marketing research final brief

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MARKETING RESEARCH 3300

BY Stephen Moulton, Laurissa Brunk, & Jessy Sweet TEAM LEAD Laurissa Brunk

FOCUS GROUP Cole Erickson, Logan Leclair, & Jacob Scott SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIMENT Lindsay Coppa, Alyssa Quevillon, & Barbara Root

SURVEY Patrick Viar, Jessy Sweet, Sadie Malone, Jacob Hopkins, & Stephen Moulton PROPOSAL Jessy Sweet, Sadie Malone, Barbara Root, Stephen Moulton, & Jacob Scott

THE COLORADO RUNNING COMPANY MARKETING RESEARCH EXECUTIVE BRIEF

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Table of Contents OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

FOCUS GROUP ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

SOCIAL MEDIA ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

SURVEY ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5

WORKS CITED.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Appendix I Exploratory Research ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Appendix I-A ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Secondary Research on Trends .................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Appendix I-B ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Focus Group Exploratory Best Practices References ................................................................................................................................................ 8

Appendix I-C ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Social Media Experiment Exploratory Best Practices References .......................................................................................................................... 8

Appendix I-D ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Survey Exploratory Best Practices References .......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix I-E ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Lulu Lemon and Athletica Interviews ....................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Appendix II ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12

Focus group .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 12

Appendix II-A ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Plan Evolution ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12

Focus Group Plan A Breakdown: .................................................................................................................................................................................... 12

The Plan: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 The Why: ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 The Pros and Cons: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 The How: ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 The Timeline: ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 The Conversation Starters: .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 The Insights: .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Appendix II-B: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Best Practices: ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 14

Appendix II-C: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Participant Demographic:............................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

College Intermural Athletes (UCCS) ................................................................................................................................................................................. 15


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Appendix II-D: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Focus Group Review ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Physical Store Related Questions: ................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Online Buying Expectations: ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 15 Apparel Related Preferences: .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Insights from the Picture Example: .................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Appendix III ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Social Media Experiment ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 16

Appendix III-A .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Appendix III-B .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17

Appendix III-C .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Best Practices for Conducting Social Media Experiments .................................................................................................................................... 18

It also displays different types of ads from different types of businesses and also how to test them. This article could benefit the beginners by explaining marketing practices in layman’s terms......................................................................................................................... 19

Best Practices ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Appendix III-D .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Social Media Experiment Plan ................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Appendix IV .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20

Survey ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20

Appendix IV-A ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20

Revised Sample Plan....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20

Appendix IV- B ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 21

Appendix IV-C ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23

Research Objective 1: Gather demographic and psycho-demographic information surrounding generational cohorts and VALS to validate our target market personas ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23

Demographic Information ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Psychographic Information: Generational Cohorts ........................................................................................................................................................ 25

Research Objective 2: Gather information relating to social media usage and preferences to inform social decisions .................................................. 25 Appendix IV-D ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26

Appendix IV-E .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 28

Appendix V ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33

Proposal ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 33


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OVERVIEW The Colorado Running Company (CRC) is a brick and mortar retailer based in the University Village of Colorado

Springs, which sells an array of athletic apparel and athletic shoes. The objective was scoped as conducting exploratory research to inform apparel-purchasing decisions for specifically for women. The operation was to work in interdependent teams to complete a Marketing Research Proposal, research and use business best practices to plan and execute a survey, focus group, and social media analytics experiment, and then report on the findings using SPSS along with other research the client should consider; for the proposal itself (reference Appendix V).

The team diverged and conducted some initial exploratory research. We conducted primary research via an interview with the managers of local Lulu Lemon and Athletica retailers, two major competitors of the CRC. Some key takeaways included hosting regular design meetings with local athletes giving actionable feedback on inventory; emphasizing and advertising fit, function, and technical aspects of clothing; and partnering free alterations on clothing with highly knowledgeable employees. We also conducted secondary research on wider industry trends and best practices, showing the growing trend of “Athleisure” (Holmes, 2015). Please reference Appendix I for more information.

FOCUS GROUP The focus group session was designed to gain ideas and to give our research team insight on how this target

market persona, Millennial Experiencers, purchase their athletic apparel (US Framework and VALS™ Types, 2009-2015; Krueger, 2002). Insights the focus group attempted to uncover included: preferred clothing features and material, preference of in-store versus online shopping, and other athletic apparel shopping tendencies. The goal was to inform a survey design that could then produce actionable data results. However, due to extraneous variables, the focus group evolved from a survey informant to informing CRC of consumer shopping preferences. The focus group uncovered a number of insights that the team found interesting. First, shopping for athletic apparel is a special occasion; participants felt as if it was something to celebrate. Second, they liked to buy from brands they trusted. Brands like Nike stood out, as they are high in popularity. The products that were in the range of $30 to $70 dollars were in a sense the “sweet spot” before looking too cheap or overly expensive. Finally, customers tend to “window shop” online but come in the store to view products in person. This implies the importance of carrying products physically in-store if considering expanding to online business. For more information on the focus group findings reference Appendix II.

Key learnings that we took away were mediator insights including: using an assistant moderator to take note of reactions and answers, refraining from nodding/agreeing with the respondents, and asking for further comments from the respondents before the focus group concludes (Kitzinger, 1995). Some thoughts to consider include setting up a monthly “try before you buy” apparel experiments for local and CRC running groups as well as ongoing apparel focus groups to provide insight on current/future merchandise. Hosting continuous focus group cycles might help ensure that CRC has the right products in stock improve conversion.

SOCIAL MEDIA The Social Media experiment revolved around finding possible ways to improve CRC’s online visibility. The

objective was to use a software trial of the digital marketing tool Brandify to gather, analyze, and benchmark the CRC’s social data to find strategies that could improve their “Brand Score”, which measures online visibility and health (Brandify, 2015). The original Brand Score assigned to the CRC was 826 on a 450-850 scale; one accompanying recommendation from Brandify was to add a Twitter account. CRC had a Twitter account but did not utilize this platform as much as the other social media platforms such as Facebook. After signing in to CRC’s Twitter account showing that CRC was active, CRC was awarded with the maximum score of 850. For more information on the social media experiment and findings, refer to Appendix III.


