research report on allen’s soothers

8/14/2019 Research report on Allens Soothers

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MARKET ING RES EAR CHResearch Report on Allens Soothers

PRE SENT ED B Y:Fouzia KousarHafiz Mohammad TariqJavad Ali Malik

PRE SENT ED T O:Mr. Imran Sadiq

Pak-American Institute of Management Sciences

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All praises for Almighty Allah who is THE CR EATOR

of

whole of the universe and admires to our Holy Prophet

Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) Who taught us every thing

of this life and the life thereafter.

Now it is our responsibility to convey the WORDING OF

SUCCESS to whole of the Ummah. As it was indicated in the

last Address of our Holy Prophet (Peace be Upon Him). And

the graves of FELLOW BEINGS are the proof of the

completion of this responsibility.

We are thankful to our respected teacher MR NAD EE MBASHIR who taught us marketing management withheart and also gave a guideline to this report.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report is about NSW MINT CANDY We have adopted a

research methodology in which we have make a questionnaire,

filled it out from the target segment, and analyzed it. We find out

that other candies are working well according to positioning but

it requires a little bit changes. Therefore we are launching new

candy.

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Background

There are many throat clearing candies available in the market and all of them

have unique features. But now we want some more improvement in these

candies therefore we have deciding to establish a new company named NSWCO. We are launching a new pro0duct with the name of NSW MINT

CANDY.

Positioning Strategy

To take a competitive edge over other products in this category, we have

positioned it as a functional candy. This positioning has been backed by thestrategic marketing mix, which markets it as a normal candy with additional

value of freshening up and relieving the user from minor thirst congestion.

Hence with this positioning. It is kept away from existing strong functional

brands like strepsels, Hoest, Vicks etc.

To achieve this positioning strategy successfully, We have developed the

advertising copy to promote it as a candy that cheers up to user and freshens up.

The aim here is again to induce demand amongst the normal candy users. We

have identified the target market as people of age 18 to 25 years.

The price of the it is set at 50 paisas to project its image as a candy that can be

easily purchased by wide cross section of potential consumers. The purpose of a

single candy pack is also to increase the frequency of purchase as that of a

normal candy. The packing done in fancy wrappers is to further enhance the

image as a cool and fine candy.

Research Objectives

We conduct the research on the basis of following aspect .

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To identify perception of it on given attributes with respect to its

competitors.

To find out the perceived positioning of it on key attributes in relation to its

desired position.

We have conducted the following research for our candy.

FOCUS GROUP

The focus groups, four in number, were conducted with the age group of 20-30

at Pak-Aims College. The occupation of the group members was students,

belonging to various geographical areas. Students were selected as they

construed a major element of our target market, which otherwise extended tousers within the 30-50 (year) age bracket. As the product candies is consumed

both for its functional and non-functional attributes and generally by consumers

who are also the decision making units (DMUs) on the purchase, focus group

findings can be used to figure out consumer preference for various brands on

these attributes.

In these focus groups, the students were asked to express their views on their

buying habits on candies: their awareness levels, the preferences and

reservations in opting for a certain brand, the perceived benefits associated to

the functional / non-functional functions etc. 2 describes the sequence of

methodologies adopted.

Key findings of the Focus Groups

The key findings of these groups are as under. A detailed account of focus group

and retailer in-depth interviews is given in Exhibit 1.

It relief the throat problem.

Strepsils is not a candy and It is not a medicine.

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Wrapping has an impact in projecting the functional value of a candy.

Strepsils has serious kind of wrapping.

Honey Strepsils works, but is very strong.

If the candy is high on mint, it is more effective. Soothers is generally purchased from the left-over money (the change)

Soothers is bought for change in taste / non-medicated reasons.

Blue color of it gives a cool look.

Blue is a color associated with mint and mint is perceived both for

medicated and non-medicated purposes. Medicated for the soothing and

curative effect its perceived to carry and non-medicated for the sweet

freshening taste it brings.Questionnaire Development

At the conclusion of the focus groups phase, a questionnaire was developed,

The basic input to this was achieved through the insights from the focus groups.

This data is analyzed using various statistical techniques and corroborative

(confirmatory) tabulation of each questionnaire.

Questionnaire Design:

The questionnaire was kept closed and open ended or a combination of both.

Closed ended multiple-choice questions to limit consumer response to a set of

pre-given variables and Open ended to cart wheel any revealing thoughts,

which may also be taken as a proxy for assessing the psycho-graphic profile of

a consumer.

In addition, there were rating questions on a scale of 1 to 5, used to gather

respondents assessment of various brands on multiple attributes. These

questions would enable tabulation of the intensity of the responses gathered on

300 questionnaires, which was taken as a sample size for the purpose of

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conducting this study. The sample was drawn randomly amongst student,

professionals, teachers etc., of both sexes, in order to obtain varied responses.

