Business Research Project Proposal on Consumer Willingness to Pay Premium for Well-Known Brands

BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL- "HOW MUCH
OF A PREMIUM ARE CONSUMERS WILLING TO PAY
WELL-KNOWN BRANDS?”
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the study........................................................................................................3
1.2 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................3
1.3 Rationale of the study............................................................................................................3
1.4 Research Aim.........................................................................................................................4
1.5 Research Objective................................................................................................................4
1.6 Research Question.................................................................................................................4
2. Literature review..........................................................................................................................5
2.1 Concept of branding..............................................................................................................5
2.2 Concept of Premium pricing strategy....................................................................................5
2.3 Factors favouring premium pricing.......................................................................................5
2.4 Willingness of Consumer’s to pay premium prices...............................................................6
2.5 Research gap..........................................................................................................................6
3. Methodology................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Research philosophy..............................................................................................................7
3.2 Research Design....................................................................................................................7
3.3 Research Approach....................................................................................................................7
3.3 Data collection and data analysis...........................................................................................7
3.3.1 Primary Research................................................................................................................8
3.4 Sampling method...................................................................................................................8
3.5 Ethical consideration.............................................................................................................8
4. Timeline of research activities...................................................................................................10
Reference List................................................................................................................................12
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1. Introduction
1.0 Introduction
In this chapter of the research project, the researcher will be offering a brief background on the
topic to give the reader knowledge of the topic. In addition, the chapter will also provide
justification for conducting the research. The aims, objective and questions of the research will
be presented in the chapter after identifying the problem statement.
1.1 Background of the study
While taking decisions on areas like deciding the commodity and service to be offered, the target
market, the pricing of the goods and services, the business takes into consideration the buying
behaviour of their consumers. The views of the customer towards the commodity and service
offered, its priority and requirement for them, are factors that decide their willingness regarding
the price to be paid for acquisition of the product. In order to market a product appropriately, the
element of pricing plays a vital role as the sales figures are directly influenced from it. The
pricing strategy to be implemented is based on factors like target market, desired profit margin,
growth and development strategy. By adopting a premium pricing strategy for its product, a
brand sets higher rates in comparison to the price of alternative products and closely-related
products. Also known as “skim pricing”, the strategy helps business companies and brands for
maximizing their profits in markets where there absence of substitute goods and consumers gave
agreed to pay premium prices (Annie Jin, 2012).
1.2 Problem Statement
The problem statement of the research topic is to identify the factors that encourage customers to
pay premium prices for the goods and services offered by well-known brands and the extent to
which they have shown approval towards the approach of premium pricing.
1.3 Rationale of the study
The study will be focusing on the issue of “premium pricing”, which is currently prevailing in
the retail market due to the perception of consumers that higher the price of the product, higher is
its value. Premium pricing is generally available in situations where there are restrictions on the
entry of new firms or when the companies are not being able to save their expenses during large
scale production. Despite the fact that it dissuades a category of buyers from purchasing the
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