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Of the lessons the team took away, the ability to handle and interpret extraneous variables proved to be vital (Burns & Bush, Sources of Problems, 2014). The dependent variables are the number likes and the followers that can be measured by Brand Score and the independent, extraneous variables include: time, other companies on social media, special events, and key stakeholders (Beechler, 2014). One of the biggest opportunities would be to plan out the timing of the project more effectively. We believe that it would have been more advantageous to have configured the Brandify limited trial account and go into CRC one or two days after creating the account, which would have allowed for more time to analyze the results and possibly even run a second or third test. Some thoughts to consider include conducting more research on tools to optimize social media and digital ROI. For example, the CRC could continue using Brandify to monitor the health of CRC’s social media presence to gain continuous feedback and insights of how to improve their presence and eventually implement Brandify’s Facebook social customer relationship management (CRM) (Ramirez, 2015). There is also the possibility of investing in a dashboard such as Hootsuite that would allow the CRC to schedule posts across multiple platforms and measure audience engagement. (Hootsuite, 2015).

SURVEY The survey team was tasked with scoping, planning, and executing a survey for CRC’s current and potential

customers. After learning that The CRC was struggling the most with athletic apparel purchasing decisions, the survey team investigated the importance of certain athletic apparel factors, the timing of athletic apparel purchases, and the most common target market persona among respondents. The original plan was to use an array of mixed-mode surveys offered on a variety of platforms, but due to extraneous variables the team had to resort to mall intercept surveys in the CRC on a Friday afternoon (Burns & Bush, Sources of Problems, 2014). The main takeaway from the survey was the demographic and target market persona information including: gender, zip code, and median income level. Our validation for target market personas were incorrect as the most prevalent persona was the Generation Y Experiencers. Facebook was the largest social media platform with a surprising amount using Pinterest. Most importantly, 75% of the time, people purchase apparel when they are at the store in search of a separate item. Another 18.8% of the respondents stated that they primarily purchase apparel when they see something they like. In conclusion, the survey that was created gave us valuable feedback and information for our overall proposal (see Appendix IV for survey documents).

This research was, however, largely exploratory and would have perhaps created more value if the survey was built on a more agile infrastructure on multiple platforms. If we had built the survey as an MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, we could have tested the collection and analysis of data as soon as possible (Ries, 2015). Also, three out of the ten questions asked the respondents to rank certain descriptive factors of apparel brands on a Likert scale from lowest to highest, which was perhaps both arduous for respondents and assumed that variables were equidistant from each other, potentially skewing our data (Burns & Bush, Sources of Problems, 2014). Some thoughts for the CRC to consider include conducting another product survey which, in addition to describing demographic information and channel/apparel preferences, help the CRC determine differences in preferences within age, gender, and cohort groups. This new survey and information about sought deliverables can be found in Appendix IV.

Throughout this research, the team took away a great deal of insight and learnings on methodologies and best practices about conducting marketing research. The team would consider conducting more research about The CRC consumer base and buying habits through a detailed proposal found in appendix V.

Now that we have conducted this exploratory research and have experienced success and failures within each of the teams executing these projects, we recommend that the CRC consider continuing research on the issue of athletic apparel. This research to consider would work toward the goal of narrowing down demographic characteristics and apparel preferences through the establishment of ongoing information gathering from current and potential customers as well as continued social media improvement.


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WORKS CITED Beechler, D. (2014, September 8). The 50 Greatest Social Media Best Practices. Retrieved from www.exacttarget.com: http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/the-50-greatest-social-media-best-practices

Brandify. (2015). About Us. Retrieved from Brandify.com: http://www.brandify.com/company/about/

Burns, A. C., & Bush, R. F. (2014). Sources of Problems. In A. C. Burns, & R. F. Bush, Marketing Research (pp. 51-52). Pearson Education, Inc.

Holmes, E. (2015, 5 2015). Are You Going to the Gym, or Do You Just Dress That Way? Retrieved 10 2015, from wsj.com: http://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-going-to-the-gym-or-do-you-just-dress-that-way-1430847310

Hootsuite. (2015, 12 5). Retrieved from Hootsuite: http://signup.hootsuite.com/pro-ent-na-englishr7t/?mkwid=xjYxUdVy_dc&pcrid=7368362435&pkw=hootsuite&pmt=be&cntry=na- usa&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hootsuite_pro_bing_search_usa_english_branded_alpha

Kitzinger, J. (1995, July 29). Introducing Focus Groups. Retrieved from ncbi: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2550365/pdf/bmj00603-0031.pdf

Krueger, R. A. (2002, October). Designing and Conducting Focus Group Interviews. Retrieved from eiu.edu: http://www.eiu.edu/~ihec/Krueger-FocusGroupInterviews.pdf

LePage, E. (2014, November 26). A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Advertising. Retrieved from www.blog.hootsuite.com: http://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media-advertising/

Ramirez, A. (2015, 4 28). Brandify Update: New Local-Social CRM Feature for Facebook Child Pages. Retrieved 2015, from blog.brandify.com: http://blog.brandify.com/brandify-update-new-local-social-crm-feature-for-facebook-child-pages

Ries, E. (2015). Creating the Lean Startup. Retrieved 2015, from inc.com: http://www.inc.com/magazine/201110/ericries-usability-testing-product-development.html

Rutner, J. (2011, Dec 23). Running a focus group 101. Retrieved from SlideShare.net: http://www.slideshare.net/jb2563/running-a-focus-group-101

Unknown. (2005). Guidelines for Conducting a Focus Group. Retrieved from Eliot and Associates: https://uccsoffice365.sharepoint.com/sites/MKTG3300/Shared%20Documents/Focus%20Group%20Executive%20Summ ary/Focus%20Group%20Executive%20Summary%20Appendix%20Files/Best%20Practices/How_to_Conduct_a_Focus_Gr oup.pdf

Unknown. (2009-2015). US Framework and VALS™ Types. Retrieved from Strategic Business Insights: http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml


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Appendix I Exploratory Research Appendix I-A Secondary Research on Trends 1. Athleisure: A Workout Look for Every Occasion

May 5, 2015 Wall Street Journal:

Highlight: The term or phenomenon called “Athleisure” is explained in this video and I believe it is one of the biggest contributions to the athletic fashion trend. “Athleisure” is workout clothes (such as yoga pants) that can be used for everyday use and not specifically designed for workouts. Senior stylist reporter, Elizabeth Holmes explains that athleisure can be used to mix and match athletic fashion to create a new flexible fashion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxlZ1ouww0

2. Are you Going to the Gym or Do You Just Dress that Way

May 5, 2015 Wall Street Journal

Highlight: This article contains crucial information, including financial information, regarding the boom of “Athleisure”. Mentions Lululemon as one of the retail chain stores to popularize the fashion trend. This source also mentions how Nike women’s business is outpacing the men’s business. This article is recommended to understand why Athleisure is becoming a driving force (currently) to boost sales in the athletic clothing. http://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-going-tothe-gym-or-do-you-just-dress-that-way-1430847310

3. The New Trend in Workout Fashion

July 9, 2014 Wall Street Journal

Highlight: Although it is an older article compared to the second source, it does give an insight when Athleisure was going to be the next big thing for athletic wear or “Active Wear”. The article brings up an insight from New York fashion publicist, Robyn Berkley; she commented that traditional active wears are “outdated” and how it should be more emphasized on lifestyle and activity being a part of that fashion (or feature). Reading both article 2 and 3 is a must to see how such fashion became popular and may be important to understand current trends in the athletic wear market. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-trend-in-workout-fashion-1404425123

4. For the Active wear Market, There’s No Way But Up

January 15, 2014 Business of Fashion

Highlight: A short article from January 2014 that listed projection sales for the active wear market. Lists various

companies and how much they are willing to grasp the active wear market. After reading Article 2 and 3, these projected

sales seem more convincing and quite possibly that the “Athleisure” market is going to be the next big thing for athletic

wears. http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/activewear-lululemon-nike-hm-sweaty-betty 5. Yoga

Poseurs: Athletic Gear Soars, Outpacing Sport Itself

August 20, 2014 Wall Street Journal Highlight: This article focuses more on the successful sales regarding yoga pants. Mentions how the popularity of “Athleisure” gave enough motivation for Dick Sporting Goods (a popular large sport retailer) to expand business and


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emphasize the women and children market. http://www.wsj.com/articles/yoga-poseurs-athletic-apparel-moves-out-ofthe-gym-to-every-day-1408561182

6. How Stores Know What You Want When You Shop

April 29, 2015 Wall Street Journal

Highlight: Although this article doesn’t specifically mention its relationship with “Athleisure”, it gives useful information regarding how apparel makers create a desirable fashion for consumers- using analyst group Applied Predictive Technologies, or APT. Big apparel companies like Lane Bryant uses its services and run series of tests to gauge consumer response or interest. APT is using proper statistics and Market Research practices to give apparel makers a proper target market for their prototype fashions. http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-stores-know-what-you-want-when-you-shop1430344920

Appendix I-B Focus Group Exploratory Best Practices References

Burns, A. C., & Bush, R. F. (2014). Marketing Research. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Kitzinger, J. (1995, July 29). Introducing Focus Groups. Retrieved from ncbi: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2550365/pdf/bmj00603-0031.pdf

Krueger, R. A. (2002, October). Designing and Conducting Focus Group Interviews. Retrieved from eiu.edu: http://www.eiu.edu/~ihec/Krueger-FocusGroupInterviews.pdf

Rutner, J. (2011, Dec 23). Running a focus group 101. Retrieved from SlideShare.net: http://www.slideshare.net/jb2563/running-a-focus-group-101

Unknown. (2005). Guidelines for Conducting a Focus Group. Retrieved from Eliot and Associates: https://uccsoffice365.sharepoint.com/sites/MKTG3300/Shared%20Documents/Focus%20Group%20Executive%20Summa ry/Focus%20Group%20Executive%20Summary%20Appendix%20Files/Best%20Practices/How_to_Conduct_a_Focus_Grou p.pdf

Unknown. (2008, August 6). Focus Group Best Practices. Retrieved from Demand Metric: http://blog.demandmetric.com/2008/08/06/focus-group-best-practices/

Unknown. (2009-2015). US Framework and VALS™ Types. Retrieved from Strategic Business Insights: http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml

Appendix I-C Social Media Experiment Exploratory Best Practices References

4 Dos/ Don’ts that are relatable to social media experiment.


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http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244851 Do/Don’ts of Social media in general

http://blog.7marketz.com/5-dos-and-donts-of-social-media-marketing

Predicting Tie Strength with Social Media

https://uccsoffice365.sharepoint.com/sites/mktg3300socialmediateam/Shared%20Documents/predicting-tiestrength.pdf

Social media and consumer choice

https://uccsoffice365.sharepoint.com/sites/mktg3300socialmediateam/Shared%20Documents/Social%20Media% 20&%20Consumer%20Choice.pdf

http://www.socialmediaexperiments.com/the-history-and-power-of-hashtags-in-social-media-

marketinginfographic/ http://www.inc.com/allison-fass/dave-kerpen-social-media-moves-that-

work.html http://socialmediamarketing.com/ https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/aliaga/cs197-

10/papers/predicting-tie-strength.pdf

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Donna_Hoffman2/publication/228237594_Can_You_Measure_the_ROI_o

f_ Your_Social_Media_Marketing/links/552c11f50cf29b22c9c41cc1.pdf http://arxiv.org/pdf/1003.5699.pdf

http://hpp.sagepub.com/content/9/4/338.full.pdf+html http://smallbusiness.chron.com/dependent-variable-

vs-independent-variable-marketing-22731.htm

Best Practices for Conducting Social Media Experiments http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/the-50-greatest-social-

media-best-practices/.

http://www.govtech.com/social/First-Responders-Experiment-with-Social-Media-in-Disaster-Response.html..

http://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media-advertising/.

Appendix I-D Survey Exploratory Best Practices References http://www.d.umn.edu/~scastleb/How%20to%20Setup%20Variables%20that%20allow%20Multiple%20Responses(e.pdf http://www.researchgate.net/post/Which_statistical_analysis_tool_to_use_ranked_data Info on limitations of Likert scale

https://students.shu.ac.uk/lits/it/documents/pdf/questionnaire_analysis_using_spss.pdf Graph all that apply questions

by median to find useful statshttps://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.soft-sys.stat.spss/Avs_jTkfajA


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Appendix I-E Lulu Lemon and Athletica Interviews Alyssa Quevillon Laurissa Brunk Shin Paino Lulu Lemon and Athletica Interviews 10/17/15 Lulu Lemon interview took place at the Promenade Shops store with the manager, Allie.

1. What products are the biggest sellers? What's trending and what times are they trending? Biggest sellers go to people who do cross fit, then running, then people who supplement those sports with yoga. 2. What are your typical demographics? Late 20’s to mid 40’s with a 50/50 split between male and female customers. That is not common at all locations, since most other stores have a 80/20 or 60/40 female dominant split. Men are more easily convinced of the products when they “try it on” in the store. They also have success from their local Facebook and Instagram pages. 3. Do your customers request anything in particular? N/A 4. Who do you see as your biggest competitors and why? They don’t really see any competitors coming close to what they do since they “do something different.” They hold “design meetings” with local athletes who are invited into the store to try on the apparel, give feedback, and they can tweak the products for that region. Even though Lulu Lemon is large company, each region is given autonomy to make decisions based on what the needs and wants of that area. 5. What is your most effective form of marketing? Who does it make its primary market target? “We are constantly in the product working out. People ask us about the apparel and 40% of our marketing is word of mouth.” 6. What are other good ways your business markets? N/A 7. Why do regular customers come back? i.e. Quality, staff, products, knowledge, atmosphere? “Everything! We educate on what works best for size, fit, type of exercise. We create more technical features, and style pairing with technical features. We constantly change what our products are every week and customers respond well to change since we educate with the change.” They also have a “design board” where people can write down what they do and don’t like about the products. Additional notes: “Our technology is catching up.” They can get an item in the store within three business days with free shipping if it isn’t available in the store. They also have “best practices” and guidelines the company uses as a whole, but they can change whatever they need for when they need it. They are locally tailored.

Athleta interview too place at the Promenade Shops with manager, Carrie.


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At the beginning of this interview Carrie told us she could give as much information that she was allowed, but most of our answers would be on their website and we could up our questions there as well for answers. 1. What products are the biggest sellers? What's trending and what times are they trending? The Chi and Vastus are the best sellers, but we were told to look online to see what is the company-wide best seller. “It’s all on the website and only chosen by corporate, nothing is regional.” 2. What are your typical demographics? “Everyone.” Fit and end-use is really based on the customer. 3. Do your customers request anything in particular? They do have the option to order online and in the store with free shipping. They also offer free alterations. 4. Who do you see as your biggest competitors and why? “Anyone in the athletic field is our competitor but we really sell function since they can be used for daily life ‘lifestyle’ and working.” 5. What is your most effective form of marketing? Who does it make its primary market target? Primarily, their marketing is online and catalogues, but they also have a corporate Instagram and Twitter that they can tailor to their needs. 6. What are other good ways your business markets? N/A 7. Why do regular customers come back? i.e. Quality, staff, products, knowledge, atmosphere?

Customers come back because of knowledge of staff and the fit and quality of clothes. Additional notes: They are involved in the community, they offer yoga classes at the store, and the people in the community who come into the store inspire the employees. Analysis:

The goal of interviews with both of these athletic companies relates back to our problem statement: there is a lack of segmentation in our client’s store and the apparel is not selling. Based off of the fact that our client stated that Lulu Lemon was a major competitor for athletic apparel, we decided to dig deeper into researching them and also a similar competitor, Athletica. We were curious as to what they are doing correctly to gain loyal customers and how they are marketing to future customers. Both places seemed the same from the outside and even sold some of the same products. However, the way that these two stores operated and also the type of information given to us differed greatly.

Lulu Lemon is primarily focused on tailoring their products to the customers and this is why their customers remain loyal to their brand. When we asked them why their customers keep coming back to purchase their products, their answer could not have been simpler: “Everything,” the manager stated. “We educate on what works best for size, fit, type of exercise. We create more technical features, and style pairing with technical features. We constantly change what our products are every week and customers respond well to change since we educate with the change.” One of the best practices is their specialized focus groups. They will bring local athletes to try on their latest styles of products. The employees then receive the athletes’ feedback on what they like about the products and what they do not like. Once they gather this data, they report back to corporate and they change the product for their region according to the


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alterations suggested. This is why Lulu Lemon is successful at reaching to their customers, tailoring to what fits them as an individual, and keeps them coming back as a loyal customer.

Athletica was the other competitor we chose to interview because it resembled our client’s competitor and we wanted to broaden our scope. Even though these stores were very close to each other physically, the two stores were worlds apart in the way they operated. Athletica’s atmosphere was more of one that was corporate. The manager had very little to say in regards to our interview questions and she directed us to the company’s website for the answers we needed. Consumers do come back to the brand because of the quality of the product and also the knowledge of the team, regarding on what type of products pair with the type of athletic need or daily use need for which the consumer is searching. Another positive characteristic that Athletica has is they reach out to the community and offer classes in yoga. The manager also stated that their loyal customers in the community “inspire the employees.”

A best practice we learned and want to encourage our client to adopt is that of presentation of their products and style choices. Both Lulu and Athletica dressed their mannequins in very “stylish” clothing that invites the consumer in and encourages them to buy their product. Lulu Lemon and Athletica had neutral store displays but color options were still given in the store. Thoughts to consider is that our client needs to segment his apparel and then narrow it down to a neutral or universal style that appeals to most of the consumers.

Appendix II Focus group Appendix II-A

Plan Evolution Original plan (A): to inform CRC on how to upsell current customers to clothing purchases by knowing what

features to highlight. Using data from the demographics survey to point out which of CRC’s customers would be most profitable, we’d gather information on what they wish to see sold in the store as well as on which points were attractive upselling points.

Plan B: to inform CRC of an opportunity to target UCCS athletes with focus group data that would help define how to seize this opportunity. Our team contacted UCCS athletics department heads, specifically those related to the Track and Field team, in order to bring a sampling of those athletes into our focus group. The focus group was to be held on campus in a reserved library room, with clothing samples from UCCS athletics, CRC, and a third party.

Plan C (Final): to inform CRC of an opportunity to target UCCS students that participate in an athletic lifestyle. Our focus group provides CRC with data on how this potential market likes to go through the purchase funnel.

Focus Group Plan A Breakdown: The Plan:

We’ll conduct a traditional focus group on October 20th (target) at 12pm on the UCCS campus with UCCS students living an active lifestyle. I, and the rest of my team, will act as the moderators. The situation will be invented since we can’t observe in the store but we will try to imagine the buying situation. This would be overt observation because we can’t do covert observation given our budget and time constraints. Rather than looking at archives, we want to find our own relevant and updated research.


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After the focus group session, we will provide a focus group report with insights for the Colorado Running Company to consider.

The Why: This kind of qualitative research will provide the kind of insights that the survey and other kinds of quantitative

research can’t find. Direct observation is necessary given the focus group’s structured observation techniques. We can’t do a focus group with another target market or in another location due to scheduling complexities, logistical difficulties, and an overall low ROI.

The Pros and Cons: The pros to our plan is that it is relatively low cost and low time investment, and getting a sample of participants

on campus will be easier than out of the rest of the population. Cons consist of the data not matching one-for-one the answers the business owner is looking for. We’re not able to bring in actual products due to budget constraints. And we won’t be able to get the participant’s impressions of the store’s selling atmosphere.

The How: We’ll get a group of people in a room and start a conversation asking people about how they experience buying

athletic/running apparel and what they like/dislike about it. We’ll then ask them to imagine a perfect apparel buying experience to try to figure out how we could mimic that. Next we’ll have a discussion on what kind of apparel they like to buy and what about it makes them buy it.

We’re considering how to best incorporate “Fill in the Bubble” and “Complete the Sentence” techniques. Ideally, we’d have athletic apparel in the focus group to get people’s initial reactions to it.

The Timeline: • Reserve a room by Monday, October 12th. • Get the ads for participants out on campus on Tuesday, October 13th. • Collect the contact information as it comes in during the week • On Friday, October 16th notify the selected participants where they need to be and when for conducting the

focus group • Conduct the focus group on October 20th at 12pm • Finish a wrap up document by Thursday, October 22nd

The Conversation Starters:

• Kicking things off: “Do you mind if our conversation is recorded for our internal review purposes?” How would you describe your ideal sports apparel shopping experience? o What about a store makes you trust them enough to come and shop there again?

o Have you found yourself buying something you weren’t originally looking for when you go to buy athletic apparel? Are you happy with that purchase?

o What do you wish apparel selling companies knew about your buying desires? • When shopping for sports apparel, what attributes/benefits/features are most important to you?

o Are there particular brands that you prioritize over others? o Do you prefer to have the ability to customize your athletic apparel?

• Describe your favorite athletic apparel piece you already have in your closet o In what setting do you use your athletic apparel?


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o What do you wish could be true about your athletic apparel? What do you wish could be true about your athletic apparel buying experience?

The Insights:

• What product features are sought out in athletic/running apparel? • Where and how often they buy Are customization options Desirable? • Does CRC have the products sought after? • Is the CRC a comfortable buying experience? • Can they be upsold?

Appendix II-B:

Best Practices: Experience will remedy most of the best practice violations for the next study. A breakdown of how best

practices were leveraged is charted below:

Successful Unsuccessful (what we learned to do next time)

We collected participants who pertain to the subject matter (Unknown, Guidelines for Conducting a Focus Group, 2005).

Over-invite in an anticipation of no-shows (Rutner, 2011).

Moderator offered refreshments to help break the ice which got all participants to talk and fully explain their answers (Rutner, 2011).

Use an assistant moderator to help with note taking of participant’s answers and body language (Krueger, 2002).

Used inquiries such as “Do you have an example that you’d like to share?” or “Can you talk more about that?” (Unknown, US Framework and VALS™ Types, 2009-2015).

Moderator remained neutral on most questions, but needed to refrain from nodding or agreeing/disagreeing on some occasions (Krueger, 2002).

Moderator listened attentively with sensitivity and empathy, and had adequate knowledge of the topic (Kitzinger, 1995).

Moderator let the conversation happen between the participants), reorient the conversation more often back onto a running context specifically, and spend more time digging further into the “why” of each answer (Krueger, 2002).

Moderator thanked the participants & distributed the incentives at the end (Krueger, 2002).

Ask for further comments before announcing the focus group is concluded (Krueger, 2002).

Moderator summarized what everyone’s answers were neatly after every question (Kitzinger, 1995).

Keep recording after all participants leave to debrief about notes (Rutner, 2011).


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Appendix II-C:

Participant Demographic: College Intermural Athletes (UCCS)

NAME AGE DESCRIPTION

Trent Grienke Age 20 Buys apparel for basketball often

Sandra Tucker Age 19 Likes to hike, multi-sport athlete, “big athletic apparel shopper”

Matt Quesada Age 21 Plays semi-pro hockey, likes hiking, and often shops for hockey equipment

Victorria Faatz Age 19 Plays club soccer for UCCS, wears athletic clothes often

Robby Buckman Age 20 Big football watcher, and buys jerseys often

Stephanie Kol Age 19 Boyfriend plays sports, so she likes to gift give athletic apparel, but also likes comfortable athletic wear for sleeping.

Appendix II-D:

Focus Group Review Physical Store Related Questions:

• Like stores that don’t overcharge or overprice (without reason) and often buy more if a BOGO deal is present. • Want sales associates who can recommend the products they know they already want but without being too

pushy. o Especially prefer recommendations at specialty stores. I.e. soccer only or track only stores. o Likes general athletic apparel stores to have variety (color, size, brands) like sports

authority. Willing to go to actual store to look at products if specialized or high quality. o Will use online as sort of a preview and go check out physical stores o Want stores that always have their size in stock to try out. o Likes Nike outlet stores design and feel

Online Buying Expectations:

• Wish online pictures has models wearing product • Online page has recommendation based on what they browse • Prefer the ability to customize even if more expensive

Apparel Related Preferences:

• The following features are preferred in apparel: o High social status brands (i.e. Nike) o Dry-Fit/comfortable material that is still durable o Women prefer variety in color


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• (College Student) Apparel spend is out of a limited discretionary budget (still willing buy high end products, just not as often)

• For gifting purposes, will buy top brand items and not an unrecognized brand

Insights from the Picture Example:

Bright Yellow Shirt and Jacket - Would not wear, looks uncomfortable, color is too much? Pants/leggings, shoes – would wear and have no problem buying it.