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QUESTIONNAIRE FINDINGS AND ANALYSISAfter the the existence candies we came to know the following findings

TABLE 1

Education %

< 10yrs10-1212-1414+

672265

Gender %MalesFemales

7030

Occupation %StudentEmployedUnemployed

78184

Income (Rs) %


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COMPETITORS ANALYSIS

Table 1

Flavors mostly liked in Candies (% of respondents)

Mint Fruit Sweet Chocolates Coconut

Very strongly liked (5) 24% 13% 13% 31%

15%

Strongly liked (4) 20% 24% 26% 19%

13%

Total 44% 37% 39% 50%

28%

Table 2

3 Favorite candies (% of respondents)

1st Favorite 2nd Favorite 3rd Favorite TOTAL

Hoest 11% 11% 6% 28%

Hacks 0% 0% 0% 0%

Soother 2% 2% 17% 20%

Strepsils 0% 2% 0% 2%

Mentos 7% 13% 4% 24%

Polo 11% 11% 6% 28%

Vicks 2% 4% 0% 6%

Soft Mint 4% 0% 0% 4%

Eclairs 17% 6% 4% 26%

Misc 35% 33% 31% 100%

T

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Table 3

Medicated/non medicated

Purchase (% of users)Medicated Non-Medicated Both Do

not buyHoest 33 30 1124Hacks 11 20 461Soothers 24 30 2418

Strepsils 67 11 176Mentos 2 60 1817

Polo 4 68 1311vicks 61 4 1517

, Analysis for candies on various attributes

This analysis is based on the question, which tabulates the consumers

preferences of different attributes for the given candies.

Vicks

The users who consider sweetness to be least important attribute buy Vicks most

frequently. This reinforces the medicinal value of Vicks, as evidenced by the

purchase of Vicks due to its throat clearing ability.

Share of Vicks in total value attribute to the mint is relatively minimal, but

within the customer base of Vicks, their preference for Vicks is prompted by itshighly perceived value on mint. Here a possible inference emerges that the

medicinal value of product (throat clearing) and mouth freshening ability is

perceived to be associated with mint. The importance of packing and size in the

purchase decision for Vicks is quite minimal.

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group, which was translated as one of the major dislikes about the brand was its

perceived stickiness (it melts), packing (difficulty to open) and lack of

handiness associated with carrying a one-offcandy. Interestingly, some of these

consumers tag theuropatic value with a Strepsils-like-candy an opinion not

generally shared by a majority of respondents and would rather prefer to eating

a slightly light but handy candy, like Mentos and Polo. The advertisement of

taxi may also not be particularly appealing to them, as they are more attuned to

find and subtle messages.

The less sophisticated consumers, however, would be more conceived with

some variety, be generally be more price sensitive, and rather associate with the

kind of person in the taxi advertisement carrying the energy and the valor to

make thing going.

Exhibit 1

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1818181818181818181818181818181818

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202020202020n202020202020n202020202020n20208202020Ln2020420meany three favorite candies.

4) Which candy/(ies) come in your mind for the purpose of Throat Clearing andMouth Freshening?

First Recall

Second Recall .

Third Recall .

5) Which of the following do you usually purchase for medicated/ non-medicated reasons(please tick in the appropriate circle):

Medicated Non-Medicated Both Do notBuy

Hoest

Soothers

Strepsils

Mentos

Polo

Vicks

6) Which of the following do you eat (please tick on the appropriate circle)?

Frequently Sometimes Rarely

Vicks

Polo

Mentos

Hoest

Soothers

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Strepsils

7) Do you think of Soothers as:( you may encircle more than one)?

a. Just another candy

b. Helps Throat Clearing

c. Mouth Freshening

d. Other

8) Please rank the following on the given attribute on a scale of 15, 1being the least preferred & 5 being most preferred.

Vicks Strepsils Soothers Hoest Polo MentosSweetness

Mint

Size

Packing

Throat-clearing

Mouth-freshening

Overall taste

9) do you think that Soothers packing signifies its functional value(i.e doesit go with its throat clearing/mouth freshening abilities)?

Yes No Not Sure

10) What is about Soothers that you particularly like/ dont like?

