Applied Research Brief: Expanding 7-Eleven's Market in Australia

This report is a research brief focused on 7-Eleven, a major convenience store chain in Australia. The study aims to analyze 7-Eleven's market position, identify areas for improvement, and recommend strategies to expand its target market. The report begins with an introduction to 7-Eleven, followed by a market and strategic overview, including its competitors and product offerings. It then outlines the background and role of the research, emphasizing the need for improved marketing and promotional activities to increase market share. The research objectives are defined, including both business and research objectives, such as evaluating market opportunities and examining existing promotional activities. The suggested approach includes research questions, population and sample size, data collection methods using a pilot survey, and limitations of the research design. The report also details the research tools, reporting requirements, timing, and budget. The goal is to provide insights into customer perceptions, marketing effectiveness, and strategic recommendations for 7-Eleven's growth within the Australian market.

Running head: INITIATE AND LEAD APPLIED RESEARCH
Initiate and Lead Applied Research
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1. Introduction
7-Eleven Stores Pty Ltd. is one of the major convenience chain stores in Australia. The
private company is owned by the Withers and Barlow family. According to the report by IBIS
World (2018), 7-Eleven holds 117th position among the top 2000 companies in Australia. The
major source of income of this company is food retailing. It has been found that the company
does not focus much on the marketing programs, which is a key factor in the competitive market
to expand its size. This paper presents a research brief on conducting a research for 7-Eleven to
analyze its market and recommend ways to increase the size of its target market.
2. Market and strategic overview
7-Eleven was first opened in August 1977 in Australia. It has it’s headquarter in
Melbourne and currently operates over 670 stores across all the states and territories in Australia
(7eleven.com.au, 2018). It is one of the most popular convenience stores in the country.
According to the features of convenience stores, 7-Eleven fulfills the needs of the customers
regarding basic things. The store can serve the changing needs of the customers on the go. The
stores are mostly located near the downtowns or central business districts and on the highways,
to cater the needs of the office goers and tourists. It stores brands like Slurpee Beverages, Krispy
Kreme Doughnuts, $1 coffee, Hot Chockee, Treats, Refreshment beverages, such as, energy
drinks, Juice, soft drinks, Sports drinks, etc., 7-Eleven Fuel, BankWest ATM Facilities,
Stationery & Gifts, Game Cards, MoneyGram, 7-Eleven Branded Top-Ups (Milk, Bread, Pet
Food, Toothpaste, Frozen Meals, Cleaning Products, Soft Drinks & Ice Creams), News,
Magazines & Entertainment, Transport Tickets & Top-Ups, Personal Care & Cleaning, Auto &
Car Care and many more (Ibisworld.com.au., 2018). These product and service range were
chosen such that the customers can get the most basic things under one roof in a convenient

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place rather than driving to the big supermarkets, especially while travelling on a highway. It
also offers the fuel and delis which enables the customers to grab food while filling up the gas.
The key competitors of 7-Eleven are the big supermarkets of Australia, such as, Coles,
Woolworths, and other convenience stores such as EzyMart, NightOwl Convenience Stores etc.
and some stores operated by the gas companies like, Exxon Mobil, Shell etc.
(Ausfoodnews.com.au, 2012).
Since beginning, 7-Eleven has focused on providing a wide range of items including
packaged foods, fuel, ATM services, and other type of necessary products and services for the
customers at their convenient locations (7eleven.com.au, 2018). Over the years, it has expanded
its range of products to meet the needs of the not only the local residents but also for the tourists.
To conduct the research on the issues regarding the market size of 7-Eleven, the target
market will consist of customers and employees of the company. 3 stores will be selected in and
around Melbourne, and a survey will be conducted on some of the customers and employees of
each store. Geographical segmentation will be beneficial for cultural context as the customers
groups will include the international tourists as well. These segmentations would also help in
understanding the social and economic implications as a certain percentage of the customer
group is price sensitive, and affects the sales of 7-Eleven. Apart from that, the regulations,
seasonal sales, pricing and communication, which is not emphasized by the company will also be
considered for the research.
3. Background and role of the research
The research will focus on the development of marketing programs for 7-Eleven. As it
does not spend much or not aggressively promoting its brand, the company is losing out some of

