% spent on

professional services, and 25% spent on contracted labor.

A.D. Garden’s revenue for the last fiscal year totaled

$704,645.00 which states that the income was above the total amount

used for expenses.

The top three revenue-generating sources included promoting grants,

which earned 64.00%, sales from garden supplies

9.00% earned through Azalea Festival contributions, and third 27,00%

received by the sales from the café.

70%!

5%!

25%!

promotion! professional service! contracted labour!

6

1.3 Description of current market efforts

Nowadays A.D. Garden is promoting the business through print

advertising, loyal costumer’s discounts, and the Internet (their own

website).

It has been under consideration of the owners to participate in the

Brisbane Winter Gardens Show. If this event is proven to be a benefit for

the business, there is highly possible that it will become an annual

tradition, hopefully bringing in a steady stream of revenue.

A.D. Garden is also focused on promoting a vegan and vegetarian

menu in their café, giving customers a new range of choices.

64%!9%!

27%!

promoting grants! sales garden supplies ! sales café!

7

2. Statement of the problem

Given that D.A. Garden as required external assistant because their

net profit has decreased in the last two year, ILSC Business College

Market Research Team must identify possible new sources of revenue or

possible new strategies to increase the revenue coming from current

sources.

The plan could be developed in many different directions, but the

main step is identifying the key target markets and establishing a clear

vision as to which direction the gardens should head to in the future.

The research will focus in the following areas:

• Garden Supplies Garden Supplies sales have dropped by 5%, although the last year saw

an increase in drought proofing related product such as mulch. These

products currently contribute 34% to overall profit. The need for market

research is to determine why the sales have dropped. An hypothesis can

be developed to see if there are any changes in price that is affecting

sales.

• Nursery Nursery sales have dropped by 5% in the last 2 years. These sales of

these kind of products currently contribute 41% to overall profits. The need

is review the customer profile. An hypothesis can be assume to see if the

costumer’s behavior has changed.

• Landscaping Landscaping project numbers have been flat; however, the size and profit

on each project has grown slightly. This has meant a study contribution to

overall profit of 10%. The reason for market research is to analyze the

market current situation, potential and future development.

8

• Cafè The Café trade has been steadily increasing for the last three years and

as result profits from this have been growing a rate of 2-3% per annum,

currently contributing 15% to the overall profits of the business. The need

is to be aware of the competitor and create an effective advertising

strategy.

3. Consumer Analysis 3.1 Identified market segments

A.D. Garden can serve different market segments because of its

educational value and entertainment value as well as its natural, historical,

traditional and sentimental value.

The general consensus among the owners of the business is that their

target market for nursery and cafe products are “ middle class people

aged 50 and over ”.

Since A.D. Gardens also has an educational value for children, the

target market can be extended to families and children.

However, currently that segment is significantly less of a market than the

so-called “ elderly “.

As A.D. Gander also provides a landscape business, this target

market will be: landscape architect, horticulturist and garden designers.

Finally, it is also important to consider the out-of-town visitors

which are very influence thanks for the close position of the location to the

high way.

3.2 What needs does A.D. Garden serve

As well as serving many segments, it also serves many customers

needs. Customers can visit A.D. Garden for many different reasons.

Firstly, to supply many plants, seeds, soil, and supplement for

gardens.

9

Also, A.D. Garden often hosts school trips and visits with elementary

and junior high classes to learn about water quality and plants as well as

the soil.

A.D. Garden has also a well developed landscaping projects which

serves constructors and suppliers.

A.D. Garden can also serve entertainment needs. Some of these are

the need to enjoy the outdoors and get some fresh air, to spend quiet time

with family, and to have a fun day that can include the whole family,

without spending an extensive amount of money.

Finally, their customer can enjoy a cup of coffe or a nice lunch in a

beautiful, natural setting at their internal café which is open all day.

Whether it is an educational visit, a visit for entertainment, or just a

normal weekly day, A.D. Garden can satisfy many people's needs and

desires to help create exceptional family memories.

