K & K Custom Creations - Marketing Research Project

K & K Custom Creations

Nakia Weaver-McCoggle, Owner

201 N. Central Ave Suite J

Tifton, GA 31794

229.402.6055

Marketing Research Project

Presented by Gwen Anderson

Georgia Southwestern State University

July 20, 2017

Table of Contents

1. Title Page

2. Table of Contents

3-4. Executive Summary

5. Introductions

6. Research Method and Procedures

7-11. Data Analysis and Findings

12-13. Conclusions and Recommendations

14. Limitations

15-16. Appendixes

Executive Summary

        The research information herein was conducted by a marketing student attending Georgia Southwestern State University. The research subject is K & K Custom Creations owned by Nakia Weaver-McCoggle. K & K Custom Creations is a small bakery located in Tifton, GA and has been open since October 2016. During the initial interview, Mrs. McCoggle expressed interest in bringing awareness of her bakery to the community. She sat down with the researcher to map out a research plan. It was decided that a questionnaire would be administered to a random sample of people within the community to determine if people knew of the bakery. A two page questionnaire was compiled and presented to Mrs. McCoggle for approval. Once she approved the questionnaire, the researcher approached 46 random people in multiple local retail establishments and asked if they would be interested in helping with a marketing research survey. The respondents consisted of males and females, ranging in age from fifteen to fifty-five and older. The respondents were also of various ethnic groups.

        After answering questions regarding age, gender, and ethnicity, the questionnaire asked the respondents about their awareness of the business without specifying what the business actually is. They were to answer yes or no if they were familiar with the business. If the respondent answered, no, they were advised to continue down the questionnaire to determine what type of business they thought K & K Custom Creations is and what part of the name of the business made them choose their answer. If the respondent answered yes, they were advised to skip to the last page of the questionnaire where a series of questions were to be answered. If the respondents answered yes, they were familiar with the business, they were asked if they had ever visited the establishment. If they responded with no, they were done with the questionnaire. If they answered yes, they were to proceed to answer questions on a scale of 1-6 regarding various aspects of the business. Once all the questionnaires were administered, the researcher compiled the information into pie charts, which have been provided further in the body of the report. 93% of the respondents were not familiar with K & K Custom Creations. They thought the business was everything from automotive or stationary, to marketing, and embroidery. Eight people marked that it was a bakery. Three of those eight people had heard of the business, however none of those three had ever visited the bakery. Since none of the respondents had ever visited the bakery, none of the questions regarding the satisfaction of various aspects of the business were answered and the data analysis ended.

        Given the data analyzed, it was concluded that the researcher’s hypothesis, “The name of the business is confusing to consumers which prevents brand awareness” has been proven.

A list of thirteen recommendation have been provided in the main body of the report. The main recommendation to the client is for her to change the name of her business so that it reflects her brand. Examples provided were: K & K Custom Sweets, K & K Specialty Sweets, or something that will allow the members of the community to know what the business sells.

Introduction

        K & K Custom Creations is a small, locally owned bakery in Tifton, Georgia. The quaint bakery, owned by Nakia Weaver-McCoggle, opened its doors October 8, 2016. In the initial interview with Mrs. McCoggle, she expressed interest in bringing more awareness of the business to the community, which she feels will increase traffic flow and increase sales. When asked what she felt were her problem areas, she responded with promotions, advertising, and reaching people. Mrs. McCoggle has advertised in the local newspaper, The Tifton Gazette, as well as, the Georgia Shopper, through social media platforms, a local television network in Tifton, and filmed a segment on “Business Spotlight”. She has also represented her business as a vendor at local festivals.