Market Research Proposal for JB Hi-Fi

This assignment focuses on developing a market research proposal for JB Hi-Fi, a struggling electronics retailer facing challenges like declining sales and ineffective product positioning. The proposal outlines the four key steps of the market research process: defining goals and objectives, creating a research plan, implementing data collection (primary and secondary), and reporting findings. It emphasizes targeting specific customer segments to improve sales and profitability. The proposal adopts a casual research design and acknowledges ethical considerations like data confidentiality and limitations such as time and cost constraints.

Running head: MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Marketing and management
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

1
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
From the report, it could be understood that the research process was done for developing
a research proposal and target specific customer segments to enhance the profit level and drive
the sales. JB Hi Fi has gained popularity and because of the good quality products available at
lower prices, the marketing and promotional activities have remained effective as well. To
enhance the marketing capabilities, JB Hi Fi has used major promotional strategies to support
brand promotion and increase the customer base. To overcome the issues of sales decline and
product positioning, the market research process was conducted to anlyse the market conditions
and the customers’ preferences were understood to make sure that proper business decisions
were made. The research design was managed by progressing through both descriptive and
casual research designs and the data was collected from both managers and customers. The
limitations were cost, time and lack of genuine data and information due to presence of
unauthenticated articles, documents, blogs and websites. The issues could though be overcome
and proper business decisions should be made for successful achievement of business outcomes
and this would allow JB HiFi to sustain in the competitive business environment.
Table of Contents

2
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Research background.......................................................................................................................4
Research objectives.........................................................................................................................5
Research questions...........................................................................................................................5
Research proposal............................................................................................................................6
Research process..........................................................................................................................6
Research plan...............................................................................................................................7
Research design............................................................................................................................7
Data collection.............................................................................................................................8
Ethical issues................................................................................................................................8
Limitations...................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

3
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The report is prepared to focus on the market research process and its four steps to
develop a market research proposal for identifying a particular customer segment to which the
products and services of JB Hi Fi are delivered. Marketing concept is the delivery of products
and services to the customers along with the various promotional activities managed by the
company to make customers aware of the products and services, furthermore enhancing the
brand image and name to drive sales and gain increased profit too. According to the four steps of
the marketing research process, JB Hi Fi has enabled marketing intelligence techniques for
obtaining relevant information about the customers like their needs and requirements and
different marketplace conditions to making necessary changes to the products and services and
ensuring that those are properly delivered to the customers (Armstrong et al. 2015). By following
these four steps, it has become easy for the company to collect information, collect both primary
and secondary data properly and communicate the findings of the research to make appropriate
business decisions (Jbhifi.com.au 2018).
Research background
Based on Kotler et al. (2013), the four major steps of conducting the marketing research
are followed to define the problem or issue and develop the research objectives. This would
further help in creating a proper research plan for obtaining information and data, implement the
research plan properly and analyse the data. Based on the collected data and research plan, the
interpretation and reporting of the findings of research are done to ensure that the products and
services are marketed properly and the needs of customers can be fulfilled. Based on the entire
research process, the marketing manager of JB Hi Fi identified the problem that the company

4
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
was facing, which had been lack of ability to target specific customer segment and deliver
products according to their needs and preferences (Morgan 2012). The marketing mix strategy,
PESTLE framework, etc. helped in understanding the market conditions and the needs and
preferences of the customers; furthermore make them informed about the availability of products
and services delivered. However, these marketing activities, it could be easy for JB Hi Fi to
deliver new products and services, attract more customers and influence their buying behaviours
too. Being one of the major electronics supermarket in Australia, JB HiFi has targeted the young
customers, i.e., teenagers by offering good quality laptops constituting of good configuration
features and available at lower prices. The gaming laptops are currently offered by JB HiFi at
reasonable prices and these boost of enhanced features to create positive mindset among the
customers and influenced their buying behavior (Wirtz and Lovelock 2016).
Research objectives
 To develop a market research process for providing products and services to specific
customer segment of JB HiFi
 To identify the market conditions based on which the problem can be defined and
research objectives will be set
 To evaluate the necessary approaches for making customers aware of the products and
services offered and resolve issues like decline in sales and lower profit level.
 To recommend necessary measures for improving the marketing activities’ efficiency of
JB HiFi through better promotional and advertising techniques

5
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Research questions
How can a proper market research process be developed for targeting specific customer segment
of JB HiFi, Australia?
Does the analysis of market conditions help in identifying the issues such as decline in sales,
high cost and delay in conducting advertising research, etc.?
What are the various approaches undertaken for improving the customers’ awareness and
improving the sales revenue and generation of profit?
What important measures are recommended to improve the marketing efficiency of JB HiFi?
Research proposal
Based on the four major steps of Kotler’s model, it is time now for the preparation of a
research plan and collect necessary data and information prior to its implementation. The
interpretation and reporting of findings are done to make business decisions (McDaniel and
Gates 2012).
Research process
The research process is managed by selecting the appropriate research design, approaches
and strategies to formulate the research design and approaches and ensure successful
accomplishment of research objectives with ease and effectiveness. According to Kotler et al.
(2013), not only adding new products and services to target specific customer segment is
essential, but also it is important to consider the potential of the market, demographic conditions
and understanding the buying behaviours and attitudes of the customers (Grabara 2013). By
understanding the customers’ involvement in media platforms, the most suitable advertising and

