Business Research Marketing Strategies – A Study Proposal

Research Questions

Discuss about the Business Research Marketing Strategies.

The research study deals with a business proposal for opening an organisation named Green Juice in the top urban areas of Pakistan. The business will be quite similar to the Top Juice organisation in Australia. The whole concept of this business is quite new in the country. Therefore, the competitions in the market are even less(Allen and Imrie, 2010). The outlets and shops will buy natural products and fresh vegetables from different markets from all over Pakistan on a regular basis so that, green salads or the juices, which are served in the shops, are freshly prepared and are of good quality. The customers who will give pre-orders or special orders will also get their orders in their requested time, which can be different from the general shop timings. The initial plan is to set up at least three outlets. The outlets will serve not only green salads and juices but also other organic food products. The menu of the business will be slowly extended depending on the demand of the customer. The initialtask of the business is to strengthen their brand power and then to expand the business slowly.

Before setting up of the business, some of the research questions to be answered are:

1. What is the appropriate time to set up a business like this?

2. What is the concept and perception of the individuals about a juice and salad shop?

3. What are the opportunities for the organisation?

4. What are the techniques that will be used to expand the business in a short period?

5. What are the innovations that must be adopted to improve the quality and taste of the products?

To deal with this research problem both quantitative and descriptive method of research is required. The descriptive method will reflect the perception of the target population about the products and services they are planning to market. The quantitative research will calculate the data collected with the help of appropriate statistical tools to give conclusions (Krishnaswamy and Satyaprasad, 2010). These conclusions will serve as a guideline for the management to set up the business. The business will be set up on such grounds that it will procure more customers.

Research Process

The schematic diagram of how the research process proceeds through the weeks are given in the Gantt chart. In the initial few weeks, the background of the research problem is studied. Notes and reviews from different sources are speculated. The mainstream work on the business proposal starts with the literature review. The data is collected from the target population to know about the market for the business. These data are analysed to get the conclusions about how and what are the prospect of the business if it is set up in the location.

Research Methodology

The Gantt chart gives the sketch of the whole research process. It gives the timetable of how the research problem will be addressed. The following Gantt chart shows how the research will be completed within 14 weeks.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Read Literature

Literature review due

Data collection and analysis due

Final Business Research (Capstone) Thesis

Writes notes

Write reviews

Write survey

Data collection

Analysis

Write thesis

Literature Review

This study of the literature will explore the feasibility or business opportunity before introducing new Juice shop named Green Juice in urban areas of Pakistan. The ultimate fortune of the business completely depends on the level of acceptance of target consumers. Additionally, cultural perspective of consumers is also an importance aspect of the literature because orthodox religion/culture of Pakistan may not be familiar with Juice habits. However, Juices are often consumed for their perceived health benefits. Therefore, the consumer patterns of Pakistan need to be incorporated in the study of the research. Secondly, the literature needs to be highlighted the availability of the similar products existence in the urban market of the nation. The comparative study between fruit juice brands and other alternatives product market such as health drinks or soft drinks shall be examined for better understanding the new market requirement of the nation. The possibility of the growth opportunity of Green Juice is indirectly depends on failures of the demand of the other existing similar products in the market. Therefore, the researcher shall explore consumer pattern and make a competitive study before taking initiatives to start venturing juice business in urban areas of Pakistan. The organisation Green Juice is based on the view of the organisation named Top Juice, which is in Australia. It is one of the well-established juice shop in Australia. It is a fast food chain whose serves only organic products. They are specialised in making smoothies, yoghurts, premium juices and salads and other range of products, which are made from fresh and natural ingredients(Raulio, et al., 2010). The growth of Top Juice is quite smooth over the recent few years, it has grown to be among the 12 top juice shops and in 2013, and the franchise claims that they have high demand in the market.

As per previous research, it can be said that to set up organisations many aspects are to be kept in mind. Before setting up the organisation, it must be thoroughly inspected that what are the prospect or the opportunities for the company to flourish in that location (Barringer and Ireland, 2010). They should know about the target population and problems they can face due to the external working environment. To reach their products to the masses, a strong marketing strategy must be developed. They should use modern technologies to advertise their brand. Brand power is very useful expand a certain business. A good reputation of a brand always attract more customers and when new products are launched, the marketing of those products become easier as the organisation has already built a trust in their customers’ mind. In recent years, the awareness about healthy food habits and its benefits has increased. Market research shows that there is a shift of food habits from junk foods to organic foods(Derbyshire et al., 2010). It is also important to find out that the location where the organisation is set up. For example, if organisations like KFC or Dominos is set up in rural areas, then it is not expected to bring the any business because the financial status of the rural population is not good to afford food from these shops(Bellairs, 2010). Before venturing into the business, the plan must be ready. It should have a steady flow of finance to set up the business. To set up a store, to employ workers, to buy raw materials and all the other accessories finance is very important. So before setting up the whole business planstrong financial source is to be build. The business plan includes many points. It decides where the organisation should be set up, the number of employees to be hired, the way the raw materials will be procured, the budget for the different sections of the business.

