Consumer Awareness and Frozen Food Marketing Research Proposal

This research proposal examines the impact of consumer awareness regarding healthy products on the frozen food marketing strategies of Ausfine Food in Australia. The study investigates consumer behavior, preferences, and factors influencing food choices, including nutritional content, individual factors, and external environmental influences. It aims to determine the implications of frozen food marketing on consumer buying behavior, evaluate current marketing approaches, and recommend measures to improve sustainability and influence consumer choices. The proposal includes a conceptual framework based on consumer behavior theories like the theory of planned behavior, and discusses the importance of marketing activities, consumer education, and social media engagement. The expected outcomes include an analytical framework for understanding consumer awareness and its impact on food consumption patterns, offering insights for frozen food manufacturers to adapt their strategies to changing consumer preferences and maintain competitiveness in the market.

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Research Proposal
Topic: Consumer awareness about healthy products: Implications for frozen food marketing
Student’s name:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................3
1.2 Research aim and objectives..................................................................................................4
1.3 Justification of the project.....................................................................................................4
1.4 Expected Research outcome..................................................................................................5
2. Conceptual framework and research hypothesis.........................................................................7
3. Methodology..............................................................................................................................12
3.1 Literature review..................................................................................................................12
3.2 Data collection processes.....................................................................................................12
3.3 Data analysis methods.........................................................................................................13
3.4 Project timeline....................................................................................................................13
4. The organisation of the study....................................................................................................16
5. Project budget and budget justification.....................................................................................16
Reference List................................................................................................................................18

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1. Introduction
Consumers are increasingly becoming more aware and concerned about food quality and
consumers' awareness is the knowledge level about the product purchased and understanding of
the consumers' right. The organisations follow the quality standards while manufacturing and
selling the food products. Compliance with the international safety standards is very significant
especially for the country like Australia to upgrade the capacity in monitoring and regulation of
the food companies. Frozen foods are stored in the manufacturing centres and in the stores;
therefore, the customers should make themselves aware when they purchase the frozen food
from the stores (Cho, Rha & Burt, 2015). People with higher income are increasingly demanding
for high-quality food products those have adapted with the quality as it is obvious that increase in
the consumer income can enhance the demand for healthy food products; therefore, the
customers' willingness to pay (WTP) increases subsequently.
In this paper, consumers’ awareness regarding the healthy food will be discussed in light
of implication of frozen food marketing. In Australia, increasing rate of disposable income of the
people; it is expected to increase the demands of the customers of healthy foods. The
organisations dealing with frozen foods show their concern to production technique, personal
hygiene and packaging as well as food safety requirement to meet the consumers' expectations.
In the first section, problem statement of the study, objectives and justifications of the proposed
topic is given. In the second section, the conceptual framework of the topic is explained.
Moreover, in the third section, research methodology is described to show the data collection
procedure and data analysis technique.

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1.1 Problem Statement
Frozen food is very important for today's life and it can be stored in the freezer for a long
time. The busy people in their busy schedule try to accommodate with the frozen food as it can
be easily prepared. In Australia, the frozen food industry is developing and those sold on the
market are not all certified as the government cannot impose the required quality standards for
the frozen foods (Saleem, Wasaya & Zahra, 2017). However, the Australians people are literate
and they are health conscious. Dietary requirement of the people has an impact on the health of
the individuals and rise of the diet-related health problems lead the people to avoid the frozen
food in Australia. The inappropriate packaging of the frozen food can make heart disease and it
can also lead to the blood pressure. Sometimes, in Australia, the manufacturers use additives;
however, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does not give the permission to use additives
(Louie et al., 2014).
Ausfine Foods has maintained a small company structure to ensure that it can adapt to
any situation. Ausfine sells mainly frozen food, dairy and meat products. Ausfine realises that it
will not operate as the trading company and it needs to deliver the products more to both
suppliers and customers. Ausfine wants to reach more customers and suppliers with their
products; however; they are aware of increasing demand from South East Asia like India and
China. Australian government implemented labelling policy that includes the various nutrients in
the frozen food (Ausfine.com.au, 2018). The customers are aware of the health and Ausfine Food
wants to influence the buying behaviour of the customers to improve the revenue. In Australia,
CAGR stated that frozen food market has grown 6.15% during the period of 2015-2017 (Lovell
et al., 2017). Frozen food in Australia is sold to individual customers through the retailers and
the manufacturing companies invest in R&D to keep innovating and modifying the new and