6
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
promotional strategies could be used to enhance customer awareness and ensure influencing their
buying behaviours too. JB HiFi has offered good quality gaming laptops including Alienware,
MSI, HP and Asus laptops at reasonable prices and even used the customer relationship
management system or CRM to maximize the relationship with the customers and understand
their preferences. This would promote customer loyalty and influence the buying behaviours of
the customers too (Jolibert et al. 2012).
Research plan
JB Hi Fi has presented the research plan by collecting necessary data and information and
understood how customers can respond to the new age and highly configured laptops that are
targeted to the younger generation customers. Being one of the major electronics supermarket
chain in Australia, the company has a strong hold of its brand name and position, which has
allowed for leveraging the brand position and influenced the consumers’ buying behaviours too.
The teenagers have fascination for the gaming laptops and so the products developed are
consistent with the lifestyles and behaviours of the customers. The buying patterns are
understood along with the analysis of demographic conditions for understanding the brand
products, its prices and where the products have been available for the customers to purchase
(Armstrong et al. 2014). JB Hi Fi has made the products and services positioned in well defined
market segments for remaining different from the competitors and reduce the chances of issues
like decline in sales performance, not keeping customers informed about the new product line,
ineffective brand positioning, etc. By analyzing the market conditions, promotional offers have
been provided including the 30 months interest free, additional discounts on purchase of the
laptops within specific dates. This has enhanced the brand identity and allowed people to gain
information about the new products and services delivered by JB HiFi (Jbhifi.com.au 2018).

7
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Research design
There are different types of research designs that are followed such as the exploratory,
descriptive or casual research designs. The descriptive objective could also be determined by
understanding various aspects including the market potential, demographic conditions, attitudes
and behaviours of the consumers too. To conduct the marketing research process, the objectives
are identified at first and then the marketing manager of JB HiFi has progressed through the
exploratory, descriptive and casual research designs. Here, the casual research design is the most
suitable because it has helped in testing the hypothesis and understood the cause and effects of
the issues resulting while targeting the young adults to drive the sales of gaming laptops of JB Hi
Fi (Keller and Kotler 2016).
Data collection
The collection of data included both primary and secondary data collection. The primary
data included both qualitative and quantitative whereas the secondary data was collected by
reviewing various genuine articles, documents and websites to extract the best of information
and data all throughout (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). The qualitative data was gathered
by interviewing the managers of JB Hi Fi who provided their responses and opinions based on
the questions asked to them concerned with the marketing activities and strategies used to target
the specific customer segment comprising of the young age customers. The quantitative data
included the responses and feedbacks of the customers regarding their satisfaction with the kinds
of products and services provided by the company (Malhotra, Birks and Wills 2013). Secondary
data collection was much cheaper compared to primary data collection and here secondary
sources such as websites, documents, blogs and articles were assessed to obtain the most suitable
data and information required for conducting the research efficiently.

8
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Ethical issues
Ethical issues could be common while conducting marketing research processes and few
of the ethical issues had been lack of confidentiality of data, not finding the most appropriate and
genuine data and information from the articles, documents, journals and websites. The websites
and documents from which data and information were collected had not been genuine as well,
which further created difficulties in maintaining the ethical standards. The individuals whose
responses and opinions were considered as major data and information collected to conduct the
market research had been kept confidential and private and were not even disclosed to maintain
the research privacy (Wilson et al. 2012).
Limitations
Few limitations of the market research could be cost and time constraints, lack of
availability of right data and information and limitations of sample size. As the market research
was done by collecting data and information from very limited respondents, so a larger sample
size had not been suitable. Due to limitations of time, many research areas were left uncovered,
though the research had been completed somehow. With additional time and money, it would be
easy and much more convenient for conducting the research considering the same topic in the
future considering all the important components covered with ease and effectiveness (Creswell
and Creswell 2017).
Conclusion
The report was presented to consider the four major steps of the market research process
and develop a market research proposal for targeting a specific customer segment of JB HiFi.
The company was facing issues like decline in sales and inappropriate positioning of products

9
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
and services in the market segments, because of which, the profit level was quite low. The
market research proposal enabled to identify the goals and objectives at first, created a research
plan, implemented that and finally reported the findings of the research to target the specific
market segments with ease. All these steps were followed to make perfect business decisions
though considering the casual research design as the most suitable research design and even
collecting both primary and secondary data to accomplish the research objectives. Few ethical
issue and limitations included poor data confidentiality, time and cost limitations, etc. which
once overcome, could help in facilitating the research process efficiency and conduct it in a
detailed manner in the future.

10
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
References
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson Education.
Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D., 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed
methods approaches. Sage publications.
Grabara, J., 2013. Employer’s expectations towards the employees from the marketing and
management department. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 7, pp.58-70.
Jbhifi.com.au. (2018). JB Hi-Fi | JB Hi-Fi - Australia's Largest Home Entertainment Retailer.
[online] Available at: https://www.jbhifi.com.au/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2018].
Jolibert, A., Mühlbacher, H., Flores, L. and Dubois, P.L., 2012. Marketing management: A
value-creation process. Palgrave Macmillan.
Keller, K.L. and Kotler, P., 2016. Marketing management. Pearson.
Malhotra, N.K., Birks, D.F. and Wills, P., 2013. Essentials of marketing research. Pearson.
McDaniel, C. and Gates, R., 2012. Marketing research essentials. Wiley Global Education.

11
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Morgan, N., 2012. Time for ‘mindful’destination management and marketing. Journal of
Destination Marketing & Management, 1(1), pp.8-9.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A
guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler, D.D., 2012. Services marketing:
Integrating customer focus across the firm. McGraw Hill.
Wirtz, J. and Lovelock, C., 2016. Services marketing: People, technology, strategy.

12
MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT