Marketing Case Study Market Research Techniques - 550 Words

Marketing Case Study: Market Research Techniques (Case Study Sample) Content: Marketing Case StudyStudents NameInstitutional AffiliationDate Question 1Kiki should use the most appropriate market research techniques so that it can determine the magazines market potential. The high number of magazines in circulation for the teenage market implies that it could be difficult to identify the demand for the publication. A focus group interview would be the most appropriate form of market research that Kiki can employ. This from of research entails free-flowing interviews that are unstructured, and conducted on a small number of individuals at a time (Zikmund Babin, 2012). Giving the respondents the opportunity to provide their opinions on the content they prefer to be in the magazines is the most vital aspect that the researchers should consider. The focus group interview would definitely make this possible since the discussion between the interviewers and respondents would be free-flowing. When conducting a focus group interview, the girls that wou ld be selected as respondents would have the chance to steer the discussion about towards the direction that they prefer. Conducting an interview using questions that are already prepared would not be quite effective since the researcher might not address some of the important aspects. The focus group interview is also a suitable option considering that it is flexible enough, and it enables the researcher to gain different insights regarding consumer behavior (Zikmund Babin, 2012). American Girl has some similarities with Kiki in the sense that it does not have advertising, but it has surpassed Kiki in its sales. This factor illustrates that the difference between these two magazines is the content. After gathering several groups of girls aged between 9 and 14 years, the researchers can conduct the focus group interviews with ease. Taking this group approach would also make it easier for the researchers to extract thoughts that they could not have had regarding the content that th e target market prefers to be in the magazines. Although Kiki might not entirely change the driving philosophy of the magazine, it can obtain different ideas from the interviews in the market research, enabling it to diversify its content. Kiki can also rely on semi-structured interviews as a way of conducting market research. This form of research requires the respondents to provide answers to questions which are open-ended, but the length of the answer is not specified (Zikmund Babin, 2012). After the magazine identifies the areas that could be useful in the determination of the market potential, the researcher can use these themes to design the interview questions and group them into sections. These interviews would ensure that the researcher interprets the responses easily after addressing specific issues. Question 2The fact that K...