3.3 The typical "buying" process

In order to determine A.D. Garden’s target market, we need to

analyze the structure of their visitors. Are these mainly out of town visitors,

families, groups? How did they decide to visit A.D. Garden?

The gardens here in Australia are considered very specials locations,

a place for the whole family, a place of peace and natural beauty which,

obviously attracts visitors.

A.D. Garden has a golf cart service which costumers can use to visit

all the sides of the location. The opportunity to drive through the garden

with the golf cart tours attract a lot of people who can not stroll around so

well.

The educational program which was mention in the previous section

is very appealing as well. The fact that free of charge makes it very

interesting for schools to schedule a field trip here.

In order to truly identify the typical buying process, we need to

analyze three different scenarios: loyal costumers of A.D. Garden, elderly

and out-of-town visitors.

10

Loyal costumers

To understand this target we may have to interview a group of

people who visit regularly A.D. Garden.

It would be useful to interview a customer like Miss Christie Brown

who is a new Brisbane resident. She very passionate about gardening and

her favorite flowers are tulips. In fall, tulips are starting to bloom, so Miss

Brown and her husband, decide to visit A.D. Garden which they heard

from a friend being very nice.

Impressed by the garden and the café, and concerned about the lack of its

awareness in the community they have start to promote it and the beautiful

scenery at A.D. Garden among friends, neighbors at the Brisbane

community.

Elderly

The majority of A.D. Garden target market comes from this precise

group of people which accounts for 85% of people who visit the nursery

currently.

With a survey we will understand the main reason for their visit which

could be to get some fresh air and buy plants and flowers’ seeds for their

own garden so they can work at it in the later afternoon.

Out-of-town visitors

In order to analyze this particular group in May 18th we can interview

a group of families and friends who will be in town for a relative’s birthday.

The aim is to find out what appeals to them, is it seeing the

beautiful scenery passing through the high way? It could be with the

flowers blooming, on a sunny day and the café would look like the perfect

location for a birthday breakfast.

11

4. Competitor Analysis

4.1 Identifying the Competition

A.D. Garden has multiple competitors depending on the sector. The

main sectors are mostly two which are the café and the garden supply.

As mentioned earlier, A.D. Garden major competitors are a large

Bunning’s store which is located about 2 kilometers from the company

location. This business offers a wide range of cheeper plants, seeds and

general garden supplies, on the other hand their staff is not qualified to

give precise indications of how to use the products.

The other main competitor is a new café which was recently opened

around the corner. A.D. Garden could be disadvantaged by the new café which is right above the street and it is becoming very popular among

workers who need to purchase a cup of coffee fairly quickly. However

research could confirm or dispute this assumption.

5. Objectives of the research

The overall objective is to ‘ to identify the target market ’. It is

essential to understand the consumer profile and analyze the buying

pattern and the costumers needs.

5.1 Primary objectives

• To clearly identify the different target groups who currently patron the

A.D. Garden which the cafe, nursery and garden

• Identify possible new events and sources to generate revenues for the

cafe, nursery and garden

• Assess and measure visitor satisfaction

• Examine the general perception of A.D. Garden now and in the vision for

the future

• Investigate the needs and motives for using the garden/nursery/cafe

12

• Identify key players in the landscape industry and gain an understanding

of market

5.2 Secondary objectives

• Investigate interest from the target markets on the new event ( Brisbane

Garden Show)

• Assess the general awareness level, knowledge, and patronage of target

markets, the general public and the loyal costumers

• Generate insights and ideas from the public and loyal customers

5.3 Information to be supplied as a result of the research

The research process will provide A.D.Garden with some information that

will address the following;

• A list of current events that are most important for A.D. Garden to

continue

• Identify new events and interest for A.D. Garden to hold

• Identify trends for the use of nursery and gardens

• Provide a general understanding of the current level of satisfaction from visitors of the general public

• Provide a general understanding of the current level of satisfaction

from the loyal customers

• Provide a summary statement of the general perception of the gardens

and the future of the gardens in the community

• Provide data on the needs and motives people have for using A.D.