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existing products. Ausfine Food has been facing the issue of increasing competition in the
market and to judge the customer buying behaviour towards frozen food (Watson et al. 2015).
The small frozen food manufacturers in Australia are looking for a new method to differentiate
the brands by making disruptive products and brands. Therefore, the widening of the product line
targets at expanding the customer base across the market.
1.2 Research aim and objectives
The aim of the research is to determine the implication of frozen food marketing of
Ausfine Food and its influence on the customer buying behaviour and choices made by them.
Objectives of the study:
 To identify the impact of frozen food marketing on the buying behaviour of consumers at
Ausfine Food, Australia
 To evaluate the various approaches undertaken by the company to market the frozen food
items successfully in the market
 To assess the various measures that have helped the company to maintain sustainable
measures while marketing the products and services
 To recommend necessary measures that should be adopted by Ausfine Food for
overcoming the frozen food marketing issues and maintain sustainability to influence the
consumer buying behaviour
1.3 Justification of the project
Marketing activities are surrounded by the consumer and the consumers are the
contributors to the growth of the organisation. In addition food is basic needs of the human
beings and food delivers the nutrition for the body. As stated by Nanda (2017), food

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consumption behaviour of the customers is complex and challenging to understand as there are
diverse factors are available regarding social, science and behavioural discipline. Therefore, the
purpose the research is to find out the marketing dimension of the frozen food manufacturing
companies and identify the factors affecting customers’ awareness regarding food choices.
Under these circumstances, the following are the advantages of conducting the research
proposal:
 The research proposal will help the frozen food manufacturers to understand the changing
preferences of the customers regarding food choices
 It will help the future researchers to research on the customers’ awareness of the healthy
food consumption. This research will analyse the impact of frozen food marketing on the
buying behaviour of consumers.
 This research proposal will focus on evaluating the various approaches of the companies
to market the frozen food. Therefore, the marketers will come to know about the various
approaches to frozen food marketing from this proposal.
 The results of the research proposal can be used to business owners, policymakers and
researchers food safety in future.
 Ausfine Food can get information regarding the food safety as the customers’ awareness
about frozen food is changing. This in turn will help the organisation to prepare and pro-
active for marketing.
1.4 Expected Research outcome
The outcomes of the paper will give an analytical framework to understand the
customers’ awareness of the healthy eating and the consumers’ behaviour regarding the choice of

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their foods. Over the past few years there have been changes happening in the pattern of the
customers' awareness regarding the choice of food. Frozen food consumption in Australia is not
accelerating. The customers make their minds that frozen food is not healthy enough to eat on a
long-term basis. Healthier food products entered the Australian market and rapidly these
products gained the market share. The food industry reacted to the trend by developing the
growing variety of new products in frozen food segment with health-related images. All
marketing activities of the organisations of the frozen food markers are done by the consumers’
buying behaviour to do the comprehensive analysis of food consumption. The consumers’
awareness of the food consumption is determined by three main features like food,
environmental factors and factors related to the person. In addition, organisations need to
understand the marketing strategies so that they can attract the customers through identifying the
specific wants and needs of the target market by delivering the desired satisfaction.

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2. Conceptual framework and research hypothesis
Consumer behaviour is the decision-making process and physical activities individual
engage in when acquiring, evaluating and using the good and services. The conceptual analysis
of the behaviour of the customers regarding the choices of healthy food is greatly featured by
nature (Murad, Gill & Ali, 2016). There are many variables and their tendency to interact the
consumer behaviour very complex. The food choice of the customers refers to the food selection
and the human eating behaviour in terms of what the people will like and choose to eat. There
are mainly three factors which influence the consumer behaviour of selecting the healthy food
products. The first factor is food products; the elements involving this are nutritional contents
and properties. The second factor is an individual factor and the elements are psychological and
biological influencers. Lastly, the third factor is external environmental factors; economic, socio-
economic and marketing (Rani, 2014). The organisations want to impact on the customers’ food
choices to choose the healthy eating. In developed countries, consumers face a wide array of
decision-making choice in everyday life; they need to consider basic factors in relation to the
purchase decision. As stated by Dupas (2014), a popular approach to consumer behaviour is the
behavioural decision where customers are assumed to be rational and the customers do research
about the available information. The author further stated that the customers also face the choice
while choosing from the competitors; the customers make the assumption that first identity
attributes dimensions should be relevant to the decision-making process; after that the customers
evaluate each option in light of these attributes.
The customers provide an attribute on each factor of the products when they have choices
in the market and the customers are assumed to provide an overall evaluation. Theory of planned

