2.

Executive summary

3. Table of Contents

4. Introduction

In this report there are various key issues which need to be addressed. Y&Y need to be doing further research on the statements being made by Enrico Catalani before taking on any offers or business relationships. There needs to be some proven links between the positive influences his brand will bring towards other products otherwise his statements would be invalid and could bring a negative persona towards the company. There needs to be some evaluation that the statements are accurate.

5. Background to the research I am the Senior Consultant working for Hyperthinking which is charge of the project at hand. We are an Australian based marketing research company which has undertaken tasks like this before. Y&Y is a department store which offers a variety of choice in the latest national, international and exclusive to Y&Y brands. Ranging from products such as womens, mens, and childrens fashion, also accessories, cosmetics, home wares, furniture, electrical goods and much more. Y&Y is known for their approach to the store within store and pride themselves on the visual merchandising displays. Over Australia there turnover is excess of $2 billion annually from a stretch of their 52 Australian based operations which are located in metropolitan and regional areas and are each tailor made specifically to suit the area it serves. The situation at hand now is because of an offer which has been made to Y&Y regarding an important Italian fashion designer, Enrico Catalani. Catalani wants to branch out into

Australia market grounds and is offering the Y&Y stores exclusive distribution of the range. Catalani is stating claims that any sort of introduction to the company will positively affect the retailers performance. Specifically, Catalani makes three claims: 1. The more visible products from the range which is on display in Y&Y will positively influence the sales of the product like they choose to display with. It will positively influence the product category. (For example shorts, socks, underwear etc.) 2. The more visible products from the range which is on display in Y&Y will positively influence the sales of the actual core goods which is on display in Y&Y. So if an Enrico Catalani shirt is displayed with different brand name trousers the trousers will also increase sales because they are being displayed in conjunction with such an exclusive brand name. 3. The more visible products from the range will positively influence sales of the goods within the whole retail environment over all. After considering the above scenario and before agreeing to the contract at hand, the

marketing manager at Y&Y Retail Stores, intends to conduct thorough research investigation as at the moment he is unsure whether the claims are either true or will be positive in this circumstance. 6. The management decision problem The management decision problem revolves around the statements and promises made by the Italian designer Enrico Catalani that would influence not only all the 52 Australian Y&Y stores directly but overall the whole Australian experiences and perception of Y&Y. Even though the statements sound simple they do also raise a few eyebrows as to how true these claims can be. Makes management question problems such as: - What makes Enrico Catalani so positive that this would have the same impact in the past and what made him come to this decision? - Just because he claims to say his distribution has been distributed does it mean that it has worked positive? - What can we do at management to prove

and feel comfortable with the claims made by Enrico Catalani? - What guarantee do we have that it will work in Australia? - What will happen if we go ahead and this has a negative impact on the business? - After considering the pros and cons should we accept the offer? After considering all the problems at hand it is clears that the marketing team needs to conduct thorough research before making any final decisions.

7. The research problem (problem definition) and key objectives Enrico Catalani strongly urges that if his brand was to be released in the spread of 52 Y&Y stores across Australia that not only would it directly impact the sales of his brand but also have a big impact on the other products that are modelled with the brand. Keeping this in mind, the Marketing Team put together with Dr Mark Smith, the Marketing Manager, have been gathered to measure the accuracy of the claims. Dr Mark Smith has hired a senior consultant from Hyperthinking to assist them in the process. They will all work together to conduct various studies into the matter whether it is

valid or invalid. There are various key objectives which need to be assessed. IF they are addressed and only when that is happened with validity then the Y&Y stores most likely would be able to make their final decision on the offer at hand. The key objectives they need to keep in mind are: - Is there a specific target market we are aiming for in regards to the range? - Are we willing to introduce all the stores to the brand or do we want to release them lightly at the beginning and assess the effectiveness? - How do we choose what products to put on display with the brand? Will those products be heavily influenced? - Upon accepting the offer - will there be demand for their product? - In regards to the actual sales of the products in Y&Y, is that going to positively influence Australian consumers?

