Investigation of Consumer Perception of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited's Product Line

Running head: MARKETING RESEARCH PROPOSAL
MARKETING RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

2MARKETTING RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Background of the study and research problem...........................................................................4
Research objectives.........................................................................................................................5
Information sources.........................................................................................................................6
Research approach...........................................................................................................................7
Survey..........................................................................................................................................7
Quasi experimental research (casual comparative research).......................................................8
Regression analysis......................................................................................................................9
Data collection.............................................................................................................................9
Sampling methods.........................................................................................................................10
Probability sampling methods....................................................................................................10
Non-probability sampling methods............................................................................................10
Project timeline and indicated cost................................................................................................11
Sampling and non-sampling errors................................................................................................12
Sampling errors..........................................................................................................................12
Non-sampling errors..................................................................................................................13
Research instrument design for consumers...................................................................................14
Pre-test questionnaire design.....................................................................................................14
Pre-testing and revision..............................................................................................................16

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Revised Questionnaire Design...............................................................................................17
Measurement scales...................................................................................................................18
Information sheet (Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited research survey).............................21
Consent form (Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited research survey)....................................24
References......................................................................................................................................26

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Topic: Investigation of the consumer perception of the product line-“A case study of Fonterra
Co-operative Group Limited”
Introduction
This report is a marketing research proposal for the organization named Fonterra Co-
operative Group Limited. Marketing research proposal aims to collect data based on the needs of
the consumers and business to draw relevant conclusion in the study. The report will aim to
identify the perception of the consumers regarding the products offered by Fonterra in order to
identify the issues in stagnancy in sales for the past decade.
Background of the study and research problem
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is owned by more than 10,000 farmers in New
Zealand and the company contributes to almost one third of exports all over the world. It is the
largest organization in the country of New Zealand (fonterra.com, 2018). The organization has
gone through ups and downs where the organization has been awarded for environmental
conservation efforts and at the same time has been has faced allegation and criticisms for
deforestation and use of light coal respectively. The biggest scandal the organization has to face
was Sanlu milk scandal in China which killed a number of infants and many fell sick
(LOUISSON, 2018).
Fonterra has been considered as a failure in both practice and concept which shows the
level. Even though, the organization has maintained their monopoly in the New Zealand market,
but the strategies implemented by the organization has failed miserably for the stakeholders and
has heavily affected the corresponding environment. The analysis of the data from the past 17
years shows that the organization has not been able to increase their returns. This is a shocking
fact that production of milk has increased by 108% but revenue has stagnated (LOUISSON,

5MARKETTING RESEARCH PROPOSAL
2018). The improvement in the total payout received by the farmers in New Zealand is limited,
even though the farmers have slogged their way to double the production of milk. The company
has contributed immensely to the degradation of the natural environment which shows that the
organization could fall under scrutiny for their practices (LOUISSON, 2018). Therefore, this
report will propose the organization to conduct a study for identifying reasons for lack of
improvements is sales and return.
Research objectives
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited has not been able to increase their return
significantly in the past 20 years even though the production of milk has doubled. This is one of
the biggest areas of concern for the organization and improvement is required for long term
sustainability and profit margin. Therefore, this research has aimed to identify the reasons for the
lack of increase in sales volumes in the past decades so that they can make informed decisions
based on the statistical data collected. The statistical analyses conducted on the data collected
will provide valuable insights on the issues and the strategies that has to be implemented to
improve the return for the farmers. The objectives of the current marketing research proposal are
as follows:
 To investigate the factors that has affected the sales volumes in Fonterra Co-operative
Group Limited
 To investigate the product line of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited to identify the
most popular products
 To investigate the perception of the consumers regarding the brand and the products
offered by them
 To examine the sales of the products based on their pricing

6MARKETTING RESEARCH PROPOSAL
 To identify the consumer segment that has not been utilized properly by Fonterra Co-
operative Group Limited
 To evaluate the sales of the product offered by Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited in
all the cities in New Zealand
 To determine the most sold product of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited
 To identify the sales of the products based on different criteria such as gender, frequency,
monthly expenditure and market share
Information sources
In this current market research, primary and secondary data sources have been used by
collecting data for identifying the factors affecting the sales volumes and revenue of Fonterra
Co-operative Group Limited. The primary data will be collected through questionnaire and the
questionnaire will developed by using google forms. The secondary data will be collected from
web articles, government report, official statistical data portals, social media platforms and
company official website.
 Web articles will provide information regarding the perception of the consumers and
different users about the company. It will also have valuable data about comparisons with
other companies and current trends in the market. The identification of the current market
trends is essential for developing effective strategies.
 The New Zealand Government is a website providing detail information about the
different regions and the cities in the country (New Zealand Government, 2018). This
will assist in gaining information about the demographics of the country.
 Social media platform will facilitate in understanding the needs of the consumers and
their opinion about the brand. The identification of the image of the organization among