Marketing Research

The idea by the Holden manufacturers to launch an online store was one of a kind in the Australian market.   However, contrary to the simplicity associated with online marketers involved in household items and clothing, there are myriads of challenges for online automotive dealers.  It is for this reason that Holden needs to identify the best market audience for the new next-generation Commodore which they have introduced in their online stores.  There are various target market alternatives to be adopted in order to yield better results. The dealers ought to target particular zip codes. The new commodore marketers can access the required public zip code data from the various agencies. The marketers will then break the data down to get specific details of the people living in a given code. Such details include sales history, average income and age of the consumers living in a given code (Aghdaie, Mohammad & Alimardani, 2015). This information will assist the auto-marketers to get an optimized market where they will target the best shoppers for the new Commodore.  The other viable alternative includes the dealers focusing on the shoppers who are already familiar with the brand.  Although new shoppers/consumers are key in the growth of the business, it requires use of extra resources to reach and convince new consumers who sometimes are not interested in shopping. Holden marketers ought to study the behavioral information of their current customers/shoppers. They would then have a personalized reach to them with brand selling.  Such behavioral information includes among others the shopper’s purchase history and search habits. When Holden dealers create an attuned relationship with the current shoppers, they have an opportunity to target potential buyers at a lesser cost. The motor dealership is attributed to lengthy processes with long decision making before the deal is complete. For this reason, many potential e-shoppers end leaving the online stores before completing the buying process (Wagner, Gerhard & Schramm-Klein, Hanna & Steinmann, 2017). This forms another target market for Holden ltd to sell the new Commodore.  The Holden ltd marketers can concentrate on those shoppers, collect their personalized information and reach them with the new Commodore offers. Since the online store is new in the Australian market, I would recommend Holden ltd to adopt the second target market alternative where they focus on the existing shoppers which is more economical in terms of resources to be used. It also incorporates the 1^st and 3^rd alternative in a limited way.

Target market alternatives

In a research study, the population can be described as a complete set of elements possessing similar characteristic as defined by the researcher’s sampling criteria. In the case of new- generation Commodore, there are various alternative ways to define the population. One of the alternatives is by the application of the target population. The definition will include the entire group of shoppers who are interested to shop a car. In this case, the main objective of the researcher is to focus on those consumers to whom he wants to generalize the findings of the research.   Universe population is comprised of the people or the things that meet the researchers set-criteria of interest.  Considering the case of new generation Commodore, the researcher is interested in identifying the potential customers for the commodore among the online shoppers. Thus, the target population includes all the online shoppers who are interested in buying an automobile on the online platform. The other alternative way of defining population is by use of accessible population (Majid, 2018). Accessible population refers to the aggregate cases which conform to the set criteria outlined by the researcher and that are proximately accessible as the subjects of study. The researcher identifies the group out of which a sample is drafted, he then generalizes the conclusion of the findings. In our case, the investigator will conduct a research on new generation Commodore. the population in this study will include all shoppers who have purchased a motor vehicle from Holden manufacturers. However, some may not be interested in the new generation Commodore or some may not wish to utilize the online store platform.  Thus, some of the shoppers may not be accessible for the research study due to other reasons including overseas travels. Therefore, the accessible population, in this case, will include all shoppers who meet the investigator’s designated criteria and most importantly those who are available for the research study (Amitav and Suprakash, 2010).  I would recommend that the researcher adopt the second alternative which is the accessible population as a definition of the new generation Commodore research study.

A sampling frame is described as a list of all the items in the population of the research study. It comprises of a complete list of everyone or everything the researcher is interested in studying. It is critical to differentiate between a population and a sampling frame. the key distinction is that whereas a population is generalized, a sampling frame is very specific. In the case of the new generation Commodore research study, the population is the online shoppers from Holden manufacturers. The sampling frame would include a list of all the online shoppers with the dealer. There are various alternatives of defining a sampling frame including but not limited to list sample framing, area-based sample framing, multi-stage framing and sample framing for a series of surveys (Michael, Lewis-Beck, Alan Byman and Tim-Futing, 2011). When referring to list frame, a list of all observational units comes into consideration. This defining alternative is usually used for complete enumeration and its recommended only for the large units but which are few in number but contains a substantial share of the total population. Area framing is another alternative to define a sampling frame. in this case, the factor of consideration is the regional boundaries.  Depending on the researcher’s objectives, the area-based sampling frame is recommended where the units in the population are defined by geographical boundaries.  The multi-staged sampling frame consists of units in which sampling is done sequentially across two or more hierarchical levels.  In this definition, a combination of simple random sampling, cluster sampling, and stratified sampling is commonly used.   When referring to frame for a series of surveys, it is an extension of multi-stage sampling. They usually consist of second and subsequent sampling units. The next stage units might be similar or different altogether (Jonathan, Edward, and Phillip, 2014).  I would recommend the application of multi-stage sampling frame alternative for the new-generation Commodore marketing researcher. The population units can be sampled in stages for an effective result. Samples may be developed from area code units(shoppers). The same can be applied on stage two where the sample units would include the specific users of commodore auto-mobiles.