Garden

• Provide general insights and ideas on how to generate more revenue

and grow A.D. Garden as a business

The proposed research will developed in three stages. The fist stage

will be to inspect existing sources in order to acquire any valuable

information. The second stage will involve exploratory research to gather

more specific and precise data. The third stage will be generating a survey

to gain an understanding of customer satisfaction and competition.

13

6. Desk Research

6.1 Purpose

A series of secondary data will need to be looked at to gain a

good understanding of the organization and its current operation. In

details, the desk research phase will obtain precise data about the

business which will help us understand the problem better.

This research will gather information such as sales performance,

annual reports, market data. This will give an idea of trends for certain

products, and popularity of products. Research will be done looking at

competitors and their activities including websites etc. Industry journals will

also be looked at to identify trends in the industry that are changing.

Information from relevant legislation such as food legislation,

NGISA code of ethics and anti-discrimination law will be collected. This will

give researcher a good understanding the requirements for this business

and also if this business is complying to these standards.

This research will answer the following questions:

• What products /services are currently best sellers

• The times in the year that sales are high and low

• Who are our competitors

• changing trends in the industry

6.2 Procedure

The desk research is an internal search conducted by researcher

which will also include secondary data sources.

At this point, we will need access to internal documentation in order

to collect other secondary data which will be gather from publication, trade

fairs and by observing the competitors. We will also collect financial

records from the financial data from owners and allowing for better

analysis of the past and current situation.

Although sometimes it is forgotten, keeping updated data regarding

the market and the business climate should always be a top priority to any

14

business especially observing competitors because they may be seeing

current tendencies we might be missing.

In addition, industry magazines and trade journals can be an

essential asset identifying changing trends. For this reason, we will look at

the trade journals provided by The Queensland Gardening Pages through

the website http://www.calyx.com.au/nurseries.html We will also use trade

publications and statistics of the Australian Bureau of Statistics which are

available to us through the website http://abs.gov.au .

Finally, we will also look at current competitors and their activities

through observation.

There are different ways to collect data from primary to secondary

sources and several types of information, data can be quantitative or

qualitative. D.A. Garden will use a combination of these two.

7. Qualitative Research

7.1 Purpose

In this phase we will use exploratory research to gain some

information.

Quality information about attitude and needs of customers, staff

and owners will be provided.

Firstly, an interview with the owners David and Allison to collect

their point on the business and in order to understand their needs and

goals. From here further interviews with staff to gain an understanding of

issues, problems and identify reasons that they may feel as are

contributing to the drop in sales.

Several focus groups will be run to gain an understanding of what

loyal customers feel and ideas on changes that they might see as positive.

In this way we will be able to gather some of the types of information as

the following:

• The long terms goals of owners for business

• Are the staff happy to work at this place?

• Is the organization complying to Occupational health and safety issues?

15

• The customer s that use landscape products – why do they buy from this

organization?

• Customers who use café – how often and why?

• We will also conduct experience surveys among the residents of closest

suburbs of Brisbane CBD in order to gather information about their

perception and awareness level of A.D. Garden

• We will interview the staff in order to collect information about general

problems and vision that they have in mind for A.D. Garden

7.2 Specification of Data Collection

• In order to gather data from A.D. Garden visitors, we should use

surveys. We can distribute them at the entrance and ask for

accomplishment after the visit. We can recollect them at the exit.

• Oral interviews will be schedule to collect information from volunteers

and employees of A.D. Garden

• To evaluate awareness level among visitors of A.D. Garden we can

distribute surveys for the visitors center located near The Mall Plaza

7.3 Population and Sampling

At this point, we will do interviews and conduct a focus group

session.