Appendix III Social Media Experiment Appendix III-A Assessing Brandify Score The image below shows the “Brandify Score” before any of the recommendations were made. Even though the score was considered high as it was in the green zone on the “Your Score Strength” meter, Brandify’s team gave us recommendations to make it a perfect 850 score. This score was achieved, and in turn helped create a higher score for Colorado Running Company.


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The image below shows the “Brandify Score” that was achieved after implementing the recommendations from the website. One of the main recommendations that made the most incremental difference was the addition of a Twitter profile.

The image below shows the recent activity of Colorado Running Company’s social media activity. This was helpful as it showed were there were weaknesses, so our team could help develop recommendations to go alongside the five recommendations that were already given by Brandify.

Appendix III-B All of these articles that were found, helped the team understand many of the do’s and don’ts of conducting a social media experiment and fundamentals that needed to be followed.

How-to guide to smart business experiments

1. https://hbr.org/2011/03/a-step-by-step-guide-to-smart-business-experiments 4 Dos/ Don’ts that are relatable to social media experiment.

https://hbr.org/2011/03/a-step-by-step-guide-to-smart-business-experiments




















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1. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244851 Do/Don’ts of Social media in general

2. http://blog.7marketz.com/5-dos-and-donts-of-social-media-marketing

Predicting Tie Strength with Social Media

1. https://uccsoffice365.sharepoint.com/sites/mktg3300socialmediateam/Shared%20Documents/predicting-tiestrength.pdf

Social media and consumer choice

1. https://uccsoffice365.sharepoint.com/sites/mktg3300socialmediateam/Shared%20Documents/Social%20Media% 20&%20Consumer%20Choice.pdf

2. http://www.socialmediaexperiments.com/the-history-and-power-of-hashtags-in-social-media-marketinghttp://www.socialmediaexperiments.com/the-history-and-power-of-hashtags-in-social-media-marketing-infographic/infographic/

3. http://www.inc.com/allison-fass/dave-kerpen-social-media-moves-that-work.html 4. http://socialmediamarketing.com/ 5. https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/aliaga/cs197-10/papers/predicting-tie-strength.pdf 6. http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Donna_Hoffman2/publication/228237594_Can_You_Measure_the_ROI_o

f_ Your_Social_Media_Marketing/links/552c11f50cf29b22c9c41cc1.pdf 7. http://arxiv.org/pdf/1003.5699.pdf 8. http://hpp.sagepub.com/content/9/4/338.full.pdf+html 9. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/dependent-variable-vs-independent-variable-marketing-22731.htm

Appendix III-C

Best Practices for Conducting Social Media Experiments 1. http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/the-50-greatest-social-media-best-practices/. This article is a blog from Drew

Beechler and even though this source is a blog, we found the data relevant and good practice for any type of social media experiment. The list is broken down into categories including social media listening, engagement, publishing, advertising, and also measurement. There is not much detail to each other the practices, but they can relate to any experiment and are common sense. The point of the blog article is to get one thinking differently about how to approach their social media problems or opportunities.

2. http://www.govtech.com/social/First-Responders-Experiment-with-Social-Media-in-Disaster-Response.html. We particularly found this article interesting because it demonstrates how a social media experiment can do more than just retrieve data. This experiment led to help others during a natural disaster and proved to be more important than expected. We need to remember that a good experiment is not only how to boost the client’s social media score, but how to connect better to the public and develop critical relationships. This article is a good example of that.

3. http://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media-advertising/. This article is beneficial to those who are beginners or rookies in the social media world. It truly encompasses how important social media advertising has

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244851

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244851

https://uccsoffice365.sharepoint.com/sites/mktg3300socialmediateam/Shared%20Documents/Social%20Media%20&%20Consumer%20Choice.pdf





http://www.socialmediaexperiments.com/the-history-and-power-of-hashtags-in-social-media-marketing-infographic/























http://www.inc.com/allison-fass/dave-kerpen-social-media-moves-that-work.html
















http://socialmediamarketing.com/

http://socialmediamarketing.com/

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Donna_Hoffman2/publication/228237594_Can_You_Measure_the_ROI_of_Your_Social_Media_Marketing/links/552c11f50cf29b22c9c41cc1.pdf




http://arxiv.org/pdf/1003.5699.pdf

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1003.5699.pdf

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/dependent-variable-vs-independent-variable-marketing-22731.htm














http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/the-50-greatest-social-media-best-practices/














http://www.govtech.com/social/First-Responders-Experiment-with-Social-Media-in-Disaster-Response.html


















http://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media-advertising/













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become because of the growth in technology. It also lists some relevant and general tips to remember when you are trying to grow your business:

• Use free social media to beta-test your paid social ads • Take advantage of targeting features • Rotate ads frequently • Use small samples to A/B test your social ads • Understand how ads are sold • Design your ads with smartphones in mind

It also displays different types of ads from different types of businesses and also how to test them. This article could benefit the beginners by explaining marketing practices in layman’s terms.

Best Practices Successful Unsuccessful (what was learned for next time)

We went beyond Facebook and Twitter by using other social media platforms and including them in our experiment (Beechler, 2014).

We had trouble with coordinating logging in to some of the social media websites.

We used a reliable platform, Brandify, to research our client’s current score and also understand what opportunities we could develop (Brandify, 2015).

Unfortunately, by using only this platform, we were given a narrow perspective. We were given little flexibility in suggestions for our actual experiment.