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its market share in the competitive world. Hence, the research will be carried out to find out the
customers and the employees perceptions regarding the products and services and to evaluate the
scopes of improvement. The need for marketing will also be assessed through the research. This
will help 7-Eleven to plan and implement measures to develop a marketing program. Marketing
or promotional activities are important for reaching to a wider audience and to increase its
popularity, the company must focus on marketing activities.
The research will impact the marketing and PR department of 7-Eleven the most,
followed by the finance and accounts department. The employees and supervisors of those
departments will be involved in developing the marketing program and sales department will
also be involved for in-store promotional activities. The customers of 3 stores will be involved to
collect the data on the stores’ products and services as well as on the impact of promotional
activities.
The research work might face some constraints in terms of communicating with the
customers regarding the purpose of the research, voluntary participation from the customer
groups, accuracy of data, budget, and access to the secondary data, such as, the annual reports
etc. to get the statistics on the market position of the company.
4. Objectives
4.1 Business objectives
The mission of 7-Eleven Australia is to be the best in the country in meeting the dynamic
needs of the convenience customers. Its vision is to maintain its position as the first choice of the
customers in terms of the customer preference and achieve market share through sustainable
growth while maintaining the highest level of ethics (7eleven.com.au., 2018). 7-Eleven operates

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with the values of farness, integrity, excellence, bold endeavors, prime importance to the
customers and the attitude for caring. Thus, it can be said that 7-Eleven aims to serve the
convenience customers, irrespective of their nationality, in the best possible manner to make
their journey or living easier. To achieve this goal, 7-Eleven must expand its business and reach
out to a larger target audience within Australia. Through the research, the company will be able
to identify the areas that need strategic planning and hence, can take actions accordingly.
4.2 Research objectives
The research study aims to find out the ways to improve 7-Eleven’s marketing strategies
or actions to increase its market share in Australia. The company needs to focus on developing or
improving its marketing and promotional strategy to expand its business or customer base to stay
at the top of the market. Thus, the objectives of the research study are:
 To evaluate the market opportunities,
 To examine the existing promotional activities of 7-Eleven,
 To identify the areas for improvement for the company and recommend measures
for the improvement.
To carry out the research work, it is essential know about certain attributes of the target
customers. Hence, the characteristics of the target customer profile must be studied thoroughly.
Those attributes are attitude, perceptions, customer behavior, tastes and preferences, and usage
expectation. These factors are highly important influential factors in determining the business
performance of a company. Thus, it is important to assess the impact of these attributes of the
customers while designing new marketing or promotional strategies. Moreover, it is also crucial
to understand the nature of the problems and appropriate ways to address those. In other words,

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while conducting the research study, it is important to understand the nature of the problems and
objectives, that is, whether the research problem and objectives can be explored qualitatively to
get the best possible outcome, or if those should be measured, recorded or ascertained using
quantitative methods. Based on the type of research objectives, the research methods are chosen
(Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015).
In the given study, the marketing strategies of 7-Eleven will be evaluated and new ways
will be found for improving the marketing techniques and strategies. Hence, there are both
qualitative and quantitative objectives of the study. On one hand, the existing marketing
strategies and promotional activities of 7-Eleven will be explored, which is a qualitative
objective, and on the other hand, the impact of these strategies on the customers and impact of
the customers’ perception on the business performances will be measured, which is quantitative
objective. Thus, 7-Eleven should not only examine and identify the scopes of improvement in
their marketing program, but should also focus on implementing the new ways or measures to
have the optimum impact on their market share. However, the research brief will present the
findings of a pilot study before undertaking a large scale market research.
5. Suggested approach and research target(s)
5.1 Research questions
1) What are the reasons that influence the customers to go to a convenience store like 7-
Eleven?
2) Do these stores meet the needs of the convenience customers?
3) Do the international tourists also visit the 7-Eleven convenience stores?

