Subject: Analysing Consumer Behaviour

Created by Colleen Sedgwick Page 1 of 17

Checkpoint C: Progress Challenges 1-5

30532A - Analysing consumer behaviour

For D0105: Diploma of graphic Design study period 3, module 2

By: Colleen Sedgwick student number E0498336

Subject: Analysing Consumer Behaviour

Created by Colleen Sedgwick Page 2 of 17

Check Points are made up of one or more Progress Challenges. These are designed to break down your learning into chunks and help you work towards your final assessments. While your assessor will monitor your work when you submit at Check Points, this may not result in direct feedback. We encourage you to discuss your work in progress on the student forums.

Instructions

1. Complete each Progress Challenge as detailed in the module.

2. Correctly label and then upload a PDF or ZIP for each Progress Challenge in the module:

Progress challenge 1: Situation analysis Progress challenge 2: Case study Progress challenge 3: Case study Progress challenge 4: Business analysis Progress challenge 5: Case study

3. Click ‘Submit for Marking’ to complete this Check Point.

Tips

You can edit your work and upload again, prior to submission. To return to the Progress Challenges, click here.

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30532a – Progress Challenge 01

Situation Analysis

Answer I chose Australia Post – who is my current employer. Their main function is to provide reliable postal services to people in Australia and other parts of the world1.

Goals, Marketing Objectives and Strategies Australia Post’s Corporate Goals: First and foremost, this is to provide trusted, relevant and reliable services that connect all Australians. They have a Customer Service Charter that outlines their commitments in terms of2:

our products, services and network

how we protect your privacy and personal information

our Community Service Obligations

how we handle your feedback, compliments and complaints

your right to compensation

1 Australia Post (2016): Vision and Mission, http://auspost.com.au/about-us/vision-and-mission.html; viewed Sunday, 28 February 2016 at 17:13. 2 Australia Post (2016): Customer Service Charter, http://auspost.com.au/about-us/customer-service-charter.html; viewed Sunday, 28 February 2016 at 17:38

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Products and services

Australia Post’s services include3:

postal and communication services through physical and digital channels, including our extensive Post Office network and digital platforms such as My Post Digital Mailbox

easy to use, innovative products

personal service from knowledgeable staff

Access to our services, building greater choice and convenience.

delivery to street, roadside, counter mail delivery, locked bag, private bag and Post Office box addresses

the delivery of mail as part of the cost of postage, except where customers choose to receive mail via a locked bag, private bag or Post Office box address and incur an annual fee for these services

the basic letter service available to all Australians on an equitable basis

delivery to individual properties where possible, taking into consideration availability of local transport, delivery costs, accessibility and customer preference

access to collect mail from the nearest Post Office or from a reduced-rate Post Office box where delivery of mail to a property is not provided (including large parcels or items requiring a signature in rural areas serviced by roadside delivery)

Consultation with affected local communities when we establish a new delivery service, or propose changes to an existing one.

Their goods include: Stamps4;

3 Ibid.

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Packaging5;

Retail goods6.

Target Markets While Australia Post’s services are available to everyone, its two main market segments are consumers (i.e. the public) and businesses (B2B).

Consumer profile Australia Post’s customers or consumers consist of anyone who sends or receives mail, including businesses, retail customers – who not only send or receive mail but also come in to pay bills and buy items like gifts and stationery, and online customers (for parcels).

New Customers and Customer Loyalty While the traditional customer base consists of the sending and receiving of mail and parcels, more recently, Australia Post has had to extend its range of services to include retailing, banking, bill payments, and even travel and insurance services.

Customer Impression The advent of faster and more ‘high-tech’ communications (i.e. telecommunications, email, texting and the internet) has meant Australia Post has had to do more to ‘keep up’. This has meant that Australia Post had been stigmatised as being ‘low tech’ and being ‘too slow’, and even earned the name, ‘Snail Mail’.

4 Australia Post (2016): Stamps, http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/stamps.html; Viewed Sunday, 28 February 2016 at 18:28 5 Australia Post (2016): Packaging, http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/packaging.html; viewed Sunday, 28 February 2016 at 18:28 6 Australia Post (2016): Retail and Gifts, http://auspost.com.au/retail-and-gifts.html?ilink=ff-retail-and-gifts-1; 28/02/2016 at 18:30

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Capacity to Support Marketing Goals and Strategies Australia Post has had to look to ways to meet its challenges and to avoid the stigma of being ‘too slow’.

It has embraced automation (machinery) in the workplace to sort its items (particularly its small letters) over the past few decades.