8. DOT POINT 1) After further research into the Y&Y case study at hand we have gathered that the type of research that needs to be undertaken is the Quantitative descriptive research. Although Qualitive and Quantitative are very tightly linked - the strength pulling towards assessing the research with Quantitative had a stronger pull. (NARESH/MALHOTRA) While Qualitative Research contributes helpful observations and understandings of

whatever the actual problem backdrop is, Quantitative research investigates to quantify the data which has a vast effect in this case. Quantitative research gives us the opportunity to research a broader study which overall would enhance the generalisation of the results gathered. It can give us a greater equality and certainty of the results. It is a good way to summarise the under study by establishing the few variables and resulting in procedures to ensure validity and reliability. U using standards means that the research can be replicated, and then analysed and compared with similar studies. Kruger (2003) confirms that 'quantitative methods allow us to summarize vast sources of information and facilitate comparisons across categories and over time'. Another underlined reason why this type of research is preferred is because if there is any personal bias it can and will be avoided by researchers as they will be keeping a distance from participating subjects and employing subjects unknown to them.

In Y&Ys case its going to be easier to complete Quantitative Research as when the data is collated because of the fact its based all with numbers it will be a lot easier to place together in any forms of charts and compare. It will overall be easier and simpler to read and assess the answers. The use of quantitative research is on any sport news shows for example the AFL Footy Show. Its used most because their researches have to analyse the match and come up with the percentages of things such as possession and shots on target etc. Quantitative research allows the researcher to measure and analyse data. The relationship between an independent and dependent variable is studied in detail. This is advantageous because the researcher is more objective about the findings of the research. Quantitative research can be used to test hypotheses in experiments because of its ability to measure data using statistics. Shao (2002) discusses how the research aims to determine relationships and differences among large samples to target population by using mathematical and

statistical measures and techniques. Structured research is all about designing the right questions with a choice of specific response so when the results are handed back we can assess and measure/analyse mathematically. In this stage we must stress the need for the understanding of Qualitive and Quantitative hand in hand. (MALHOTRA) When there is a new problem that needs to be addressed in a marketing research manner, quantitative is undertaken to explain the findings obtained from qualitative research. Hence the misuse of the findings when they are used and regarded as conclusive and therefore not doing their correct job. When people use these findings for generalisation to the population of interest there has been misuse of the findings. After considering these factors it is important to view both Quantitative and Qualitative research as working hand in hand rather than as any sort of competition with one another. Descriptive research would work well with quantitative research because after research has shown casual research in this

situation does not make clarification into the topic. As we are aiming to describe the results for a specific trend of fashion rather than assert true causality in an experimental sense, we can see how to falls underneath the broad circle of descriptive research. We must keep in mind that even though we will be doing research into the target market it is still considered a snap shot of the whole entire market place at a specific point in time. One could conclude that retail is suffering due to online sales eg : ASOS , Zara , H&M and other sellers offering reasonably prices shipping. Therefor it is important for Y&Y to keep up to date with the different labels coming out into the market place.

Dot point 2: Type of information The decided approach to this research is quantitative survey which has an emphasis on numbers. Keeping in mind data numbers doesnt tell enough about anything until you transform them into valuable information. Data can have different forms therefor you must read what has been collated in the surveys and make out the results. The information we can gather from a survey will give us an understanding of the clienteles reactions to the offer put on the table. We must gather the type of information required relevant to the case, e.g. gender, age, employment, wage/income etc. Claims need to be means tested against the data to prove and justify the claims made by the Italian designer. There needs to be some sort of data statistics to prove the decision e.g. mean, median, mode etc. Lots of surveys have a similar flaw which is sample size e.g. a survey of 1000 people could be wrong if you imply the population

of Australia for example we can't survey 26 million people but could try and possibly survey 1 million to get better results. Costs would be high and data still could have errors and be misleading statistical data is only as good as its analysis.

Dot point 3: Method of Data We have decided to choose Quantitative research over the other option, Qualitative

option. It wasnt had for us to come to this decision as the facts were all in front of us. As stated in SHAW qualitative basically gives us an insight of the reasons into and explains the understanding of the problem setting while quantitative seeks to actually quantify the data. With our research for Enrico Catalani, the information we are looking to find is going to be in numbers and give us a mathematical look into the data. Therefor we need to use quantitative research to support us. Let's say you need to make observations about a carrot. Some qualitative observations would be: it's orange, it's rough, it's pointy, it's firm. Some quantitative observations would be: its 14 centimetres long, it has a circumference of 5 centimetres at the top. This way with our data it will be more structured and easier to assess whether the customers will respond positively or negatively.

