Buyer Behavior Project

Option 1*: Company Study

Choose a company that you believe is currently struggling in the marketplace. Describe this company, its target market and the decision process used by its customers. Specifically, your paper should include the following:

1.  Introduction

  1. Who founded the company and what is its current status?
  2. Describe the company’s principal product (or products) in terms of features and benefits.
  3. Has the product gone through any modifications?
  4. What stage of life cycle is this product currently in? (You may cite evidence such as trends in sales to support your opinion.)
  5. What is your diagnosis of the company’s main problem?

2.  Identification of target market(s)

  1. Who is (are) the primary target market(s) for this product? Describe these markets in terms of demographic, psychographic (personality, lifestyle, etc.) and any other relevant characteristics.
  2. Are there any other potential market segments you would recommend for this product? Describe these segments in terms of demographics (subculture, social class, gender, age, etc.), psychographic and behavioral (benefits sought, deal proneness, heavy usage, etc.).

3.  Consumer decision making processes

  1. What type and amount of information about this product do consumers

use? How involved are they? Which level of decision making are

they in?

  1. How do consumers evaluate different brands in this product category?
  2. How do consumers go about shopping for this product?

(In this section, you may draw on both secondary sources of information—journal articles, newspaper articles, etc. and primary sources of information—such as interviews with target market members.)

4.  Recommendations for the future of the company. This is perhaps the most crucial part of your paper. Since the company is struggling, provide solid recommendations for each of the following:

  1. Target market and/or position changes
  2. Product decisions
  3. Pricing decisions
  4. Distribution decisions
  5. Promotion decisions

(You may draw on examples from more successful firms to give strength to your recommendations, but it is not mandatory. These firms do not have to be competing in the same product category but can be in entirely different product categories.)

*option 1 was based on a group project idea developed by Geoff Santos at Stonehill College

Option 2 (**more preferred**):

1. Select a particular segment of consumers to focus on. The segment can be a demographic one or focused around a consumption activity, such as (but not limited to):

Baby Boomers

Teenagers

Empty Nesters

Hispanics

African Americans

Asian Americans

Working mothers

Stay-at-home moms

Stay-at-home dads

Homosexuals

Children

Online gamblers

Video game players

Etc.

2. Describe this group as best you can in terms of size and attractiveness (such as spending power) and any other factors that are relevant. You may use Census data if available and/or other secondary sources of data.

3. Define a specific research question or questions related to this segment. This is the “meat” of your paper. You will need to include both primary and secondary sources of data to provide answers for your research questions. I am not looking for any particular question/s to be answered, therefore it is up to you to form and develop the paper as a group. In other words, this is wide open. Examples of some questions that would be interesting are as follows—(These are just examples, you may use these but also develop some of your own):

Do bilingual Hispanics prefer advertising that is in English or in Spanish? Does this depend on the age of the person? Should more companies offer services in Spanish?

How do working mothers cope with the pressures of role overload? How does this affect anything related to consumer behavior (go out to eat more, cook less, buy more prepared foods, etc.). What kinds of new products or services would alleviate pressures that working mothers feel?

How do online gamblers decide which website to patronage (you may bring in the literature on decision-making here)? What are the strategies that current companies are using to attract these gamblers? Do online gamblers tend to be loyal to a particular website or do they participate in switching behaviors?

Are men the primary players of video games? How can women be attracted to this activity? Which types of games most appeal to current gamers? How do they decide which games to play/buy (opinion leader, word of mouth, product trial)?

What do empty nesters spend their money on? Are there any products or services that you think should be repositioned to attract empty nesters?

4.  Provide specific recommendations for companies that are trying to reach this group. These should come in the form of price, product, distribution and promotion recommendations.

______

For both options, grading is as follows:

10% Oral presentation. Not all members have to present. Time lengths are TBA based on the number of groups. The grade is assigned by other members of the class in terms of whether you covered your topic sufficiently and did a clear and interesting job at presenting it.

10% Individual contribution. Each group member will be required to evaluate the other group members in terms of contribution made. This will be anonymous.

10% Written portion.

Times New Roman 12-point font, regular margins, 10-18 pages in length, not including title page, references, or any other exhibits. The length is so variable because the idea is that you cover your topic sufficiently.

You must include a title page and all references. When you cite someone in the text, just include their last name and year of publication in parentheses, e.g., (Bishop 2004). Include a full citation in your references. If it is an Internet cite, make sure to include the exact date of the webpage you are citing.

80% of your grade for the written portion is based on the CONTENT of your paper and the adequacy with which you covered your topic as well as recommendations made. Better papers will incorporate specific concepts from the book.

20% comes from grammar and style. I will subtract .10 points for each grammar mistake.

**Common grammar mistakes:

Make sure to refer to a company as “it” not “they.”

Put the period inside the quotation mark—“Hi.” NOT “Hi”.