Research Process

As per previous research, it is found out that it is very important to have strong advertising section so that the knowledge about their range of products is conveyed to the target customers. To attract more customers, the special offers are given. The organisation must give offers according to the different section of the customers(Lynch, 2010). This factor will appeal more to the customers. For example, if the organisation has some low price items in their menu, it will be more appealing to students or the poor section of the society.

In this research study, the organisation is supposed to market fresh products. To expand the business and to build up the reputation in the market it is required for the organisation to serve good qualities of products at cheap prices. The supply chain management section of the organisation must look into the fact that the vegetables and fruits that are used must be of good quality and if possible the raw materials must be procured on a daily basis. To ensure smooth flow of the raw materials, the supply of raw materials should be obtained from the nearest market where the best quality of products isavailable(Stoner and Wankel, 2010). The quality of the raw materials should not be compromised.

It is also found that authentic cuisines are not always appealing to the customers. At times, the customers like products with the traditional blends(Karantininis, Sauer and Furtan, 2010). So even if the salads and juices are simple food items but at times it may have a blunt taste. The menu should be blended in such a way that the items have innovations and create the products that can tingle the taste buds(Lata and Bhatia, 2010). From market research, it can be said that another marketing to procure more customer is to regularly update the menu by adding new creative and innovative items in the menu.

Furthermore, the literature needs to be focused certain economic factors related to Pakistan, because the financial feasibility research is another significant perspective of the business. Here the country’s rate of inflation and the barriers of the market like imposition of tariff or non-tariff structures will be incorporated in the research segment.

Consumption pattern of juice in Pakistan:

The changing life style and up surging health consciousness among consumers are largely impacts on food habits of the urban people. Today, markets are flooded with variety of fruit juices in metropolitan cities of Pakistan. Dynamic Research Consultants, a market research agency operating in Pakistan yielded a comparative analysis between genders and two primary age groups-one among young adults who are aged between 16-22 years and the other – mature adults who are aged 23 years and above.

Gantt Chart

This has been evaluated of the survey results regarding the consumer’s choicesthat diversity ofpattern of consumption that exists across the two distinctage-groups andgenders. In the survey,tea considered as the most favourite drink, with comparatively higher consumption among mature adults. Drinks which are generally considered as healthy like juices and milk based liquids are more popular among the participants of female of the survey results.

According to the food journal of Pakistan,the nation is recently producing thirty eight units of the juices where major participants areIndustries of Mitchells Fruits and Benz and Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Razaet al. 2013). One of the major contributors towards the augmented consumption of this drink is the growing consciousness regarding health and fitness, particularly among the affluent class. Various scientific studies have also approved that the present affected by antioxidantsneeds to take fruits juices for lowering people’s risks of growing Alzheimer’s epidemic (Baig and Amjad 2014). The fruit juice units are mainly being operated in diverse locations like Karachi, Lahore, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Hattar and Loralai. Therefore the changing lifestyle towards the healthy diet and consumptions of healthy vitamins and minerals through the juices has accepted the large culture of Pakistan.

Based on the above literature, it can be concluded that the major strength of this upcoming business would be the availability of fresh raw materials. Pakistan is enriched with full of varieties of fruits which are not required to import from other countries. Therefore, the availability of raw materials can ensure the smooth flow of juice production in the companies like Green Juice. However, here two hypotheses can be developed:

The beverage manufacturers do get different fruits at low costs

The beverage manufacturers do not get fruits at comparatively law costs

Export facility of juice market:

Pakistan is favourable place for the production of variety of fruits such as pears, plums, cherries,apples are grown in cool weather, and grapes, melons, apricots, pomegranates are those kind of fruits which are cultivated in the warm temperate.Fruits like dates, guava, mangoes, bananas and citrus fruits, which are available throughout the year, grow in the tropical and sub-tropical climate (Syed et al. 2013).In Pakistan, average production of fruits is estimated approximately six crores eleven lakhs million tons annually whereas the export figure is 723 tonnes in the fiscal year of 2012-13 (Abidet al. 2013). The exports of different fruits were calculated at 114 million US dollars in the period of 2006-07.  This figure is gradually increased by 358 million in the period of 2010-13.

Literature Review

Pakistan exports fruits to countries like Afghanistan, India, Russian Federation, UAE, Germany and UK. The exported fruits are kinno, apple, dates and oranges mango. Dubai is the biggest market for mangos of Pakistan, followed by United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. For Pakistani dried dates India is the only biggest market. Substantial quantities of fruit juices, from Pakistan are mainly exported to Afghanistan, India and Middle East countries. Pakistan exports frozen orange juice to Netherlands, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Italy, UAE, and Sri Lanka. However, steady upsurge in prices of sugar and cost of packaging at the stages of international business, exporters of Pakistan find it difficult to contend with others (Khan and Haroon2015). This may be considered one of the weaknesses of the research. But despite the above difficulties, some major units have successfully maintained to export their products in foreign market at economical price rate.

