Market Research Plan Analysis for Houzit Homeware in Brisbane

This report provides an in-depth analysis of a market research project conducted for Houzit, a Brisbane-based homeware store, focusing on their new lighting fixture service. The report details the development of the market research plan, including adherence to organizational policies, resource management, and consultant selection. It assesses the progress of the market research, including the performance of the Lombard Consulting Group, hired to conduct the research. The report evaluates the research findings, including the validity of the data, relevance to research objectives, and stakeholder feedback. Key findings highlight the demand for lighting fixtures in Queensland and Western Australia, target market analysis, and competitor analysis. The report also discusses the challenges faced by the consulting group and provides recommendations for improving the market research process, such as enhancing communication with stakeholders and ensuring data validity. This analysis serves as a valuable resource for understanding market research methodologies and their application in the homeware industry.

Running head: MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Manage Market Research
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Executive Summary
The entire report includes an in-depth analysis of the market research project in the context of
Hauzit. This is a home-ware store of Brisbane and going to produce a new service. The lighting
fixture is their innovation and to establish this service they want to prepare a market research
plan. Lombard consulting group is hired by Hauzit to carry out their market research plan.
However, it has been received that during the preparation of the market research plan this
consulting group has failed to finish many stages of the market analysis. However, they did not
communicate with the store managers during the collection of data. It is important for this group
to use effective communication with the stakeholders to improve the market research process.

3MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Development of the market research plan.......................................................................................4
Guideline reflecting the organizational policy................................................................................4
Market Research..............................................................................................................................6
Revise the contract made with the external contractor....................................................................6
Progress of the market research report............................................................................................7
Work activities on the research plan................................................................................................7
Contractor performance...................................................................................................................7
Research project evaluation.............................................................................................................8
Findings...........................................................................................................................................8
Validity of the data present in the project........................................................................................9
Relevance of the findings against the research objectives...............................................................9
Assessment of the project performance against the research plan................................................10
Review of the stakeholder’s feedbacks and recommendations.....................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Referencing....................................................................................................................................12

4MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Introduction
Marketing research plan is crucial to develop the approaches to enhance the performance
of the business. Market research enables an organization to understand the current need of the
market and to identify the target audience (Andaleeb and Hasan 2016). In order to develop a
market research, a research plan is required to carry out the market research. This will give a
better understanding of the organization regarding their current market place. This study deals
with the market research plan of Houzit the homeware sores situated in Brisbane. Moreover, a
revised market research plan will be given in this study in the context of Houzit.
Assessment Task 1
Development of the market research plan
Guideline reflecting the organizational policy
OHS or occupational health and safety is an important policy of an organization that
needs to follow while developing a market research plan (Palmatier 2017). However, it is
important for Houzit to keep privacy of their data while developing the market research plan as
the marketing team of Lombard consulting includes search engine optimization and website
development. During this approaches data may be theft or damage. Thus, it is crucial for such
organization to maintain the privacy of the data. Staff involvement is necessary for the market
research plan as the staffs of such organization need to comply with the organizational policies
while preparing the market plan. KPIs or Key performance indicators measure the performance
level of the staffs in a market research plan. Apart from this, the quality of data that is collected

5MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
by the consulting team regarding the market research should be checked by the authority to
detect the validity and reliability of the data.
Houzit needs to communicate its staff members to develop the market plan in order to
conduct the market research. It is important for an organization to interact with the
organizational staffs and to understand their viewpoints to make a work plan summary (Kienzler
and Kowalkowski 2017). Houzit wants to take help from the Lombard consulting group to carry
out their market research to enhance their store for lighting fixtures. Hence, the communication
can be done via the oral presentation, by using electronic and print media.
Resources
Managing the resources is a big part to develop a market research plan. Financial
resources, human resources, time and energy are the major resources to develop a market
research plan (d'Alessandro 2017). In the context of Houzit, they need money to invest in their
research plan. On the other hand, they need expertise to carry out the market research, as
information needs to be collected based on which the market research plan can be developed.
Next, the expertise needs to spend more time on the developing the plan by collecting data. Apart
from this energy is another part of that is required to develop a market research plan. The team of
the consulting group needs to make a resource requisition form to manage each resource.
Consultants
Identification of the consultants is a major part of the development of market research
plan (Zaefarian 2017). The CEO of Houzit has decided to hire Lombard consulting group to
carry a market research plan for their new product. lack of experience and lost of credibility are
the major challenges that an organization can face during the development of their project plan.

6MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Hence, the external consultant supports the organization to meet such changes and to complete
the project. The consultant can be selected based on their specialization in the market research,
strength, and popularity. However, Lombard is a local consulting group in Brisbane and
specialized in the market research for home accessory products. On the other hand, Houzit is
situated in Brisbane and popular for homeware, thus, this consulting group will be helpful for
their market research.
Suppliers and the providers
Mechanical and electrical components are required for the lighting fixture that is the
planned new service of Houzit. Equipment and technical expertise are required for this new
service. However, based on the product materials the suppliers and the providers are selected
(Palmatier 2017). Houzit identifies their product material then prepared the list of the suppliers
based on their capacity to supply such materials. Australia wide survey and Australian Chambers
of commerce are selected to supply the service materials.
Assessment task 2
Market Research
Revise the contract made with the external contractor
The manager of the market research needs to revise the contact that has been made with
the Lombard Consulting group in order to carry out the market research plan for Houzit. The
CEO of such organization has given $1500 to the manager to complete the entire market
research. The time is 8 weeks to conduct the market research. It is crucial for an organization to

7MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
make a proper plan with the consultants that can meet the entire requirements of an organization
(Xie et al. 2017). However, 9 weeks will be helpful to develop the plan and to conduct the
market research instead of 8 weeks as the manager needs more time to prepare the entire report
after the proper investigation. Therefore, the budget needs to be increased to $1600 as the market
research includes many activities, which require more financial support.
Progress of the market research report
In a market research plan, monitoring is crucial to measure the progress of the taken
activities (Ind et al. 2017). The market research report is in progress however, some phases of
the research project are not completed within the time. As for example, documentation process
is one week late according to the case study. On the other hand, identification of the research
techniques is one week late. 1 week needs to identify the source of information, as it could not be
completed within the scheduled time. Apart from this identification of the research participants
and development of questionnaire are completed on time.
Work activities on the research plan
The work activities of the development of a market research plan include identification of
the research goal, selection of the supplier and external consultant, which are crucial to complete
a market research (Kuhn and Baumann 2017). In the context of Hauzit they have selected
Lombard Consulting group and this consulting group consists of various activities. They need to
carry out a proper market research, which includes the industry overview, identification of target
audience, business environment, competitor’s analysis and detection of current market demand.

8MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Contractor performance
Measurement of the performance of the external contractor is a crucial part of the market
research report (Palmatier 2017). In the context of Hauzit, the contractor of the Lombard
consulting group required more time as they fail to complete some phases of the research project
within the scheduled time. According to the consultant, they have faced issues while working
with the store manager, as a result, their performance has decreased. They have requested for the
data of internal customers and the company has denied providing it. This affects the performance
of the contractor. Therefore, the contractor failed to finish the budgeting and development of the
research project on time thus their performance is not too good as the organization expected.
Assessment task 3
Research project evaluation
Findings
According to the market research report of Hauzit, it has been received that there is a
great demand for the lighting fixtures in the Queensland and the Western Australia. However, in
this particular market, the size of the home-ware business comprises $130 million and the
lighting fixtures category covers $22 million in the year 2009 and 2010. The growth of the
Australia is 3.2% pa this ensures the long-term growth of this current service in Australian
market. Analysis of the target market is crucial in the market research report (Ind et al. 2017).
According to the report of Lombard consulting group, the households of Brisbane those are
involved in renovation and new dwelling are considered as the target market of Houzit's lighting
fixtures. As per the statistical data, there are 45,000 households p.a in Brisbane, those are

9MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
involved in the new dwelling. The age group of the target customers ranges from 25 to 45 years
and their annual income is 110,000. On the other hand, the household spends $560 for the home-
wares, which ensures that the new service of Houzit's will be beneficial to increase its customer’s
number and its sale. On the other hand, the economic, technological, social and political factors
are also analyzed in the report.
Economic factor reveals that the GDP of Australia is 3.2% and the unemployment rate is
low. Therefore, the government has taken initiatives for the home-ware, which reduces the use of
the resources and minimizes the waste. The technology focuses on the high internet use in the
area of the target market and the customers focus on the environmental sustainability. It is
important to analyze the external environment to understand the current market of a business
(Ahammad et al. 2017). On the other hand, competitors analysis of Houzit shows there are 12
competitors in the existing market.
Validity of the data present in the project
Validity and reliability of the data need to check within a project as based on the existing
data the entire project plan will be developed (Higón 2016). Expert judgment will be helpful to
determine the reliability of the data. The manager has to aware of the location and the
availability of the data sources based on which the entire report is conducted. Taped interview,
original response to the customer survey and focus group analysis are crucial. It is important for
the manager of Houzit to cross check the references and carry out a physical identification of the
document sources. The Scientific method, testing and careful observation should be taken to
ensure the validity of the research data.

10MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Relevance of the findings against the research objectives
This current research includes the market research data and information regarding the
new service of Houzit. The main objective is to consult with a contractor and to prepare the
activities to conduct a market research. It is important to make relevance between the research
objectives and the findings (Ahammad et al. 2017). The objective of this report is to develop
activities to carry out a market research plan. Hence, from the findings, it has been received that
the consulting group has made a proper market research based on the current market position of
home-ware in Brisbane. It has been received from the findings that a target market analysis also
includes in the market research report. Hence, it can be said that the research objective focuses
on the activities to complete a market research report and the findings of this report also
highlight on the activities that are taken in the market research.
Assessment of the project performance against the research plan
The effectiveness of the research plan can be measured by the project performance
(Giuliani et al. 2016). In the context of Houzit, they have made a research plan with the help of
the Lombard consulting group. However, it has been received that from the given scenario, that
this consulting group and the CEO of Houzit have set many activities in the project's plan. As for
example, market research, competitive analysis, economy, and technology. The project report
also focuses on these specific areas and ensures that the project performance has matched with
the research plan.
Review of the stakeholder’s feedbacks and recommendations
The line managers give feedback that Lombard consulting group did not make a clear
communication with the store managers. Therefore, such consulting group did not interact with

11MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
the customers day by day. On the other hand, the buying manager of Houzit said that the report
of the consulting group was good and matched with the organizational concept. Thus, the
manager needs to take more ideas from such consulting group. On the other hand, the CEO also
gave congratulation to the consulting group as they have done the entire project within a short
time frame. The monitoring process of the research project includes continuous observation. It is
important to make a stakeholder analysis to understand the effectiveness of a market research
project (Carter 2016). The consulting group needs to make more communication with the
customers and the store managers of Houzit as it will help them to understand the current market
trend. On the other hand, the consulting group needs to monitor the entire process properly and
to check the validity and reliability of the data.
Conclusion
The above study deals with the development of the market research report in the context
of Houzit. This organization has hired Lombard consulting group to carry out the entire market
research and to prepare a proper report with authentic data. However, in this section a revised
report has been proposed that reveals the findings of the market research report. It has been
found that the consulting group made the report properly while in many phases of the research
they failed to complete the activities within the time. On the other hand, there are some loopholes
in the research process of the Lombard consulting group that need to be covered.

12MANAGE MARKET RESEARCH
Referencing
Ahammad, M.F., Tarba, S., Frynas, J.G. and Scola, A., 2017. Integration of nonmarket and
market activities in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. British Journal of Management.
Andaleeb, S.S. and Hasan, K., 2016. Marketing Research. In Strategic Marketing Management
in Asia: Case Studies and Lessons across Industries (pp. 111-160). Emerald Group Publishing
Limited.
Carter, B., 2016. Economic and market resilience before and after shocks. GSDRC Helpdesk
Research Report 1328.
d'Alessandro, S., Lowe, B., Winzar, H., Zikmund, W.G. and Babin, B.J., 2017. Marketing
Research. Cengage Learning.
Giuliani, E., Santangelo, G.D. and Wettstein, F., 2016. Human rights and international business
research: A call for studying emerging market multinationals. Management and Organization
Review, 12(3), pp.631-637.
Higón, D.A., 2016. In-house versus external basic research and first-to-market
innovations. Research Policy, 45(4), pp.816-829.
Ind, N., Iglesias, O. and Markovic, S., 2017. The co-creation continuum: from tactical market
research tool to strategic collaborative innovation method. Journal of Brand Management, 24(4),
pp.310-321.