LIKES DISLIKES

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Appendix-B

THROAT-CLEARING FOR CANDIES- A CROSSTABULATION:

Vicks Polo Mentos Hoest Soothers

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2

1 Count 0 11 21 22 3 8 14 7 12 8 13 9 9 15% withincandy

0 30% 26% 33% 14% 26% 26% 29% 29% 31% 27% 21% 24% 34%

% ofTotal

0% 9% 18% 18% 3% 7% 12% 6% 10% 7% 11% 8% 8% 13%


0 35% 2% 16% 0% 13% 8% 17% 17% 27% 0% 21% 19% 9%

%ofTotal

0% 11% 2% 9% 0% 3% 3% 3% 6% 6% 0% 8% 6% 3%


0 5% 14% 10% 19% 6% 17% 0% 10% 0% 8% 21% 11% 16%

%ofTotal

0% 2% 9% 6% 3% 2% 8% 0% 3% 0% 3% 8% 3% 6%


0% 19% 38% 27% 33% 42% 42% 17% 27% 15% 46% 26% 35% 16%

% ofTotal

0% 6% 26% 15% 6% 11% 19% 3% 9% 3% 19% 9% 11% 6%

5 Count 0 4 16 9 7 4 4 9 7 7 9 4 4 11% within

candy

0 11% 20% 13% 33% 13% 8% 38% 17% 27% 19% 10% 11% 25%

% ofTotal

0% 3% 14% 8% 6% 3% 3% 8% 6% 6% 8% 3% 3% 9%

Total

Count

- 37 81 67 21 31 53 24 41 26 48 42 37 44

% withincandy

0 100 100 100 100 100

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

% ofTotal

0 31% 69% 56% 18% 26%

45% 20% 35% 22% 41% 36% 31% 37%

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232

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3232

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3232

3232

3232

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232323232323232323232323232323232323bjbjUU232323232323232323

2323c

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20.4 35.2

Total 33.4 29.6 11.1 26

Table7

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Soothers

Medicated Non Both Do not

Total

Medicated buy

Frequently 1.9 11.1 16.7 1.9

31.6

Sometimes 20.4 11.1 5.6 -37.1

Rarely 1.9 7.4 1.9 20.431.6

Total 24.2 29.6 24.2 22.3

Analysis for candies on various attributes

This analysis is based on the question, which tabulates the consumerspreferences of different attributes for the given candies.

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Vicks

The users who consider sweetness to be least important attribute buy Vicks most

frequently. This reinforces the medicinal value of Vicks, as evidenced by the

purchase of Vicks due to its throat clearing ability.

Share of Vicks in total value attribute to the mint is relatively minimal, but

within the customer base of Vicks, their preference for Vicks is prompted by its

highly perceived value on mint. Here a possible inference emerges that the

medicinal value of product (throat clearing) and mouth freshening ability is

perceived to be associated with mint. The importance of packing and size in the

purchase decision for Vicks is quite minimal.

Polo

Polo is not conceived as a sweet candy. If viewed from the weightage table fordifferent candies on the attributes (shown in appendix B) that out of 176

respondents buying Polo frequently or sometimes, only 22 have high

preferences for sweet in their purchase decision for Polo.

Packing is considered to be an important attribute of Polo if analyzed from the

top two box approaches. Of the 174 respondents buying Polo, 86 give high

preference to the packing attribute of Polo. It shows that the look of the product

and the way of the packing helps inducing the demand for Polo. The concern

with the price is somewhat limited as of the regular buyers, 43% are least

concerned with the price of polo.

The medicinal value attached to Polo is restricted as almost 44% of the frequent

purchasers are less concerned with the throat cleaning ability of Polo. Looked

from the other angle, 40% of the respondents who are rare buyers of Polo also

give least weight age to the throat-clearing dimension in Polo.

This value is attributed to Polo for Mouth freshening is evened out across the

respondents. Amongst the frequent buyers, 50% prefer mouth freshening ability

of Polo.

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Strepsils

Srepsils established itself as a typical functional candy with considerably lower

preference for sweet. Also the higher proportion of the occasional buyers also

reinforces the limit of its use to the functional requirements of the consumers.

Herein again, though 48% of the regular and occasional buyers of Stepsils lay

high preference on mint but in contrast, equally higher proportion of

respondents consider mint as of lesser importance. This further makes the exact

differentiation of the functional candies from non-functional on the basis of

mint alone, but unreliable. In terms of throat clearing dimension, however,

Strepsils is rated much higher.

Hoest

A clear distinction for this brand of consumers, who prefer Hoest more because

of its medicinal value, especially the perceived throat clearing and soothing

effect. The fact is established by a low preference for the attributes like

Sweetness, usually related to non-functional candies and a high pick on

attributes such as throat-relieving by a majority (58%) regular buyers (frequent

& occasional) of this brand. Interestingly, it ranks only fourth in the mouth-

freshening capacity compare to its competitive brands, illustrated in the

following, indicating that the candy is preferred by brand-loyal customers

whove managed to cling on to their age-old choice.