Appendix III-D Social Media Experiment Plan The Colorado Running Company’s social media situation is at an interesting place. Currently, the only social media that they have is Facebook, Twitter, and a newsletter. While they have limited social media sources, they have a significant amount of followers. The Colorado Running Company’s Facebook page has 3,259 likes and their Twitter has 1,402 followers. Our action plan for the social media experiment is to use Brandify to evaluate the current social media that the Running Company has and then implementing the suggestions that Brandify generates. To monitor if the experiment is effective or not, we will monitor the dependent variables which are the likes and the followers to see if there is any difference every week from our independent variables which is the experiment that implement. The most important thing that we will need to take into account are the extraneous variables which includes other running companies, the season/amount of runners that are actively looking for shoes, other social media trends that might take away the attention of users (ice bucket challenge), and anything else that would affect the amount of users on the company’s social media.

The first step we are involved in has us setting up and configuring Brandify for our client, Colorado Running Company. In order to do this, we have to set up an account. Brandify works by running client’s name through their database and producing results such as social media presence and also other vital information. Once we have collected and interpreted these results, we should know where our client stands and how well they are doing social media wise according to Brandify’s data. Then we will pick apart the results and make adjustments if needed.


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According to Brandify, Colorado Running Company has a fairly good social media platform. It has given us some useful ideas to look at while we conduct our social media experiment. This comes in handy because it makes it so that our team does not go into this experiment blindly, which would definitely be an automatic red flag. Our main goal is to interact with the audience as best as possible, without over sharing and spamming the consumers.

The Colorado Running Company has a fairly limited scope when it comes to their social media outlets. Very recently, a social media position was hired for the company, and we believe it will be a great opportunity to see how new outlets will grow. We were also told that a Pinterest account was going to be made for the company. Because it will be very new, we are planning on using part of the experiment on that account and see if we can help increase the effectiveness of that account. We will also suggest to the company to add other social media outlets such as Instagram.

Then we have to create an appendix for the social media section. This just means that we have to ensure that all of the resources, citations, and pictures/graphs are cited properly and included in an appendix so that they are easily found. This also may include looking over the experiment and making sure the data is interpreted correctly.

Appendix IV Survey

Appendix IV-A

Revised Sample Plan 1. Define total population.

The population for the Colorado Running Company (the CRC) was originally defined by John, the CRC manager, as “anyone with feet.” We have narrowed down this definition to all persons visiting the CRC location on any given week.

2. Obtain sample frame.

In order to identify the population size we would have needed to know the actual unique foot traffic, rather than the number of transactions, during a typical week at the CRC; however, the CRC has not yet determined this number. The CRC has concluded that they have approximately 45 transactions on weekdays and 80-120 transactions on Saturdays, totally approximately transactions per week. Therefore, we are therefore using 155 customers as our survey sample frame.

3. Decide on the sample method.

We are limited by tight time constraints and managerial concerns from surveying customers every day of the week. We will be able to conduct a mall-intercept survey on location at the CRC on a Friday, October 30th, the day of a packet pickup for a Halloween-themed fun run race/walk. This Friday is expected to experience significantly higher traffic flow versus an average weekday with approximately 150 additional people coming through the door.


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Our survey objectives are as follows:

1. Gather demographic and psycho-demographic information surrounding generational cohorts and VALS to validate our target market personas.

2. Gather information relating to social media usage and preferences to inform social decisions.

3. Gather data concerning timing of athletic apparel purchasing to try to inform upselling and promotions decisions.

4. Gather data concerning athletic apparel factor importance to try to inform apparel sales decisions.

According to the survey objectives and restraints, we will survey the 150 people expected on Friday, October 30th with a mall-intercept 10-question survey on location at the CRC. Please see the appendix for a copy of our survey.

4. Decide on the sample size.

Our sample size is , as determined from the below calculations:

± Margin of Sample Error = 1.96 x √((p x q)/n)

And solving for n, the number of surveys we need to have completed: n= z^2(pq)/(e^2) where n = the sample size; z = the standard error associated with the chosen level of confidence (for our survey, 1.96); p = estimated percent in the population; q = 100 - p; e = the acceptable margin of sample error. n = (1.96^2(50x50))/12^2 n = 67 or the number of surveys we need to have completed. We will round this number to 70 surveys total.

5. Draw the sample

Our sample is, as previously stated, quite limited by tight time constraints and managerial concerns. As such, this survey will gather as many surveys from those entering the store within October 30th during the surveying hours, which unfortunately due to managerial concerns do not include that evening that day after 4 p.m.

6. Validate the sample

This survey is a very rough match to the known distribution of characteristics within the Colorado Springs running population. We believe this Friday crowd is representative enough as individuals participating in the fun run race/walk are anecdotally more likely to be involved in the local running community as regular athletes.

There are several ways, however, that our survey is limited in representativeness in that the race which potential customers are picking up their race packets for might not be equally marketed to all customer groups and we further do not know how or to what extent this will affect the representativeness of our population. It would also be preferable if we would be able to survey customers over a longer period of time as opposed to a single weekday. This would allow us to gather results from all demographics, as it is possible that a certain group such as working professionals or high school students would be left out during our limited time frame. Appendix IV- B Copy of Survey Distributed on 10/30

1. What’s your zip code? ________________ 2. What is your gender? (mark one)


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____ Male ____ Female 3. What is your age? (mark one) ____ 14 or younger ____ 15 to 34 ____ 35 to 50 ____ 51 to 69 ____ 70 or older 4. What social media channels do you primarily use? (select all that apply) ____ Facebook ____ Twitter ____ Instagram ____ Pinterest ____ I do not use social media. Other: ____________________________ 5. In the last two years, how many times have you shopped at the Colorado Running Company (CRC)? (circle one) ____

Four times per year ____ Two times per year ____ Once in 1 year ____ Once in 2 years ____ I have never shopped at CRC, but would like to. ____ I have never shopped at CRC and don’t want to. 6. Please rank the following brands from 1 (most favorite) to 7 (least favorite). ____ Nike ____ Adidas ____ New Balance ____ Lulu Lemon ____ Athletica ____ Puma ____ Asics Other: ___________________ 7. When are you most likely to shop for/purchase athletic apparel? (mark the most relevant one to you) ____

Whenever I am already at the store buying something else. ____ Whenever I see a good sale. ____ Whenever I see an item that I like. 8. How do you prefer to shop for athletic apparel? (mark one) ____ Brick-and-Mortar (In store) ____ Online with In-Store Pickup ____ Online Other: ____________________ 9. When shopping for athletic apparel, which of these factors do you feel is the most important to you? Please rank

the factors from 1 (important) to 5 (unimportant). ____ Material Quality/Durability ____ Brand Name ____ Trend & Style ____ Price of Product ____ Practicality 10. Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with each of the following by placing a checkmark in the

appropriate box. I pay attention to the latest ideas and technology. . . □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ N/A □ Strongly Disagree □ Disagree I place a high value on style and appearance. . .