We divided the audit in four different groups of customers for the interview:

• 3 customers in landscape

• 5 customers in garden supplies

• 5 customers in nursery

• 7 loyal customers from cafe The Focus group will be specific for the café. A further 10 will be

interviewed by the random sampling method, making it a total of 30

participants.

Regarding the interviews for the business’s staff (including the

café) we will consider the entire population as the number of staff

16

members is manageable (Staff – 2 owners, 2 gardeners, 1 landscape

consultant, 2 cashiers) .

The sample methodology will be chosen using a method of

random and non-random probability sampling. Non-random will be like

convenient sampling method such as we will interview any customers who

visit the cafe that particular day. We have set interlocking quotas as follows:

Specific costumers’ interviews

Target Market Male Female Total Sample

Landscape Customers 2 1 3

Garden Supply customers

2 3 5

Nursery Customers 3 2 5

TOTAL 7 6 13

Focus Group for the café

Target Market Male Female Total

Loyal Customers 3 4 7

Random Customers 23 23

TOTAL 30

17

Internal staff’s interviews

Staff member Male Female Total

David (owner) 1 1

Allison (owner) 1 1

Gardeners 2 2

Landscape consultant 1 1

Cashiers 2 2

TOTAL 4 3 7

Visitors’ Survey

Target Market Male Female Total Sample

Loyal Customers 25 25 50

Elderly 25 25 50

Out-of-town visitors 25 25 50

Landscaping professionals

25 25 50

TOTAL 100 100 200

18

7.4 Procedure

A one to one type interview will be scheduled to discuss with the type

of customers who where previously mentioned. The questions will be

identified and tailored to suit each customer group:

Nursery - Garden Supply

• Why customer comes to this particular store?

• How often?

• What do they buy?

• How do they feel about service?

Landscaping Sector

• Does the customers think the product are valuable?

• Is the price of the products reasonable?

• Do they come here for all their projects?

Café

• Where the customer already at the store before coming to the café?

• Are they regular customers?

• Do they like the service?

• Do they feel comfortable eating here?

• Are they concern about health issue policy? Also, we will developed the survey and send it to D.A. Garden for

approval. The question will probe the following:

• Are the product easy to find in store?

• Did you find what you were looking for?

• Was the staff helpful and friendly?

• Do you find the products well priced?

• will you come back?

19

In cases where it could be possible, the questions will be pre-

coded, but, for costing purposes, we have assumed five open-ended

questions and a maximum duration of ten minutes. In the case of the

open-ended question, code frames will be prepared, based on the

response of the first 10 per cent.

The location of research will be both at:

DA Garden Supplies – nursery and cafe

Customer premises – e.g. landscape clients

8. Quantitative Research

8.1 Purpose

During this phase we will be using descriptive research to find

out numerical and more precise data which can be elaborate in order to

create statistics and numerical information.

We will format a survey in order to involve a larger crowd of

visitors. For the audience, we have made the decision to carry 200

participants on our surveys. The audience will include both loyal

customers and the general public. The general public considered will be

selected using random sampling method, so we do not discriminate

deliberately against any particular demographic or market segment.

We will focus on gathering data to answer the following

questions:

• who are the customers, focusing on where do they live?

• why do they come to this store?

• how often do they come?

• what do they buy? Also it will be important to discover some demographic information

such as age, level of income, gender and occupation because this will

provide a good understanding of customer profile.

We will collect these primary data using data collections methods

such as surveys and observation.

20

8.2 Population and sampling

We can research both current and potential customers, in this

case we will approach the task with the non-random sampling method. We

will gather a larger sample size such as 10% of houses in this suburb.

We will reach the audience with the survey using telephone,

direct mail and online survey posted on the company’s website.

8.3 Procedure

A structured questionnaire will be developed for the survey. The

questionnaire will have about ten close ended questions and two open

ended questions. The reason for this decision is to be able to analyze the

answers more easily in order to give precise results to the company.

