Business Decision Planning - Analysis of Supermarket Market, Customer Behaviour and Problems Faced

Running head: BUSINESS DECISION PLANNING
Business Decision Planning
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BUSINESS DECISION PLANNING
Executive Summary
The main purpose of this analysis is to conduct a research wherein the potential
market, customer’s behaviour and other factors affecting a supermarket business is
analysed. The research will be applying for acquiring data from both primary sources
of data collection and secondary sources of data collection. The primary sources of
data will be collected with the help of questionnaire which are distributed to
customers in order to receive their feedbacks and opinion. The research will be
concluding with what are the findings and recommendations of the research.

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BUSINESS DECISION PLANNING
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................. 3
Discussions.................................................................................................................3
Data Collection Sources..........................................................................................3
Survey Methodology and Sampling.........................................................................4
Questionnaire.......................................................................................................... 5
Data Analysis...........................................................................................................7
Findings, Discussion and Recommendations...........................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 13
Reference..................................................................................................................15
Appendix................................................................................................................... 17

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BUSINESS DECISION PLANNING
Introduction
The assignment will be done on the basis of case study of Salus supermarket
which has around 10 stores as per 2017 and the net revenue of the supermarket is £
39.5 million. The aim of this assignment is to conduct a research on the market for
supermarkets, customer’s buying patterns, promotional policies and the various
problems which the supermarkets are facing (Ellickson 2016). The results which are
obtained from the research will be helpful for decision making purposes. For the
purpose of this research, the researcher will be applying primary method and
secondary method of data collection. The data collection will be done for the
following areas such as buying patterns, promotion efforts of the supermarkets,
satisfaction level of the customers and problems faced by the supermarkets. The
research is conducted so that Salus Supermarket can obtain an overall
understanding of the market and makes strategies so that the business can get a
competitive advantage over its rivals. The research will be considering both primary
and secondary sources of data. Primary sources of data refer to the data which is
collected from primary sources such as first-hand information, questionnaire,
checklist and other similar sources (Hox and Boeije 2005). Whereas secondary
sources of data can be obtained from published journals, newspaper, articles and
other similar sources.
Discussions
Data Collection Sources
The data collection for primary sources will be done with the help of
questionnaire which is to be prepared on the basis of the following areas which are
buying pattern of customers, Promotional activities of the supermarket, Customer
Satisfaction level and the basic problem which the supermarkets face. As per the
analysis of the case study provided in the assignment, Salus Supermarkets faces
tough competition from its competitors (Orkin 2014). The supermarkets faces
competition as the some of the supermarkets have established their shops in the
region where Salus Supermarket is operating as per the case study.

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BUSINESS DECISION PLANNING
For the purpose of collection of primary data, the researcher has adopted the
method of distributing Questionnaire among the customers in order to obtain the
feedback of the customers. The questionnaire method is very useful for the collection
of primary data and obtaining feedbacks on the basis of which the supermarket can
determine what are the taste and preference patterns of the customers, which
products are popular among the customers. The questionnaire will be distributed to
the customers as they leave the supermarkets after purchasing goods. The
researcher will also be applying sampling method whereby a particular group of
people are selected on the basis of which data is collected and analysed (Lewis
2015).
For secondary data collection the researcher has reviewed the various
published articles, journals on the market conditions. For the purpose of this
research websites and other publications of competitors will also be reviewed. The
researcher will be reviewing the websites and gather information about the
competitors of the company such as ALDI, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and other similar
supermarkets. The researcher will also be reviewing different journals on the market
condition in order to learn about the current market situation and also review the
scope for growth for supermarket business.
Survey Methodology and Sampling
Survey methodology refers to a system where persons to persons are
questioned in order to gather information for the research. Survey methodology can
be used to collect both qualitative as well as quantitative data (Hippler, Schwarz and
Sudman 2012). The qualitative data is collected by applying techniques like personal
interview, mail survey and telephone survey (Guest, Namey and Mitchell 2012).
Whereas on the other hand quantitative data can be collected from analysing
marketing trends and by applying sampling techniques (Neuman 2013).
In this research, for collection of qualitative data the researcher has adopted
interview survey and uses questionnaire for the collection of data. The
questionnaires are distributed among customers so that the supermarket can receive
the feedbacks of the customers which will be used in the research (Merriam and
Tisdell 2015). The basic advantage of using questionnaire is that a large area and a
large amount of data is collected in very less time. For the quantitative analysis and

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BUSINESS DECISION PLANNING
collection of data the researcher applies sampling method wherein a group of
population is selected on the basis of which data is collected and analysed (Treiman
2014). In other words, sampling method involves selecting a particular group or
population on the basis of which research is conducted and data is collected for the
purpose of research. Sample size refers to the size or number of persons present in
the population on the basis of which sampling tests are conducted. The sample size
is based on the judgement of the researcher and the nature of the sample is also on
the judgement of the researcher that is which group of individuals which the
researcher is targeting for the research such as office workers, homemakers,
teenagers and regular shoppers (Marshall et al. 2013). The sampling techniques will
be helpful in getting data about the satisfaction level, individual sales of the group of
products like clothes, food, utensils. In this case sampling method will rank the
different supermarkets which are the competitors of Salus Supermarkets and identify
which supermarkets are preferred most by the buyers who are regular customers of
supermarkets.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was distributed on the basis of which primary data is collected
and information is collected on the basis of which analysis of the supermarkets are to
be conducted.
1. Which Supermarket do you often visit?
a. Asda
b. Tesco
c. Aldi
d. Sainsbury’s
2. How often do you visit Supermarkets?
a. Everyday
b. Thrice in a Week
c. Twice in a Week
d. Less than twice in a Week