3.2. Market research
A subsection of Business Studies, 9609, through 3. Marketing (AS Level)
Listing 10 of 21 questions
Drone Development (DD) DD produces a range of drones, which are unmanned aircraft flown by remote control. These drones are used to help farmers identify whether their fields have enough water. They can also help farmers to see how fast crops are growing on large farms. The drones are individually designed using Computer Aided Design (CAD). DD’s mission statement is: ‘To be the leading company in drone technology’. DD’s employees are skilled and highly motivated. This has enabled DD’s managers to use a laissez-faire style of leadership. The Research and Development (R&D) team at DD has developed a drone designed for high-volume production for the consumer market. The new drones will be called Robodz. Secondary research indicates that these drones can be used for taking aerial photographs and videos of sporting and other events, such as cycle races and outdoor parties. The drones will send photographs and videos directly to a user’s smartphone. There are few competitors in this market even though demand is growing particularly from consumers in the 30– 45 years age group. The Marketing Director has done primary research into the consumer market for drones. The results are shown in Table 1.1. Table 1.1: Important features of a drone for the consumer market (number of responses) Important Quite Important Unimportant Price Performance Colour Ease of use Durability Producing Robodz will mean changes in operations at DD: • greater cooperation between the design, production and marketing departments • each designer will have less opportunity for individual design • more automation will be involved. The Board of Directors has agreed to produce Robodz. Define the term ‘Computer Aided Design (CAD)’ (line 4). Explain the term ‘primary research’ (line 15). Refer to Table 1.1. Calculate the total percentage of consumers who stated that ‘ease of use’ is either important or quite important. Explain one possible limitation of the Marketing Director’s primary research. Analyse two factors that could influence the leadership style used as DD moves into the production of Robodz. Recommend a suitable marketing mix for the Robodz. Justify your recommendation.
9609_w22_qp_21
THEORY
2022
Paper 2, Variant 1
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Direct News (DN) Shila and Lucy own and manage DN, an online publishing business. DN produces a daily online local newspaper called QNews. Readers pay a subscription to access QNews. DN’s mission statement is: ‘to be a daily community newspaper for local people, about local people’. DN recently tested a monthly online magazine aimed at the 18–30 age group called QLine. DN’s plan is to stop publishing QNews and produce only QLine. Secondary market research suggests QLine will be popular with national businesses wanting to promote their products. Shila is aware that revenue from online newspapers is decreasing. However, she has found national market research data about online monthly magazines (see Table 2.1). Table 2.1 National revenue for online monthly magazines Revenue source 2020 ($m) 2021 ($m) 2022 ($m) Subscription Advertising revenue Shila thinks that before the business decides to produce QLine, more market research data will be needed. Shila and Lucy will have to decide on new objectives for DN. To ensure a quality product that meets customer expectations, Lucy thinks it is important to have careful management of the supply chain, from content creation to customer delivery. Identify one function of a manager. Explain the term secondary market research (lines 6–7). Refer to Table 2.1. Calculate the percentage increase in total revenue of online monthly magazines from 2020 to 2022. Explain one additional piece of market research data DN would find useful before making the decision to produce QLine. Analyse two reasons why Shila and Lucy will have to change DN’s objectives. Evaluate the importance to DN of effective supply chain management.
9609_w23_qp_21
THEORY
2023
Paper 2, Variant 1
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Hot Bubblez (HB) Karen is a sole trader who operates a service business called Hot Bubblez (HB) from her own home. It is a laundry service in town P. Each day Karen spends the morning collecting laundry from customers’ homes. Karen then washes, dries and irons the laundry and then delivers it back to customers’ homes in the evening. She owns two washing machines, two drying machines and one iron. Each batch of washing takes approximately two hours to wash, dry and iron. Karen has completed some market research about which method of laundry households use in town P (see ). There are 60 000 households in town P. Use a laundry service 20% Do laundry at home 65% Go to a laundry shop 15% : The percentage of households using each laundry method in town P Karen has 300 households that use HB’s laundry service. Karen would like to employ someone to do the collections and deliveries. Karen has always relied upon customer recommendations to promote HB. However, she has not been able to gain any new customers and she thinks it is time for new promotion methods to be used. She would like to target the hotel laundry market. Table 1.1 shows some data about the local hotel market. Table 1.1: Data about the local hotel market Number of hotels in town P Number of hotels outside town P but within 30 miles of HB Proportion of hotels which have their own laundry service 50% Define the term ‘service’ (line 1). Explain the term ‘sole trader’ (line 1). Refer to and any other relevant information. Calculate HB’s share of the laundry service market. Analyse two factors which could affect the scale of HB. Explain one appropriate method of recruitment for Karen to find a new employee to do collections and deliveries. Evaluate appropriate promotion methods for HB to target the hotel laundry market.
9609_s21_qp_22
THEORY
2021
Paper 2, Variant 2
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Questions Discovered
21