AT1: Develop Market Research Plan - Assessment Task for Houzit

Instructions for Students: Assessment
AT1: Develop market research Plan
Submission details
Student’s name ID no.
Assessor’s name Phone
no.
Assessment
date/s Time/s
Submitting assessments:
The Assessment Task is due on the date specified by your assessor. Any
variations to this arrangement must be approved in writing by your
assessor. Submit this document with any required evidence attached. See
specifications below for details.
You must submit the assessment on [e-mail]. You must
clearly mention in Subject line: Unit Code ID – STUDENT ID & NAME –
ASSESSMENT Number. You must submit the assessment in Microsoft Word
format. Submit this document with any required evidence attached. See
specifications below for details.
Performance objective
In this assessment you are required to establish guidelines for researching
and gathering information and work with your staff to gather and evaluate
the data.
Assessment description
You need to review existing policy and procedure documents (in the
appendices of your Student Workbook) and develop guidelines for
managing the process of gathering research information for Houzit. You
also need to identify and plan to acquire all resources necessary for
supporting the project.
Procedure (Steps)
1. Read the case study provided in Appendix 1: Case Study
2. For the given case study, you are required to develop or commission
and review market research project plan and detailed work plans to
point of finalization in accordance with Houzit’s policy and
procedures. Your market researchproject plan must contain the
following elements (You can use Appendix 3: Research Project Plan
template) :
Page 1 of 30

Page 2 of 30

1. Planning Phase
a. Definition/scope phase
i. Define research objectives
ii. Define scope of research
iii. Specifications for research components
iv. Determine policies and procedures applicable for
market research.
b. Project schedule and Budget
i. Develop Project activities/milestones schedule
ii. Determine in-house resource. describing requirements
for goods and services within the project plan
iii. Develop Project budget
c. Consultant/supplier selection phase
i. Define consultant/supplier selection criteria
ii. Identify preferred potential consultant/suppliers
iii. Develop Statement of Work (You can use Statement of
Work Template attached as Appendix 4 of this
assessment) that includes:
o Requirements for external consultant/supplier
o Performance monitoring and reporting
requirements
iv. Evaluate proposals
v. Select consultant/supplier.
2. Research phase
i. Monitor milestone achievements
ii. Consultant/supplier performance management.
3. Reporting phase
i. Review Market Research report with stakeholders
ii. Prepare summary report.
Page 3 of 30

Knowledge Test
4. Describe following principles and practices of market research in
minimum 75 words:
a. data processing methods and data analysis techniques
b. project design to meet given budgets and other resource
constraints
c. qualitative and quantitative research
d. design of samples
e. development and application of hypotheses
f. role of research in enterprise development
g. use of survey instruments
5. Compare and contrast project management principles and
practices, minimum 75 words:
a. consultation and stakeholder involvement
b. development of policies and procedures
c. methods of action to ensure performance
d. monitoring of timelines, budgets and other
implementation plans
e. organisational procedures for engagement of consultants
6. Provide an overview of key provisions of relevant legislation, codes
of practice and national standards affecting marketing operations.
(minimum 250 words)
7. Discuss the impact of economic, social and industry directions,
trends, and practices on marketing functions. (minimum 250 words)
Specifications
You must provide:
A written Work Plan Summary including a Statement of Work for the products
and services required to be provided by external service provider (Steps 1-
3).
Answers to the Knowledge Test
Your assessor will be looking for:
Page 4 of 30

 Evidence that you have examined the case study and reviewed
organisational requirements to develop market research plans.
 Knowledge of principles and practices of market research
 Knowledge of project management principles and practices
 Knowledge of key provisions of relevant legislation, codes of practice
and national standards affecting marketing operations
 Knowledge of the impact of economic, social and industry directions,
trends, and practices on marketing functions.
Appendix 1: Case study
You are the marketing manager for a 15 store chain of homeware stores in Brisbane
called Houzit. The stores specialise in bathroom fittings, bedroom fittings, mirrors
and decorative items. As part of the strategic plans of the business, the board want
to broaden the store offer by including lighting fixtures in the assortment mix. The
board identified the need to carry out market research to determine the market
feasibility of adding the lighting fixtures category to Houzit’s assortment. The board
have requested that this work be undertaken by a specialist market research firm
with extensive knowledge of the target market and who can undertake a wide
variety of research methods and complete the process in a timely manner.
The CEO has asked you to manage the entire market research process for the
board. You are asked to liaise with the general manager of store operations and the
group buying manager. Initially you are required to develop the guidelines for
conducting the market research which must adhere with Houzit’s policy and
procedures. The scope of research to be undertaken encompasses the greater
Brisbane area.
The CEO explained that the market research report together with your summary
must be ready to be presented to the board in 10weeks’ time. You have been
allocated a budget for the project of $15,000 to cover external consultants and
associated external material costs. You are required to stay within this budget.
Houzit’s policy and procedures requires that you submit a Resource Usage
application for all resources required in the project both internal and external.
Your marketing team consists of Tony (search engine optimisation and website
maintenance), Marie (advertising and public relations) and Joanne an administration
officer. You have asked Tony to take responsibility for the operational aspects of the
project and estimate that it will take up 50% of his time over the next 11 weeks.
Joanne will also be involved for about 20% of her time in attending to administration
matters. You estimate that you will need to allocate 30% of your time to manage
the overall project.
Page 5 of 30

The CEO meets with you and you and Tony to discuss the plans. The CEO explained
that it is Houzit’s policy to always engage external consultants when deciding on
major category changes because it provided some objectivity to the decision
making process.
The three preferred consultants are:
1. Acworth Accounting: 27 Pitt Street, Hawthorne QLD, who prepared the
business plan for Houzit but who don’t have specialist market research staff
2. Lombard Consulting: 78 Queen Street, Brisbane QLD, who are a local
specialist market research firm based in Brisbane specializing in home
accessory products and markets.
3. Holt & Burrows: 58 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne Vic, a national marketing firm
based in Melbourne who consult on all issues relating to branding and
marketing for all industries. They specialise in fashion, cosmetics and
consumables.
The CEO explained that there was extensive information available in the company
archives concerning customer feedback and surveys that has been collected by the
stores over the past few years. This could prove useful in the research. The CEO
also explained that you would need to have a member from head office do the
information extraction work and could take up to 20 hours to complete.
The CEO would like to see a report that covered five main areas:
1. industry overview
2. target category and market
3. business environment
4. competitors
5. conclusion.
Tony prepared a list of preferred suppliers together with the products and services
that they supplied to help determine the materials needed in accordance with the
CEO’s directive that it be a credible source, within the budget and easily accessible.
These materials could be included in the project if required and it is within budget:
Homeware Trade association has an Australian wide industry report for
$1,000
Australian Bureau of Statistics has Census data for the target area the is
mostly free but will costs about $250 in search fees
IBIS market report covers each major market in Australia including the
greater Brisbane area - $1,200
Australian Chamber of Commerce has Australia wide surveys on industries
$1,450
Homeware Magazines and Publications is an international magazine covering
innovations in home wares $250 per quarter
Page 6 of 30