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behaviour states that attitude toward behaviour can be subjective or it can be perceived.
Normative belief is an individual's perception of it is associated with relevant others' belief that
the persons should not perform the behaviour (Wang, Liauknyte & Kaiser, 2018). Subjective
norm is about the individual perception about the behaviour of the persons; this norm can be
influenced by the near ones. Therefore, the choice of food products is depended on control
beliefs of the persons; these are factors that may accelerate or hinder the performance behaviour
of the people. In addition, individuals can face the difficulty in performing the particular
behaviour. Immediate particular behaviour is the intention and it is termed as ‘behavioural belief’
or negative consequences of performing (Schwingshackl & Hoffmann, 2015).
The perception of the customers regarding the healthy choices of food often influences
their food selection. In addition, as stated by Dassen, Houben & Jansen (2015), nutrition-
information on the packet of the food products influences the food selection of the customers.
The authors further mentioned that dietary guideline of the Australian Agencies gives the
national evidence-based nutrition policies and each of the items comes with the nutrition criteria.
Customer awareness is one of the sections of the company's communication and marketing plan.
This process assists entrepreneurs to educate customers about the company and its performance
about the products. Therefore, frozen food manufacturers need to educate the customers about
the positive sides of consuming the frozen food along with proper communication (Oliver,
2014). Frozen food companies should make a well-designed logo and it must be relatable to the
customers. In social media, the customers need to discuss the topic of eating the frozen food as it
can increase the positive references through word-of-mouth. On social media, frozen food
manufacturers can advertise their food with key components. As opined by Biswas & Roy
(2015), the companies should claim the right things, the companies must have the

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professionalism on the posts and PR team should monitor the customers’ engagement about the
brands. Repetition of the same things on the social media increases the memory of the customers
about the brand. Therefore, the customers always find the food item that gives health benefits to
the customers (Xiang, Magnini & Fesenmaier, 2015). The customers tend to avoid the frozen
food as the customers think that it might harm the health of the customers. Eating the diet rich in
nutrients gives benefits to the persons and if the people find the balanced diet provides them
physical benefits, the customers will buy the same products again. Therefore, frozen food
manufacturers need to ensure that the foods contain balanced diet and it will not harm the health
of the customers.
In addition, if the customers have any query, the PR team of the organisation needs to
resolve the issues through the customers’ services. If the customer's issues resolved in no time;
the customers will make a purchase from the same brand next time. The purchasing behaviour of
the customers makes one thing clear that if the customers get the healthy food items; their buying
behaviour will change. Self-perception theory tries to describe how the person develops the
process of understanding of the motivation behind the behaviour. As opined by Rani (2014), in
customer perception, the customers relate the motivations and values that drive the purchase
behaviour. Perception is the ability to make some kind of sense that forms the external stimuli
for the customers and many factors can impact the perception of the customers through causing
the change in certain ways. Repeated exposure to the stimuli creates the attention for focusing on
change or the perception of this (Cohen, Prayag & Moital, 2014). The frozen food makers make
the branding as it is the attempt to identify the feature of the products that are easily recognisable
by the customers. Branding is associated with the image or the set of expectation that leads to the

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customers to purchase from the same brand. The target of the frozen food makers is to set the
products apart from the competitors and it can influence the customers to select the products.
Marketing strategy is used to increase the limited resources of the organisation to
maximise the opportunity in sales in order to achieve the competitive advantage (Oliver, 2014).
Frozen food manufacturers can do the market research to understand what the customers on and
what are their choices of the food. The marketing strategy of the frozen food is associated with
the customer behaviour as the marketers expect the success in their sales as higher profit margin
can competitive sustainability is the result of the marketing. The advantage of the customer
behaviour is to make the marketing strategy are the knowledge that the marketers achieve the
values and needs of the target market (Mylona, Kolokotroni & Tassou, 2017). Once the
marketers of frozen food understand the consumer behaviour; they try to improve customer
awareness to correct the target market. This process brings result in end sale.
Figure 1: Conceptual framework

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(Source: Created by the researcher)
Based on problem statement and objectives of the research, research hypothesis is:
H1: Customer awareness of Frozen Food Company can influence on healthy eating habits
H0: Customer awareness of Frozen Food Company cannot influence on healthy eating habits