WHY I CHOSE SURVEY: (NARASH/MALHOTA)

A survey had more easy assessable traits then other data collection opportunities. We have decided to run with Survey as our method of data for this task. Considering we have an offer put on the table and not guaranteed a time frame we need to consider what the fasts yet most reliability method of collecting the needed data would be. According to Narash A survey is simple to administer so we would be able to manage the results as they came in. As we would make our questions on the survey limited to subjective alternatives the results would be reliable. Disadvantages dont fall far behind though. If we dont make the survey easy to answer then some respondents may be unable or unwilling to answer the desired questions stated. There are no personal or sensitive issues coming out of our surveys so this is a plus. We must take into account that we do not want to over structure the response questions as this could results in the questions being answered with little validity and the loss of true benefits and feelings. There is also the option we didnt choose

which personal interviews. We decided not to go with this one for the obvious reasons being that people really have to go out of their way to attend these. It is looked down upon compared to other methods because of the basic fact people are to busy and believe they have limited time to do something that isnt beneficial directly at them. Internet surveys are a bonus because of the ease in modifying. if people sit the surveys and we realise that the questions are vague or we can ask more then it gives an opportunity to add to it as we go. The negative in this is people may not take it serious enough and not answer truthfully. (SHAO) As stated in Shao there are other types of ways we can achieve results via quantitative data such as personal interview, telephone surveys and mail surveys. (SHAO) When it comes to qualitative research we have different ways to assess the data we need to reach.

We could conduct big focus groups with either an online option or a come in to person assessment. We could use a room with one-way mirrors and video recording mechanisms to allow researchers to view over and over the process to look into every detail of every discussion mentioned. It does give us the opportunity to assess everything from tone/facial expression/behaviour. Because of the openness in these gatherings it motivates participants to be honest and direct but its important to make the environment comfortable and relaxing for people to open up. This could also be a disadvantage as people may not speak out as often as others and there could be a few people over powering the conversation. Also if people feel peer pressured into agreeing with others the researchers may not get the correct evidence they need. Another point is the fact that this sort of data findings is prone to bias. Since each session has a conductor that pushes the conversation into specific areas the performance of the group is made up the bias of the moderator. A

false sense of security is sent across to the marketing managers in return. Depth interviews are basically similar to individual interviews with each person. Honesty and personal opinions are voiced freely. This is a better way at assessing beliefs and attitudes towards certain areas without the influence of group dynamics. As stated earlier people get shy and hold back in front of a group. As the subject at hand with the fashion designer is not a sensitive issue there is no need for the privacy issue to be addressed. A major disadvantage of this type of interview is that because the interview is one on one there is no way for the participants to bounce ideas of everyone else and in result from this they may feel trapped and alone therefor their comfort level will drop down. Cost and time wise it isnt efficient.

Dot point 4: Sampling technique The Target Market can be defined as the main customers of the business who would be likely to purchase the items. Our Target Market are people who are interested in making purchases and are not just window shopping. People who have money to spend are the ones we keep an eye on. We are aiming targeting the affluent and luxury market of consumers Australia-wide who follow couture fashion and celebrity styles and trends and who have the disposable income to do so or something to that effect. Since Y&Y are currently considering taking

Catalani on board as his first point of distribution in Australia, the fashion designer does not have a Target Market as yet in Australia. Given that Australia is known for its growth as a fashion destination there will be room for his collection and adaption which should be based on our climate and seasons. Catalani will be competing in a tough market so style quality price design and distribution and marketing will be very important to its success Sampling is an important part of the research. (SHAO) As it is not cost and time efficient to go around to each individual person and get their opinion on Enrico Caltivatis offer instead we must play around with a sample of different elements to represent the target population. We must come up with a sampling process so sampling experience is less complex. The sampling frame is the actual list of each individual group or member of the target population we want to assess. In the case at hand the target population should be those who already shop at Y&Y. We could excess their details via memberships and previous purchases.

Dot point 5: Plan of data analysis

Limitations and caveats

Conclusion and recommendations