Soothers

Soothers has a split choice amongst its consumers, in terms of their ratings ofbrands strength on the five key attributes defined above, indicating that it is

perceived as a candy with a bit of both the functional and non-functional

impact. As much as it would seem to be co-incidental, the statistic given in

Table A reflects that the companys positioning strategy of placing its brand as a

multi-purpose candy, is holding well with the consumer. The catch however, is

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that this is not translating into volumes, as the candy is still being bracketed

largely by a certain class of consumers sophisticated, well educated and

elegant, usually calling (demanding) Soothers by name at the point of

purchase. This class is relatively insensitive to minor place adjustments as it

places a premium in its purchase decisions, is prone to trying out new sleek

brands (innovator / early adapter category), yet is particular about the product

attributes that include functional as well as general attributes. Soothers to them

fairs reasonably well on the functional attributes as shown by the above table.

However, there are certain general attributes such as overall outlook, packing,

that are not valued highly by these customers. One of the findings of the focus

group, which was translated as one of the major dislikes about the brand was its

perceived stickiness (it melts), packing (difficulty to open) and lack ofhandiness associated with carrying a one-offcandy. Interestingly, some of these

consumers tag theuropatic value with a Strepsils-like-candy an opinion not

generally shared by a majority of respondents and would rather prefer to eating

a slightly light but handy candy, like Mentos and Polo. The advertisement of

taxi may also not be particularly appealing to them, as they are more attuned to

find and subtle messages.

The less sophisticated consumers, however, would be more conceived with

some variety, be generally be more price sensitive, and rather associate with the

kind of person in the taxi advertisement carrying the energy and the valor to

make thing going.

Exhibit 1

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2828282828282828282828282828282828

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303030303030n303030303030n303030303030n30308303030Ln3030430meany three favorite candies.

4) Which candy/(ies) come in your mind for the purpose of Throat Clearing andMouth Freshening?

First Recall

Second Recall .

Third Recall .

5) Which of the following do you usually purchase for medicated/ non-medicated reasons(please tick in the appropriate circle):

Medicated Non-Medicated Both Do notBuy

Hoest

Soothers

Strepsils

Mentos

Polo

Vicks

6) Which of the following do you eat (please tick on the appropriate circle)?

Frequently Sometimes Rarely

Vicks

Polo

Mentos

Hoest

Soothers

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Strepsils

7) Do you think of Soothers as:( you may encircle more than one)?

a. Just another candy

b. Helps Throat Clearing

c. Mouth Freshening

d. Other

11) Please rank the following on the given attribute on a scale of 15, 1being the least preferred & 5 being most preferred.

Vicks Strepsils Soothers Hoest Polo MentosSweetness

Mint

Size

Packing

Throat-clearing

Mouth-freshening

Overall taste

12) do you think that Soothers packing signifies its functional value(i.e doesit go with its throat clearing/mouth freshening abilities)?

Yes No Not Sure

13) What is about Soothers that you particularly like/ dont like?

LIKES DISLIKES

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Appendix-B

THROAT-CLEARING FOR CANDIES- A CROSSTABULATION:

Vicks Polo Mentos Hoest Soothers

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2


0 30% 26% 33% 14% 26% 26% 29% 29% 31% 27% 21% 24% 34%

% ofTotal

0% 9% 18% 18% 3% 7% 12% 6% 10% 7% 11% 8% 8% 13%


0 35% 2% 16% 0% 13% 8% 17% 17% 27% 0% 21% 19% 9%

%ofTotal

0% 11% 2% 9% 0% 3% 3% 3% 6% 6% 0% 8% 6% 3%


0 5% 14% 10% 19% 6% 17% 0% 10% 0% 8% 21% 11% 16%

%ofTotal

0% 2% 9% 6% 3% 2% 8% 0% 3% 0% 3% 8% 3% 6%


0% 19% 38% 27% 33% 42% 42% 17% 27% 15% 46% 26% 35% 16%

% ofTotal

0% 6% 26% 15% 6% 11% 19% 3% 9% 3% 19% 9% 11% 6%

5 Count 0 4 16 9 7 4 4 9 7 7 9 4 4 11% within

candy

0 11% 20% 13% 33% 13% 8% 38% 17% 27% 19% 10% 11% 25%

% ofTotal

0% 3% 14% 8% 6% 3% 3% 8% 6% 6% 8% 3% 3% 9%

Total

Count

- 37 81 67 21 31 53 24 41 26 48 42 37 44

% withincandy

0 100 100 100 100 100

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

% ofTotal

0 31% 69% 56% 18% 26%

45% 20% 35% 22% 41% 36% 31% 37%

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research report on allen’s soothers

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