Sampling is defined as an effective way of gathering opinions from a large population, where a specific group is selected in a move meant to find out more about the whole population in general. There are various defining sampling approach alternatives. In the case of new-generation Commodore online stores, the various alternatives include cluster sampling approach, convenience sampling approach, judgment sampling approach, quota sampling approach, pure random sampling approach systematic sampling approach among others (Taherdoost, 2016). In cluster sampling approach, the marketing researcher is faced with a challenge of complete information regarding the population. The population is divided into clusters or rather what can be termed as demographic groups. This approach can be expensive in cases where the clusters are vast. The sampling errors in this approach also remain to be high. In a convenience sampling approach, the researcher only utilizes those units(people) which are willing to volunteer their services.  The researcher uses the subjects who are readily available for questioning. This approach may, however, suffer from a risk of volunteer bias and the sample would not form a whole representation of the entire population. However, this approach is cheap and the researcher can obtain extensive data at a low budget. The judgment sampling approach is deliberative and selective. It is utilizable where the researcher is seeking valuable illustrative case studies.  it is a direct opposite alternative for random sampling approach. It, however, suffers from the risk of biasness. Additionally, the sample is always smaller in size as compared to other approaches.in quota sampling approach, the population is divided using the key variables the samples are drawn from each variable.  In the random sampling approach, every unit from the sample frame possesses an equal chance of being selected for questioning (Malhotra and Birks, 2007).  With this approach, the researcher is in a position to determine the estimate of the population. He is also in a position to determine the sampling error.  Systematic sampling approach involves selecting units according to a random starting point and a fixed periodic interval. In this approach, the sample is spread throughout the population.  This approach can be time-consuming in addition to being expensive considering that the sample was chosen is not conveniently located just like the random sampling approach (Carl-Erick, Bengt, and Jan, 2013). I would recommend that the marketing researcher for new-generation commodore adopt a convenience sampling approach as the people to be questioned are the current shoppers who are consuming the products of Holden manufacturers.

In conclusion, as a marketing researcher for Holden manufactures in relation to the new-generation commodore auto-mobile launched on the online stores, I would focus on existing shoppers as my population of study. I would then use the accessible population as the definition of the research study population. Additionally, a multi-stage sampling frame would form the best alternative for the study.  A convenience sampling approach would be effective in carrying out the study.

References

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Amitav, B. and Suprakash, C. (2010) Statistics without tears: population and samples. Industrial psychiatry journal (Online). Vol 19 (1): Pp 60-65. Available from  DOI: 10.4103/0972-6748.77642 (23 September 2018)

Carl-Erick, S. Bengt, S. and Jan, W. (2013) Model assisted survey sampling. Springer. Pp 9-12

Jonathan, D. E. Edward, F. W. and Phillip, J. K. (2014) Defining and identifying members of a research study population: CTSA-Affiliated faculty members. J Med Libr Assoc (Online). Spring; Vol  26(1): Pp 5-11.  Available from DOI:  10.3163/1536-5050.103.1.004 (23 September 2018)

Majid, U. (2018) Research fundamentals: study design, population, and sample size. URNCST Journal (Online). Vol 10: 2(1). Available at https://umct.com/index.php/umct/article/view/16 (Accessed 23 September 2018)

Malhotra, N. and Birks, D. F. (2007) Marketing Research: An Applied Approach (Online). Available from DOI: 10.1108/S1548-6435(2006)2 (23 September 2018)

Michael, S. Lewis-Beck, Alan B. and Tim-Futing L. (2011) Sampling frame. The Sage Encyclopedia of social science research methods (Online). Vol 15: 25-85. Available from DOI: 10.4135/9781412950589.n884 (23 September 2018)

Taherdoost, H. (2016) Sampling Methods in Research Methodology; How to Choose a Sampling Technique for Research. International Journal of Academic Research in Management (Online). Vol 5.  Pp 18-27. Available from DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3205035 (23 September 2018)

Wagner, G. & Schramm-Klein, H. & Steinmann, S. (2017) Consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward Internet-enabled TV shopping. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (Online). Vol 34. Pp 278–286. Available from DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.01.010 (23 September 2018)