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4) What is the perception of the customers regarding the promotional activities and its
impact on the popularity of 7-Eleven stores?
5.2 Population and sample size
7-Eleven has more than 670 chain stores across Australia (7eleven.com.au, 2018). Thus,
the customers of all these stores create the population for the study. The customers will belong to
different economic classes, race, age, gender, nationality and will have different purposes.
However, it is not possible to study the entire population due to time and budget constraints and
robustness. Thus, a sample size will be drawn using simple random sampling technique for
conducting a pilot study. This sampling technique reduces the biasness in the data (Dobson,
Woller-Skar & Green, 2017). Three 7-Eleven stores in and around Melbourne will be chosen
randomly and 10 customers from each of the stores will be chosen randomly for conducting the
survey. Hence, a total of 30 people will be reached out for collecting the primary data for the
pilot study.
5.3 Data collection methods
As the research study is based on quantitative analysis of the research hypothesis,
primary data will be collected through a pilot survey. A survey questionnaire will be prepared
with 8 close ended questions and replicable scales for the answers. It will have two sections,
demographic and non-demographic, which will help to understand the pattern of consumer
behavior and certain attributes that influence their taste and preferences. The survey will be
conducted in person and the participants will have the freedom of voluntary participation. No
personal data of the customers will be collected except for their age, gender and nationality. 3
people will go to 3 different stores of 7-Eleven and conduct the survey personally.

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5.4 Limitations of the research design
Authenticity of the data is a major concern in this type of research. The reliability of the
data cannot be tested using Cronbach’s Alpha, as the sample size is quite small and number of
variables is less. The accuracy of the data cannot be guaranteed. Other than that, validity of the
primary data cannot also be evaluated as secondary data collection and analysis will not be
performed.
5.5 Research tools and techniques
Descriptive research design will be applied for the research brief to get an idea about
people’s perception about the performance of the 7-Eleven in Australia. The responses will be
presented through charts and graphs to get the findings. Interpretivism method of analysis or
explanatory analysis process will be applied to explain the findings from the primary data.
6. Reporting requirements
Reporting medium will be MS Word. The findings will be summarized in a MS Word file
in a report format.
7. Timing
Week
Task 1 2 3 4 5 6
Making a strategy and framework
Primary data collection
Conducting survey
Secondary data collection
Data analysis
Providing the conclusion
Research report submission

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8. Budget
Item Amount (AUD)
Arrangement of tools and equipment for
survey (Tablets and smartphones)
750
Visit to 3 stores of 7-Eleven 400
Data analysis software 150
Fees for the 3 people doing survey 1000
Fees for analyst 500
Total 2800
9. Summary of research
The responses for the survey are presented below.
Figure 1: Gender profile of the participants

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Figure 2: Age profile of the participants
Figure 3: Nationality of the participants
The above three questions collected information on demographic factors. It has been found from
the responses that majority of the survey participants are female (56.7%) and 30% belong to the
age group of 25 to 30 years and 31 to 40 years. Regarding the nationality, it is found that
majority of the participants (33.3%) have marked themselves as immigrants in the country, and
30% are permanent residents, followed by 23.3% temporary residents and 13.3% tourists. Thus,
the sample size consists of mixed classes of the society.

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Figure 4: Reasons for visiting 7-Eleven stores
It is seen that primary reason for visiting the convenience store are the convenient location and
wide range of products. Only 8 people said that they influenced by the advertisements of 7-
Eleven.
Figure 5: Whether 7-Eleven stores fulfilled your needs perfectly

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Figure 6: Preference for visiting 7-Eleven stores again
Regarding the fulfillment of needs and customer’s preference for going back to 7-Eleven stores,
it is observed that majority of the people answered neutral, followed by people who agreed.
Figure 7: Awareness source about 7-Eleven
The survey responses revealed that people are aware of 7-Eleven due to the reason that it has
opened a large number of stores in and around the cities and thus, it is visible more than the
competitor stores. It is followed by word-of-mouth publicity by the fellow customers, and