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3. Methodology
3.1 Literature review
An in-depth secondary data analysis of relevant literature will be conducted in order to
gather the information about customer awareness in choice of the food products. The information
will be collected from the various web resources like Google Scholar, ProQuest and Science
Direct. Mostly relevant journals will be taken for analysis. Thematic analysis of the content will
be done to investigate the customer awareness on relevant food choices, mainly frozen food.
According to Mackey & Gass (2015), thematic analysis is the common type of analysis of
qualitative research. It mainly emphasises, investigates and pinpoints the patterns within the data.
3.2 Data collection processes
There are mainly two types of data collection procedures, primary data and secondary
data. Primary data are mainly raw data that are collected from respondents of the research. In this
research, numerous data will be collected from the series of data. In order to collect the primary
data, the research will do the survey. Survey data will be scrutinised to get the information
regarding consumer awareness about health products. According to Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault
(2015), survey method is preferred method as it is cost-effective, the survey research can be
extensive in describing the characters of the population. The researcher will prepare 15 close-
ended multiple choice questions based on the consumer awareness on selecting the food
products. The questionnaire will have two separate sections, the first section will be demographic
questions and the second section will be subjective questions. Some of the questions will be
based on Likert Scale. The survey will be done to the customers of Ausfine Food in Australia.
The whole sample population will be selected from social media site Facebook where sample

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population will be selected from Facebook page of Ausfine Food. The sample size will be
approximately 100. The researcher will connect the sample population through Facebook and the
researcher will give consent form to the respondents about the survey. The questionnaire will be
distributed through Facebook and email to the respondents.
3.3 Data analysis methods
The researcher will choose two types of data analysis methods; quantitative and
qualitative data analysis. Qualitative data analysis process will be used to analyse the data
through secondary data like books, journals, articles, online forums, websites and online reports.
Quantitative data analysis will be done by using the figures, excel sheets, pie charts,
mathematical and statistical process. The researcher will mainly use the technique of descriptive
statistics for the mean, median and standard deviation of the key variables of the research.
Quantitative data are the numerical data that are collected from the survey (Silverman, 2016).
The researcher will use Excel software to find out the calculation and it will be presented by
using table and graphs. Hypothesis testing will be done taking into consideration the likelihood
of Type I and Type II.
Therefore, this research process will consider the mix of the quantitative and qualitative
data analysis to arrive at the recommendation. In order to find the solution of the problem
statement; in-depth understanding of the literature along with findings from the survey will be
analysed taken from various factors.
3.4 Project timeline
Activities Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Wee Week

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1 3 5 6 7 9 10 k 11 12
Selection of the
research topic
✓
Reviewing the
literature
✓ ✓
Collection of the
data
✓ ✓
Data analysis ✓ ✓
Drawing the
conclusion
✓
Recommendation
s
✓
Final submission ✓
Table 1: Gantt chart
(Source: Created by the researcher)
Task Name Start Day End Day Duration (Days)
Project proposal 13.05.2018 27.05.2018 14 days
Literature Review 1.06.2018 23.06.2018 23 days
Data collection 24.06.2018 08.07.2018 14 days
Data analysis 09.07.2018 24.07.2018 15 days
Final report
submission
25.07.2018 10.08.2018 14 days
Table 2: Gantt chart

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(Source: Created by the researcher)
Figure 2: Milestones and deliverables
(Source: Created by the author)

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4. The organisation of the study
 The chapter on: Introduction
Aim, objectives, problem statement and significance of the study will be discussed.
 Chapter two: Literature Review
Secondary data will be discussed in-depth
 Chapter three: Research methodology
Data collection procedure and data analysis technique will be discussed
 Chapter four: Data findings and analysis
Findings and analysis of the research data from literature review and survey
 Chapter five: Conclusion and recommendations
It will summarise the findings to draw the conclusions. This chapter will recommend
about marketing strategies for frozen food
5. Project budget and budget justification
The estimated budget for the proposed research is $1200 to complete the project within desired
time; that is within 12 weeks.
Purpose Estimated spending
Collection of the secondary data $500
Collection of primary data $300
Data analysis $200
Transportation and additional material $200
Total $1200

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During the literature review, the researcher
 The literature review will be undertaken using textbooks, articles, journals and online
resources which will be expensive. This will cost around $500.
 Data collection process will be included survey, preparation of the questionnaire and
posting and mailing cost. The survey form will be used through Google and hard copies
will be used along with. This will cost approximately $300.
 For using descriptive statistics to access charts, government data figures and tables; this
may cost $200.
 In order to conduct the research, travelling and other expenses may cost $200.

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