It has a set of services standards it must adhere to and a system of quality control to ensure that those standards are met.

In the past few years, Australia Post has extended its range to include online retail services and has amalgamated with Star Track to improve its parcel delivery strategies. That way, it can compete with other communications and logistics services for a bigger share of the communications and logistic market.

Situation Statement

Strengths Australia Post is one of Australia’s biggest retail networks;

It is also one of the biggest delivery networks in Australia – delivering 12.6 million letters to 11.3 addresses everyday7.

Weaknesses The advent of online technology has meant Australia Post has had to do a lot to keep up with the ‘instant nature’ of telecommunications, email and the Internet. With the internet and texting, messages can be sent and received almost instantly, unlike mail (which takes a few days to send and/or receive).

7 Australia Post (2016): Fast facts about Australia Post, http://auspost.com.au/about-us/fast-facts-about-australia-post.html; Sunday, 28 February 2016 at 19:17

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30532a – Progress Challenge 02

Case study Reflect on the five (5) things you listed in the previous activity relating to data you would like to collect on Bar Tapioca’s customers. Now identify which of these are geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural. Reflect on the five (5) things you listed in the Bar Tapioca case study at the beginning of this topic relating to the data you would like to collect on people frequenting the harbour side area. Now identify which are geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural. Write a maximum of 100 words. Instructions • Compile your work and save as a PDF • Click here to launch the progress challenge • Click here to navigate to the forum.

Answer Market segmentation of Bar Tapioca’s customers, based on:

Demographic: Age range of customers; Occupation/income; Family status – single, married/couple, with or without kids.

Geographic Where do they live or work – local residents and office workers, or tourists and ‘out-of-towners’;

Psychographic Reasons for coming to Bar Tapioca – special occasions, attraction to the venue, customer satisfaction, what can be done to increase patronage or reward loyalty?

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Behavioural Frequency of visit - How often do they come? Duration of visit - How much time do they spend there? What do they purchase/order (eat? Drink?)? What else do they do? Dancing? Karaoke? Watch a band?

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30532a – Progress Challenge 03

Case study

PART A As part of the team working on the new brand creative and marketing strategy for Bar Tapioca develop an assessment of your market segment. • List three (3) groups you think are critical considerations in developing a marketing strategy e.g. young singles looking to socialise, returning office workers. • Identify three (3) pieces of important information you would gather on these groups e.g. how many drinks bought in one visit

PART B Think about a business you are familiar with. It can be your current workplace or an organisation whose objectives are well known and publicised. Identify one or two major factors in each category of the PESTE analysis that will influence the marketing development and consumer purchasing patterns within the specific industry sector. a. Political and legal b. Economic c. Social d. Technological e. Environmental Instructions • Compile your work and save as a PDF • Click here to launch the progress challenge • Click here to navigate to the forum.

Answer

Part A – Bar Tapioca The three very different groups that stand out in my mind:

1. The Office Workers (regulars);

2. The young partygoers;

3. Families.

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The three very different pieces of information gathered on these groups would be:

1. The frequency of visits (from each of these groups);

2. The duration of visits (how much time spent there);

3. What time of the day (or night) any of these groups would come.

Lunch hours, for instance, would be popular times for office workers, and the venue may put on lunch specials to increase patronage at these times; Alternatively, if Friday afternoons are popular with these groups, a ‘happy hour’ might increase patronage at these times.

Weekends and public holidays may be popular for families with children – a special priced kid’s menu, or an all-you-can-eat buffet are examples of things that attract families.

Young partygoers may want certain kinds of entertainment like dancing, and might object to lock-out laws and closing times – so extending trading hours might be a good way of attracting patronage from this group.

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Part B – Australia Post (PESTE analysis) ♦ Political and legal: GST – affects the prices of products and services, industrial relations affect the

hours of which Australia Post operates and negotiations between unions, management and the workers.

♦ Economic: Exchange rate, unemployment, prices – all affect the purchases of goods and services.

♦ Social: Who are most likely to use Australia Post’s services?

♦ Technological: What other kinds of communications technology does Australia Post have to compete with? E.g. mobile phones, texting, internet and email? What can it take advantage of? E.g. e-commerce and online ordering – working with Amazon, eBay and other online shops.

♦ Environmental: Disadvantage – saving on paper means less demand for letters, but advantage – paper and cardboard are recyclable and packaging can be made from recycled materials.

