Marketing Research Paper

Running head: MARKETING RESEARCH PAPER

Marketing Research Paper

Tim Smith

University of Phoenix

Marketing

MKT/421

Prof. Vergil Stewart II

March 13, 2008

Marketing Research Paper

“Kudler Fine Foods has experienced significant growth and is now focused on expanding the services, improving the efficiency of its operations and increasing the consumer purchase cycle as a means to increasing the loyalty and profitability of its consumers” (, ). This paper will justify the importance of marketing research in the development of Kudler Fine Foods marketing strategy and tactics. It will also identify the areas where additional market research is needed and analyze the importance of competitive intelligence and analysis in regards to the development of Kudler Fine Foods marketing strategy and tactics.

“Kudler is offering parties in the store to show customers how to prepare specialty foods. The draw for the consumers is to be trained by world-renowned chefs, local celebrities, other food experts, and even Kathy Kudler herself, and to be invited to exclusive, upscale events. The anticipated outcomes will be to increase the customer purchase rate of high margin food and beverage items and to get consumer to make an evening at Kudler Fine Foods part of their social network. This increased time in the store will increase the overall revenue per visit and increase the frequency of visits to the store. Consumers will receive multiple entries in high-ticket item contests by bringing a friend to the parties. While the firm’s preference is to have the events in-store, guests can have Kudler cooking classes at their home for a price premium. Programs such as this encourage consumer loyalty and word-of mouth marketing” (, ). As Kudler aims towards higher scale consumers using institutional advertising techniques, the draw of consumers would have to be analyzed due to day to day schedules of its consumers. Would consumers take time out of their busy lives to watch Kathy Kudler prepare dishes or would you have to have a high profile chef or celebrity present to actually draw the consumers in? Is Kudler the only establishment providing this feature? Additional research using surveys specifically orientated towards the area of finding out what consumers would visit the store if a well known chef or celebrity provided a cooking class. Knowing that famous chefs or celebrities are not cheap to come by, having consumers extend their stay at the store might outweigh the cost of putting the class on.

“Kudler’s new initiative is tracking purchase behavior at the individual customer level and providing high value incentives through a partnership with a loyalty points program. The customer purchase behavior patters will help Kudler refine its processes and offerings to best satisfy their valued customers. Price is not the primary differentiating factor for Kudler consumers; these consumers are focused on quality and finding specialized items. Therefore, rather than providing everyday discounts to the customers for their purchase frequency like lower end markets, Kudler has partnered with a loyalty points program to provide customers with points which can be redeemed for high end gift items, airline first-class upgrades, or other specialty foods”(, ). This new initiative will also bring in new consumers as word of mouth from loyal consumers spread. Analyzing the purchase behavior patterns of their consumers will also help determine trends in culinary areas for example, consumers purchasing items used in Mediterranean style cuisine because of the health benefits would enable Kudler to stock more of those items and maybe provide a more varying choice in that style of cuisine while keeping close eye on other marketable areas. Loyal consumers would also get a feeling of gratitude from Kudler and maybe purchase other items they would not normally purchase at Kudler.

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