The above literature clearly indicates that increased governments participation in export of fruit juices unfolds new business opportunities and ensures greater profitability in the long run. However, the domestic rising demands for fruit juices in the urban areas of Pakistan increases the fruits demand for larger units production. The nation also imports fruits from other part of the world. Countries like India, Bangladesh, China are already engaged in the import fruit business. This could increase the price of packaged, canned fruit juices which are marketed through the departmental stores of Pakistan. Based on this study, the researcher can develop two hypotheses:

Export of fruit juices will economically beneficial

Export of fruit juices will not economically beneficial

Juices impacts on health and acceptance in urban areas of Pakistan:

The market of juice in Pakistan grew by 15 per cent in off trade current value in sales in the year of 2015. The main driving factors behind this growth is included shifting food patterns of carbonates to juice because of health concerns and the more adoption of the low end brands in the urban areas of Pakistan. Per capital consumption of juices evaluated healthy growth over the previous few years whereas carbonated beverages gained ensured less growth in Pakistan beverage market (Akhtar et al. 2013). Consumers are aware of the fact that drinking fruit juices improve blood lipid profiles in people affected with hypercholesterolemia (Liu et al. 2013). However, the main manufacturers of fruit juices like Nestle Pakistan Limited and industries of Mitchells Fruits and Benz are hardly taking sugar content issues in their packaged fruit juices. Therefore there is a huge market opportunity to introduce new products such as guava fruit juices or Plum fruit juice for the diabetic people. This has been found in the medical journal that these fruits are controlled the level of insulin of the diabetic patients. More favourably, the soft drinks are being replaced by juices because this are free from “high fructose corn syrup” and contains only natural sugar. Manufacturers are nowadays innovated ranges of juices keeping in mind of usage full of vitamins and minerals ingredients which are being tagged as organic or premium for generating more consumer responses.

Marketing Strategies

This piece of literature is giving the outline that urban people of Pakistan are aware of the fact that fruit juices are medically helped the body’s digestive system. There is a full of acceptance of fruit juices over the soft drinks which ensured that Green juice can explore the market for introducing new ranges of fruit drinks ensuring the level of sugar contents into their final products. Based on the research the researcher can develop two hypotheses:

Fruit juice is good for health

Fruit juice does not provide any health benefits

Regulatory framework regarding the fruit processing in Pakistan

It is completely necessary for Green juice before starting the juice manufacturing business in Pakistan, to know their regulatory framework and requirements of the market. For commercial purpose the authority needs to specify differences in quality along with assurance of correct labelling. The government of Pakistan has found that majority of fruit juice products are diluted with other low costs juices, organic acids and water (Riaz and Jansen 2012). This unlabelled dilution and practices of adulteration are generally common in the fruit processing market in Pakistan. Trade and policies of pricing displayed that the fruit-growers of Pakistan were marginally non-protected. Hence, there are a potential amount of possibilities of substantial gains from open trade offered the infrastructure related to WTO requirements is developed in the country on priority basis (Baig and Amjad 2014). This is a positive fact that the producers of fruits are economically potential from social point of view. This indicates that effective incentives for orchard production would substantially increase with the freeing up of trade and removing distortions in the local urban areas of Pakistan. Therefore, the manufacturers of fruit juices and beverages get the best quality raw material for their juice production. Additionally, the Fruit Juices Acts has been ensured nutritious contents of beverages and can play a significant role in the healthy diet. For domestic production of fruits, the domestic manufacturers get the flexibility of production of fruits but the only concern is the provision of necessary infrastructure required for global trade in the perspective of WTO. The government of Pakistan reduced their tariff rate for exporting “Sindhri” and “Chaunsa” mangos which are largely produced in Pakistan. Therefore, Green juice have  a great opportunity for exporting packaged mango juices in the countries like Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka for free trade legislative rules of the nation under the WTO regulation. Overall, this can be concluded that regulatory framework for juice productions is encouraging for making international business in the global field. Based on the literature, the researchers can develop the hypotheses as follows:

Trade barrier impacts on fruit business in Pakistan

Trade barrier does not impacts on fruit business in Pakistan

In the previous research studies, the researchers were not evaluated the scope of organic fruit production in Pakistan which is high demand in the global world because of health concerns.  This may be a better alternative of conventional fruit juices and product will be high.  However, this is entirely a new concept of fruit production system in Pakistan. Consumers demand for organically produced increasing due to emerged awareness of health and environmental implications of growing fruit using traditional methods. Here the research will explore this gap of feasibility of organic fruit production in Pakistan which will increase the variety of juices and level of satisfaction of consumers in the urban areas of the nation.