A direct mail campaign to 100 houses around the suburbs will

be arrange. This questionnaire will be useful to understand the level of

awareness of the citizens around the area.

Types of question asked in the survey will be:

• does the citizen knows about A.D. Garden?

• does it do gardening?

• has he/she ever heard of the company

• does it imagine himself doing such activities? The age group which will be focusing on is 31-50 and 51 &

over.

9. Relevant legislation

D.A. Garden like all small companies has the obligation to

follow stated rules. For this reason D.A. Garden Supplies needs to

comprehend the Commonwealth State and local governments laws which

are states to regulate the business practices.

Regulations are rules based on and meant to carry out a specific

piece of legislation.

21

These laws may apply in the following areas:

• location controls like government restrictions

• buildings and premises

• businesses processes and practices

• workplace heath and safety

• taxation, insurance and employment

As D.A. Garden Supplies has been in business for over 10 years,

we imply that the legislation is known to them. We establish that

the collected information will be use only for the marketing research and

will be treated as confidential.

9.1 Food legislation

Food safety standards place obligations on Australian food

businesses to produce food that is safe and suitable to eat.

There are also health and hygiene obligations for food handlers.

The standards aim to lower the incidence of food-borne illness.

We consider a food business is any business or activity that

involves the handling of any type of food for sale, or the sale of food in

Australia. The requirements apply to all commercial, charitable or

community activities including ‘once-only’ projects that involve the

handling or sale of food.

There are five food safety standards:

• 3.1.1 Interpretation and Application

• 3.2.1 Food Safety Programs

• 3.2.2 Food Safety Practices and General Requirements

• 3.2.3 Food Premises and Equipment

• 3.3.1 Food Safety Programs for Food Service to Vulnerable

Persons

Standards 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 are mandatory for all food businesses.

Safe Food Australia is the guide to the mandatory standards. An

investigation into these standards will allow for benchmarking and

checking that these standards are followed.

22

9.2 Employing people legislation

Private sector employers and their employees in all states and

territories other data in Western Australia are now covered by the national

workplace relations system established by a fair work 2009.

The obligations will depend on the type of industry, the employment

type chosen and the amount of staff employed. These could include:

• Occupational Health and Safety Obligations

• Insurance Obligations

• Taxation Obligations

• Superannuation Obligations

One of the most important legislation is the Equal employment

opportunity & anti-discrimination.

In Australia, national and state laws cover equal employment

opportunity and anti-discrimination in the workplace. The employers are

required by these laws to create a workplace free from discrimination and

harassment. It is important that the employers understand the rights and

responsibilities under human rights and anti-discrimination law.

The Fair Work Ombudsman provides education and assistance for

employees and employers on preventing discrimination in the workplace.

By putting effective anti-discrimination and anti-harassment procedures in

place the business can improve productivity and increase efficiency.

9.3 Equal employment opportunity & anti-discrimination

The federal Parliament has passed a number of laws which aim to

protect people from certain kinds of discrimination in public life and from

breaches of their human rights by Commonwealth departments and

agencies.

For this reason in the research we will consider the following

legislations:

23

Age Discrimination Act

The Age Discrimination Act 2004 helps to ensure that people are

not treated less favourably on the ground of age in various areas of public

life including:

• employment

• provision of goods and services

• education

• administration of Commonwealth laws and programs

The Act also provides for positive discrimination that is, actions

which assist people of a particular age who experience a disadvantage

because of their age. It also provides for exemptions in the following

areas:

• superannuation

• migration, taxation and social security laws

• state laws and other Commonwealth laws

• some health programmes.

Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 has as its major objectives

to

• eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities

• promote community acceptance of the principle that people

with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as all members of the

community, and

• ensure as far as practicable that people with disabilities have

the same rights to equality before the law as other people in the

community.

Australian Human Rights Commission Act

The Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986

established the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and

gives it functions in relation to the following international instruments:

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

24

• Convention Concerning Discrimination in Respect of

Employment and Occupation (ILO 111)

• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

• Convention on the Rights of the Child

• Declaration of the Rights of the Child

• Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons

• Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons, and

• Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and

of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.