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30532a – Progress Challenge 04

Business analysis Think back to the business you analysed in the previous learning activity. List three (3) important attributes that their customers might look for in the particular product the business offers. For example, if it’s a telecommunications company, the customer might look for consistency in coverage or proximity of stores. Now think of a competitor product or service. Do they offer the same things? Write a maximum of 150 words. Instructions • Compile your work and save as a PDF • Click here to launch the progress challenge • Click here to navigate to the forum.

Answer For instance, Australia Post offers regular letter services for standard letters, Priority letter services, Registered Post, and Express Post.

This tells me that customers want the following when posting letters:

1. Cost effectiveness;

2. Speed of delivery;

3. Security of mail items.

The new ‘two-tier’ system offers the following (8):

1. Cost-effectiveness on regular services;

8 Australia Post (2016): Domestic Letters, http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/domestic-letters.html; accessed Thursday, 3 March 2016 at 1:47:53 AM

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2. Speedier delivery on priority services;

3. Tracking on items for registered services and signature upon delivery (secure services);

4. Speed, tracking/security and signature upon delivery for Express Post items.

5. Concessions rates for pensioners and other concession-card holders.

Another company offering similar mail services is Australasian Mail Services. They offer (9):

1. First Class Mail

2. Pre Sort Barcode Services

3. Print Post

4. Parcel Post

5. Track and Trace parcel distribution

What Australia Post offers that this organisation doesn’t is availability in most locations during business hours, and accessibility to most members of the public and most customer types.

9 Australasian Mail Services (2016): Mail Services, http://www.amservices.net.au/mail.html; accessed Thursday, 3 March 2016 at 1:54:23 AM

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30532a – Progress Challenge 05

Case study

PART A 1. Select a product or service to profile.

2. In your view, what are the features of the product or service that might attract consumers to it?

3. Applying the concepts from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which level of need do you believe would be the driving force for a consumer buying this product or service and why?

4. In developing a marketing strategy for this product or service, what would be the key terms or concepts you would use to attract potential customers?

PART B Think of trends currently affecting the industry in which that business operates.

Select one (1) trend and analyse the ways its impacting consumer behaviour and purchasing patterns for the product or service produced.

For example, a telecommunications company is currently impacted by the proliferation of smart phone devices developed by manufacturers. Consumers’ demands for service have changed – they now favour plans that cater to their usage of mobile data.

As a result, telecommunications companies are putting out packages that include calls, texts and increasing amounts of data.

Write a maximum of 200 words. Instructions • Compile your work and save as a PDF • Click here to launch the progress challenge • Click here to navigate to the forum.

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Answer

Part A: I have chosen the Australia Post postcard app (for smart phones). This product or service enables customers to send postcards to friends and loved ones using their phone where ever there is an Internet connection.

Some features I believe would attract customers to using the app are

Convenience – you can send a postcard from anywhere in the world, and you don’t have to go out and buy a postcard or postage stamps from a post office, newsagent or anywhere where postcards and/or postage stamps are sold. This saves time and effort for the sender because she or he doesn’t have to wait in the queue or hand-write the message.

Versatility/Flexibility - Being able to personalise your postcards using images and text of your choice, to make it more ‘you’.

In terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I would have to say this app or service would satisfy a social need – to belong, to fit in, to keep in touch no matter what you are doing or where you are.

It may also satisfy an ‘esteem’ need – what I call a ‘bragging right’: Taking pictures of yourself, especially in an exotic place, shows others you have been there – it attracts attention from others, makes them envious, and increases prestige in your group.

Part B The trend toward this sort of digital technology has impacted on people’s purchasing habits, so instead of going out and physically buying postcards, they are sending them from their phones. This is a trend that both Australia Post and the person’s mobile carrier have taken advantage of; and are able to get a higher market share of the communications sector.

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Figure 1: Go to http://auspost.com.au/travel-id/postcards-app.html?ilink=mm-postcards-app-1; accessed Friday, 4 March 2016 at 9:58:56 AM

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References Australasian Mail Services (2016): Mail Services, http://www.amservices.net.au/mail.html; accessed Thursday, 3 March 2016 at 1:54:23 AM Australia Post (2016): Domestic Letters, http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/domestic-letters.html; accessed Thursday, 3 March 2016 at 1:47:53 AM Australia Post (2016): Fast facts about Australia Post, http://auspost.com.au/about-us/fast-facts-about-australia-post.html; Sunday, 28 February 2016 at 19:17 Australia Post (2016): Postcards App, http://auspost.com.au/travel-id/postcards-app.html?ilink=mm-postcards-app-1; accessed Friday, 4 March 2016 at 9:58:56 AM