Kudler Fine Foods and Market Research

Kudler Fine Foods and Market Research

Introduction

The definition of marketing as stated by the American Marketing Association is that: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” (marketingpower.com, 2008) Marketing is not a choice but yet an essential part of any business. Kudler Fine Foods is a local upscale specialty food store located in the San Diego metropolitan area. The company has three locations (La Jolla, Del Mar and Encinitas). Each store has a large amount of retail space located in a stylish shopping center. The stores are stocked with the very best domestic and imported produce (phoenix.edu, 2008). Kudler Fine Foods has decided to explore new options to which they might offer to their customers. This paper will first justify the importance of marketing research in the development of Kudler Fine Food’s marketing strategy and tactics. Next the paper will explain Identify the areas where additional market research is needed.

Market Research

Market research is very similar to the nine-step problem solving model. Market research in most cases will always lead to some type of change. Market research helps to study the marketing changes an organization needs to accomplish. According Perreault and McCarthy (2005) marketing research is defined as “procedures to develop and analyze new information to help marketing managers make decisions.” Market research is the process of systematically gathering, recording and analyzing data and information about clients, rivals and the market. Its uses include helping create long term business plans, launching new products or services, fine tune existing products and services, and expanding into new markets. Market research can be used to determine which portion of the population will purchase a product/service, based on variables like age, gender, location and income level (wikipedia.com, 2008). Based on these definitions, understanding a market research plan is essential to Kudler Fine Foods to promote any types of special promotions they may run, and to reach out to their public the authenticity and quality value of their merchandise and produce.

Some of the marketing campaigns Kudler Fine Foods have already run will be described below. One of the most popular marketing operations was directed towards expanding services and increasing revenue. Kudler decided to start throwing in-house parties to teach customers how to prepare specific international foods. Kudler further promoted this by bringing in world renowned chefs and celebrity guests to be a part of this promotion. It was advertised as an exclusive, upscale event. The outcome of this event is to potentially push buyers into more selective and high quality foods, which would cost much more as well. Marketing researchers at Kudler also feel that the consumers increased time in the store will also increase the amount of times they visit the store. In addition, customers will also receive raffle tickets of sorts for each additional guest they bring into the store with them.

Another promotional program is to offer coupons for frequent buyers. These coupons would work on a point system and the more points a customer racks up per the amount of purchases they make, these points can then be redeemed for items such as airline tickets, gift certificates to retail department stores or benefits at the gas station.

In 2007 Kudler Fine Foods introduced a sales plan to assist Kudler’s managers to prioritize and focus their resources in a way which reached the organizations objectives (phoenix.edu, 2008). These objectives being to introduce new customer focused programs, promote better information management, target awareness building, and also to increase behind the scenes efficiency and cost containment (phoenix.edu, 2008).

Below is presented the marketing survey conducted in 2007.

Survey Results 2007

Store hours are convenient for my shopping needs.

Very Strongly Agree 17 23.94%

Strongly Agree 11 15.49%

Agree 34 47.89%

Disagree 8 11.27%

Strongly Disagree 0 0.00%

Very Strongly Disagree 1 1.41%

Total 71

Store atmosphere and decor are appealing.

Very Strongly