In addition, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social

Justice Commissioner has specific functions under the AHRC Act and the

Native Title Act,1993 to monitor the human rights of Indigenous people.

Racial Discrimination Act

The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 gives effect to Australia's

obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Racial Discrimination. Its major objectives are to

• promote equality before the law for all persons, regardless of

their race, colour or national or ethnic origin, and

• make discrimination against people on the basis of their race,

colour, descent or national or ethnic origin unlawful.

Sex Discrimination Act

The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 gives effect to Australia's obligations

under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

Against Women and certain aspects of the International Labour

Organisation (ILO) Convention 156. Its major objectives are to

• promote equality between men and women

• eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status or

pregnancy and, with respect to dismissals, family responsibilities, and

• eliminate sexual harassment at work, in educational

institutions, in the provision of goods and services, in the provision of

accommodation and the delivery of Commonwealth programs.

25

9.4 Trade Practices Act and Fair Trading Laws

For this research we have to consider that in order to run a

business in Australia there is the obligation to operate fairly and ethically

and that means working within the confines of the Trade Practices Act as

well as the Fair Trading laws in your respective State and Territory.

The Trade Practices Act is a federal law that deals with almost

all parts of the marketplace including unfair market practices, product

safety, price monitoring and industry codes of practice. Its aim is to inhibit

unethical practices by competitors and to give customers confidence that

they are dealing with businesses that adhere to high standards.

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC)

which is responsible for administering the TPA encourages small business

to view the Act as an important management tool and that compliance with

it should be part of good business practice.

It is suggested that every business have a TPA compliance

program. This might include a strategic vision that states the goals of the

company and the plan to implement them, identifying compliance risks and

assessing these at regular intervals.

In addition to the TPA, each state and territory has fair trading

laws to which the business must adhere. The two sets of laws complement

each other.

These state it is unlawful to:

• make false clams about a product or service

• operate in a misleading or deceptive way that might mislead or

deceive your customers

• take unfair advantage of vulnerable customers, unconscionable

conduct. The ACCC has issued a CD TPA matters for small

business. This covers topics such as restrictive trade practices including

price fixing and market sharing, misleading and deceptive conduct,

franchising, unconscionable conduct and the role of the ACCC in

administering the Act.

Many industries have specific codes of practice providing a

minimum standard of protection to consumers. As an individual business

26

D.A. Garden must consider creating a service charter outlining the

standards of the company and in turn giving their customers certain

guarantees.

Making sure business behaves in an acceptable manner, whether

with the customers or the competitors is vital to a business’ success.

9.5 The Privacy Act

The Privacy Act 1988 is an Australian law which regulates the

handling of personal information about individuals. This includes the

collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information, and access

to and correction of that information. The Privacy Act includes:

• 13 Australian Privacy Principles that apply to the handling of

personal information by most Australian and Norfolk Island Government

agencies and some private sector organizations

• credit reporting provisions that apply to the handling of credit-

related personal information that credit providers are permitted to disclose

to credit reporting bodies for inclusion on individuals’ credit reports.

The Privacy Act also:

• regulates the collection, storage, use, disclosure, security and

disposal of individuals' tax file numbers

• permits the handling of health information for health and

medical research purposes in certain circumstances, where researchers

are unable to seek individuals' consent

• allows the Information Commissioner to approve and

register enforceable APP codes that have been developed by an APP

code developer, or developed by the Information Commissioner directly

• permits a small business operator, who would otherwise not

be subject to the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and any relevant

privacy code, to opt-in to being covered by the APPs and any relevant

APP code

• allows for privacy regulations to be made.

27

9.6 The Code of Practice

Achieving best practice is one way a business can improve its

operations and service, ultimately increasing the business competitiveness

and the morale of both customers and staff. Best practice can be attained

by following standards and codes of practice.