This literature study reviews the business opportunity of fruit juices in Pakistan. Here the four concerning parts have been chosen for analysing the feasibility of the proposed business growth which are suitable of the urban areas of the nation. Firstly, the consumption patterns in Pakistan have been evaluated for understanding the better changing lifestyles and target customers of Pakistan. This is justifiable subject of the research because consumer preferences in key success parameter of the business proposal. Secondly, the export feasibility research has been done for analyzing the opportunities of exportation of fruit juices. In third topic, the researcher has discussed the important health factors related to fruit business because consumer’s changing healthy fruit habits is emerging factor of fruit business growth in the urban area of Pakistan.  Lastly, the regulatory framework for production of fruit business along with the agricultural of fruit production is being discussed. This research evaluated that the nation is favoured with high quality fresh fruit’s availability which is high demand in the global market business.

Data Collection and Analysis Methods

To know the concept of the target population about such a food shop, questionnaires must be circulated among a different section of the society. It is important to get the data from the different sections so that they can be assessed separately (Zikmund, 2010). The questionnaires must contain questions related that will reflect the awareness of the samples about healthy food habits, how much they are interested in visiting such a shop, what are the preferences of the customers, how they would like to get their food served and others (Manniche and Testa, 2010). The answers to these questions must be taken on 5 points Likert scale. For the analysis of these questionnaires, appropriate statistical tools are applied. The analysis will give conclusions for the different research questions that are proposed.

Expected research outcomes

As awareness of healthy food habits is spreading among the masses, it is expected that the opening of Green Juices in Pakistan will be quite popular. Promotion and awareness campaigns may be held up in the particular location where the outlets are planned so that the citizens over there comes to know about the products they serve and how beneficial those products are for their health. The media in Pakistan is quite active to point out how unhygienic and unhealthy the fast food joints are in the nation. They have successfully covered and highlighted that unhygienic portion of the food industry. So, if the Green Juice enters the food industry, it is hoped that the media will advertise the freshness and the healthiness of the food items it will serve. Moreover, in Pakistan there is a wide seasonal range of fruits and vegetables. This can be used by the organisation to market seasonal delights to its customers. The organisation will be profitable if it is opened in big cities like Islamabad, Lahore where the level of income is high, people are educated about the benefits of natural products. The food items can be blended according to the taste buds of the customers because at time salads or juices can be blunt and simple to procure customers.

Conclusion and Future Work:

Knowing the fact that a new juice shop in Pakistan can be a very profitable business, however, there are associated risks that a new established firm may face. The financial resources that are needed to start and run a business can be extensive. One may have to commit most of their savings and sometimes a person may even go into debt for saving and investing the saved amount to begin with their business. Unfortunately, if things do not go well, the person who has invested the huge amount may suffer a loss and additionally there may be no guarantee for the recovery of the lost amount. This may lead to stress and most of the times it is seen that people suffer from depression due to the financial risks associated in a new business (Stoner and Wankel 2010). Additionally, starting a new business can be very time consuming and people may not get sufficient time to spend with their families. This is specific in the case of a Juice Shop, which is primarily very time consuming, and it requires a lot of investment of time. Hence, time investment is of a very important factor at the time of opening a juice shop in Pakistan.  As a business owner, one may have to do many undesirable activities such as firing people who are not performing well at their workplace (Lynch 2010).

Despite of these disadvantages people who open new business are often pleased with their decision to start a new business. Establishing a new firm takes hard work, determination, research and understanding, one should evaluate their strengths and weakness and personal goals to understand if business ownership is made for the concerned person or not. Hence, it is recommended for the person who wants a start a new business to ensure that the kind of business they are starting is suitable for the existing market conditions or not (Manniche and Testa 2010). Secondly, the person should also consider that the business he is starting is similar to the business that others have started or not. The business idea should be revised and seen whether the accommodation of such business idea is feasible or not. Making a business plan is a very helpful tool as it helps in the identification and explanation of how the targets can be achieved. Hence, a business plan acts as a blue print for the proposed company. Planning and preparing a business idea is a vital step in the establishment of business. A good business idea helps in satisfying the needs of the customers (Zikmund 2010). The aim of starting of new business is to satisfy the customers and if this aim cannot be fulfilled then the whole idea of establishing a business fails. Such kind of thought process should be avoided and the business owners should focus on planning their business in such a way that it helps in customer satisfaction. The person who has invested his time, energy and money in starting up a new business should carefully understand the risks associated with the establishment of the new firm and proceed with it accordingly depending on the infrastructural costs and the demand for the product in the market. Considering the orthodox nature of Pakistan, it is important in this context to understand the implications that may lead to the formation and establishment of business in Pakistan.

References

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