Group 12, Section-D

Anuj Anand, Mihir Badiani, Niladri Shekhar De, Nithin R S, Prabhu P, Rohit Babur ao Bele , Sudha G

Assignment
Case Analysis (Group): Bottled Water
Issue faced by Better Life Corporation: The current bottled water industry in India seemed to
fascinate the M.D. of Better Life Corporation due to the huge market potential and very few players. According to him, people (especially with babies or young children) were concerned about the prevailing water problem and resorted to various means to counter it such as boiling the water, using chemi cals, tap-filters, aqua-guard or bottled water etc. Also, his focus was on bottle-water industry which itself didnt had many players and distribution varied from retail stores to road side vendors.

Required Market Research Process

Research Objective Research Plan Collect
Information

Analyze
Information

Present Findings

Make Decision

Fig. 1, Market Research Process

Suggested Market Research Plan

Step: I, Defining the Research Objective:
Based on the information provided by Better Life Corporation, the research objective is: Research Objective: A study on consumer attitude for safe drinking water in India

Step: II, Suggested Research Plan:

Types of Market Research Design: 1. Exploratory research Design (eg.- Focus based, Projective, Pilot research etc) 2. Conclusive Research Design a) Descriptive Research b) Causal Research Focus of research would primarily be on people who are health conscious or those who are concerned about the issue (like people with children), but not the complete population. Sample would not be based on probability sampling; rather the focus would be on judgment sampling and quota sampling so as to provide best value for money services as a market research agency. 1. Exploratory Research Design: It deals about why the customers buy the products. a) A pilot survey would be undertaken if the budget supports it so that we can determine an accurate sample size for the in-depth survey. The research instrument that would be used is the questionnaires specifically prepared to collect primary data. Closed-ended questions would be put-up to have overview about the topic.

Group 12, Section-D

Anuj Anand, Mihir Badiani, Niladri Shekhar De, Nithin R S, Prabhu P, Rohit Babur ao Bele , Sudha G

b) Main Survey- A survey will be undertaken so as to find out about peoples knowledge about bottled water, i.e. its benefits, latest offerings, etc. This would also tell us about their beliefs about the product, what preferences they have among the existing brands and the satisfaction they perceive to receive about it. The sample group determined through pilot survey would be used for this main survey which would have open ended questions to reveal more about what people think. c) Qualitative Research: As consumer base is less, we need qualitative research so as to have clear answers from the limited sample size that we have. i. Direct approach: Focus Group Focus group would be considered so that group dynamics among the group of six to ten people would enable us to bring out actual thoughts and feelings. These groups would consist of mainly health conscious and decision makers of families. (Note: Depth interview, another form of direct approach is not viable in this case.) Indirect approach: This approach focuses on projective techniques which would be irrelevant when we are considering research on a basic issue such as bottled water.

ii.

The exploratory research would give only tentative results. To get definite answers, we would have to apply the conclusive research design afterwards. 2. Conclusive Research Design: It deals about which type of customers buy the products. a) Descriptive Research : It is important to describe characteristic, perception towards the problem and the degree of association that people have and hence, descriptive research needs to be carried out. i. As online survey is cheap and most of the people using bottled water have access to internet (i.e. live in metropolitans), they would serve as the sample group for the online survey. The research instrument in this case would be technological devices like computers, hand held devices, etc. Observational Research: Observational research of distribution centers and roadside vendors would be conducted (with random samples throughout city) to observe the selling pattern, potential samples and hence potential buyers. [Note: The study will not be highly descriptive, and will be carried out in initial phase to determine the sample group ( of consumers) to be considered for other research designs.]

ii.

b) Causal Research: As product yet to be launched has not been finalized, experiments involved in causal research cannot be undertaken. Though this research can be done on other products already available in the market, but high costs would be incurred and relevance is low. Step: III, Information Collection: Though the market research will encounter barriers like any other, but they can be dealt with by scheduling surveys properly and creating a detailed plan as per the budget allocated. For example, we can conduct observation research of vendors to determine the most effective sample group and so-on. Step: IV, Information Analysis, Presentation and Decision Making: The results of the above research would be presented to Better Life Corporation which may analyze and interpret the findings of the research and decide upon a feasible solution.