These standards could be mandatory or voluntary.

Mandatory standards

Businesses should already adhere to mandatory standards under

the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 that cover issues such as

product and consumer safety. Failure to comply with mandatory standards

can attract penalties such as fines, court enforceable undertakings,

injunctions, orders for corrective advertising, refunds or repair of goods

and legal costs.

Voluntary standards

The most well known voluntary standards are ISO 9000 and ISO

14000, international standards administered by the International

Organization for Standardization (ISO).

ISO 9000 addresses quality management practices including

quality of products, services and customer satisfaction, while ISO 14000

addresses environmental management practices including management

systems, labelling, performance evaluation, life cycle analysis,

communication and auditing.

By adhering to voluntary standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000,

A.D. Garden can give the customers more confidence in the quality of their

products, services or environmental management practices, and may

make the business more competitive against others in your industry.

Mandatory industry codes of practice

Codes of practice can be mandatory or voluntary and provide a

minimum standard of protection to consumers in particular industries. In

looser terms, they let the customers know what the business agrees to do

28

when dealing with them. They are prescribed as regulations under

Australian state and territory fair trading acts and have the force of law.

Voluntary industry codes of practice

Voluntary codes are a form of industry self-regulation. They can

be sponsored by a particular industry association, or they may be in

partnership with a government agency. Voluntary industry codes are

usually flexible and can be altered quickly in response to changing

industry/consumer needs.

Adhering to voluntary codes of practice can not only ensure A.D.

Garden provides a higher standard of protection to their customers, but

can also ensure that the business is competitive against others in the

same industry.

9.7 NGISA Code of ethics

The NGISA Inc is a not for profit Association that aims to provide the

Nursery and Garden Industry in South Australia with professional

leadership, technical advice, relevant training and encourage the

profitability of our members. The Nursery & Garden Industry SA Inc (NGISA) operates under a strict

code of ethics and requires its members to:

• support the Nursery Industry in a conscientious and

honourable manner .

• respect other members and the public with conduct that is

neither discriminatory nor prejudicial.

• perform business dealings to accepted professional and

technical standards within the Industry.

• compliance with the Trade Practices Act.

• adhere to relevant legislation regarding equal opportunity and

sexual harassment.

29

10. Resources

10.1 Human resources

In oder to conduct a market research an extra staff member should

be employed, his/her responsibilities would be to conduct surveys, to talk

to costumers and gather all the data into spreadsheet for further analysis.

The gathered data will be presented to the owners and all of the analysis

will be conducted by the external company, by doing this hypothesis and

solution will be presented.

If an extra staff member cannot be employed due to costs; the

task of surveying and gathering data should be distribute between the staff

members.

10.2 Financial resources

In order to successfully execute the D.A. Garden’s market research

plan, a budget must be assigned to the market research and the

promotion and advertising activities.

The proposed budget for the market research consist in AUD $

7,000 and for advertising AUD$ 3,000 will be required.

10.3 Physical resources

D.A. Garden should have a computer within the business’s

premises, surely the owners have access to a computer and having a

proper office inside the business would be highly recommended. Some of

the surveys will be conducted inside the business and other will be

conducted near the competitor’s premises without violating any laws or

regulations.

30

10.4 Specification of information sources

• Secondary data such as the A.D. Garden Annual Report and their

personal website will be use to gather information about the most

important sources of revenues

• To gather and analyze new sources of revenues it is important to get

insights about needs and perceptions of loyal customers and the general

public (residents and visitors of Brisbane) by conducting research in

secondary data. Demographics statistics like the Australian Bureau of

Statistic will be relevant

11. External market research assistance

There may be governmental data bases and/or trade publications

that can give us some extra informations, but the main source of data is

going to be gathered by surveying our current and potential customers.

We may consider purchasing database lists if it is required.

12. Research locations

Most of the research will be conducted inside D.A. Garden facilities

which includes D.A. Garden Nursery and D.A. Garden Café. Although it

will not be limited to this area only.

Conducting the surveys, questionnaires and observations close to

the competitor’s premises could be fruitful. Research will be also

conducted online on the company’s website.

In addition, as previously mention, the mail surveys will be also

confuted around the suburbs’ area.

31

13. Types of data

The data analyzed will be quantitive or qualitative. Those types of

information are not comparable since one gives us numerical information

and the other informs us in a more subjective way. For this market

research both types of data will be employed, in term of the qualitative

type a Likert scale will be used.

14. Data processing methods

There will be four methods which will be employed to accomplish

this research and processing the data:

Batch Processing

This is a method where the data to be organized is sorted into groups to

allow a more efficient and sequential processing.

Online Processing

This a process that utilizes the Internet and equipment directly connected

to a computer or a device. It is used for data recording and research.

Real-Time Processing

This technique has the ability to respond almost immediately to various

signals in order to acquire and process data.

Distributed Processing

This method is commonly utilized by remote workstations connected to

one big central workstation or server.

For this market research we will use the batch processing

method which is going to be employed for the written survey.

32

15. Project implementation plan

Project start date : 20th May 2014

Start collecting data: 1st July 2014

Structuring and analyzing data: 2nd October 2014

Deliver final report: 20th March 2015

Implement new strategies: April 2014

33

15.1 Gant Chart details timing

ACTIVITY M J J A S O N D J F M A

Problem description

Meeting with the owners David and Alison

Proposal

Define objective

Establish timelines

Present the proposal

Develop a detailed market research plan

Establish plan of activities

Prepare surveys and questionnaires

Data collection and survey

Survey at the store

Online questionnaire

Social media questionnaire*

Observation of the competitors*

Interview employees*

Research on internet*

Existing market research results

Existing data from D.A. Garden*

Industry and government research

Data structuring and analysis

Capture data

Analyse data

Present report

Report advances

Final report *Data from these sources will continue to be gathered regardless of the completion of the exercise.

34

16. Cost estimates

Market research costs: between AUD $ 5,000 and AUD $ 7,000

17. Conclusion

This market research is going to benefit D.A. Garden because with it

they will be able to understand they target market and the market

strategies that will need to use.

A meeting will be schedule in order to present the proposal.

Dott.ssa Caterina De Filippo

Marketing Graduate

ILSC Business College

Tel. 0435 060 667

Email: defilippo.cate@gmail.com

35

A. Appendix Qualitative research

A.1 Focus Group Q&A for D.A. Garden Café

Question Answer

1.Where the customer already at the store before

coming to the café?

YES NO WHY

2.Are they regular customers?

YES NO WHY

3.Do they like the service?

YES NO WHY

4.Do they feel comfortable eating

here?

YES NO WHY

5.Are they concern about health issue

policy?

OPEN

6.Suggestions/Ideas OPEN

36

A.2 Visitors’s survey Linkert scale

Strongly Not Not Strongly

Question Agree Agree Sure Agree Not Agree

1.Are the products easy

to find in store?

1 2 3 4 5

2.Did you find what you were

looking for?

1 2 3 4 5

3.Was the staff helpful and friendly?

1 2 3 4 5

4.Do you find the

products well

priced?

1 2 3 4 5

5.Will you come

back?

1 2 3 4 5

37

B. Appendix Quantitative research

B.1 General Survey within the suburbs - Online Survey

Question Choice of answers

1.In which suburb do you live?

a.Brisbane CBD b.Fortitude Valley c.Spring Hill

2.Why do you come to this store?

a.purchase gardening supply

b.meals at the café c.spend free time

3.How often do you come?

a.ones a week b.ones every two weeks c.ones a month

4.What do you buy? a.garden supply b.food/drink c.nothing

5.What is your age group?

a.8-30 b.31-50 c.51&over

6.Income levels a.between 30,000 – 50,000

b.between 50,000 to 100,000

c.over 100,000