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□ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ N/A □ Strongly Disagree □ Disagree I have a strong interest in social &/or physical recreation. . . □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ N/A □ Strongly Disagree □ Disagree I consider myself to be traditional and consistent. . . □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ N/A □ Strongly Disagree □ Disagree

Appendix IV-C Answering our Research Objectives

Research Objective 1: Gather demographic and psycho-demographic information surrounding generational cohorts and VALS to validate our target market personas. According to our survey (see below), our typical customer may be a Generation Y Experiencer, which is slightly younger than our original assumptions. Additionally, of the 64 surveys collected 38 were from female respondents. Below is a summary of the new target market persona:


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Demographic Information Median income in Colorado Springs: $53,926 according to the most recent census. The three most frequent zip codes according to our surveys are described with the following chart:

Zip Code Frequency Median Income Difference from City

80919 8 $89,635 +$35,709

80906 6 $60,387 +$6,461

80132 5 $88,434 +$34,508

These figures may certainly suggest that the average customer at the CRC has a higher median income level than the average Coloradan; however, there is a significantly wide spread to the data. Our 64 respondents from Colorado share 29 zip codes as shown by the chart below. Some of the zip codes even come from surrounding areas including Denver and Pueblo.

This wide spread of data means that, assuming Friday was a fairly representative day for the CRC, customers might be coming from a range of areas around Colorado Springs and beyond. For the sake of this survey analysis, we will assume that our respondents were generally of higher resources than the average Coloradan.


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Psychographic Information: Generational Cohorts According to our survey results, the most common generational cohorts among respondents are as follows:

Psychodemographic Information: VALS

According to our survey results, the most common VALS types are Experiencers at 35.94%, Thinkers at 17.19%, and Achievers at 12.5%. Unfortunately, due to question wording this information may not be useful in validating VALS (please refer to Appendix A for a rewritten survey that is expected to give us more useful information).

Research Objective 2: Gather information relating to social media usage and preferences to inform social decisions. Facebook was the number one social channel among respondents with a 70.3% usage rate; Pinterest rated second with a 21.9% usage rate. Around 23% of users described themselves as not using social media. The least used social media platform option offered was Twitter with a 7.8% usage rate. Please see the Executive Brief from the Social Media Experiment team for more specific best practices and recommendations for social media.


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Research Objective 3: Gather data concerning timing of athletic apparel purchasing to try to inform upselling and promotions decisions.

Approximately 75% of our respondents reported purchasing apparel when they are at the store in search of a separate item. Another 18.8% of people stated that they primarily purchase apparel when they see something that they like. These two answer represent 93.8% of the reasoning behind apparel purchases. We would recommend further research exploring these findings, which perhaps suggest that in store upselling is a more effective technique than promotions. Only 6.2% of purchases according to survey respondents are the result of a good sales promotion.

Research Objective 4: Gather data concerning athletic apparel factor importance to try to inform apparel sales decisions. The top 3 preferred brands from female respondents were the category “Other Brand” which captured 26 #1 rankings; Asics came in second place with 11 #1 Rankings, and finally New Balance in 3rd with 5 #1 Rankings. Due to the poor phrasing of this question, we were not able to capture valid data on which brand was truly most preferred (please refer to Appendix A for how we would rephrase this question to properly obtain data).

Appendix IV-D Axoims of Random Sample Size and Sample Accuracy (p. 245)

1. The only perfectly accurate sample is a census

According to Bush and Burns, a Census is an accounting of the complete population. Therefore, this axiom was not applied for the survey due to the inability to take a complete census of all runners or potential consumers within the greater Colorado Springs area.

2. A random sample will always have some inaccuracy, which is referred to as margin of sample error or simply sample error.


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This axiom was important in our survey process. We believe that the margin of sample error was so high because our sample size was such a small percentage of the population. As stated in Axiom 4, the margin of sampling error for 67 respondents has a corresponding margin of sample error of +/- 11.194 percent.

3. The larger a random sample is, the more accurate it is, meaning the less margin of sample error it has.

During the planning of the survey, we aimed to apply this axiom. Surveys were distributed through the following outlets: Facebook running groups/clubs in the Colorado Springs area, emails to coaches and heads of athletic departments at UCCS, and finally a mall-intercept survey. All of these channels were used with the goal of increasing the number of survey respondents and increasing the random sample size to therefore decrease the margin of sample error. Unfortunately, while we did attempt to increase the number of surveys gathered several of the attempts did not produce enough responses to effectively increase the random sample which would then reduce the margin of sample error.

4. Margin of sample error can be calculated with a simple formula and expressed as a +/-% number.

In order to determine the level of accuracy that correlated with the survey sample size calculated we applied this axiom.. Table 10.2 in the Bush and Burns, Marketing Research Textbook illustrates Sample Sizes and Margin of Sample error. The table provides numerous sample sizes and the correlating Margin of sampling error. Our survey had 67 respondents (n=67), the table provides margin of sampling errors for (n=50 +/- 13.9%) and (n=100, +/- 9.8%). To determine the margin of sampling of error for a sample of 67, we used the calculation:

Finding the difference between a sample size of 100 and 50 units: 13.9% - 9.8% = 4.1% Then,

determining the value per single unit: 4.1% / 50 (the difference in 100-50) =0.082%

Next, in order to reach the margin of error for n=67 we took the margin of error for:

n=50 and then multiplied the remaining samples n=17 x 0.082 = 1.394.

Finally, to find the level of accuracy for 67 units: 1.394% (Calculation of 17 samples) + 9.8% (50 samples) = +/- 11.194% Margin of Sampling Error

5. You can take any findings in the survey, replicate the survey with a random sample of the same size, and be “very likely” to find the same findings within the +/- % range of the original sample’s findings. ***

We believe that this fifth axiom is typically realized because of the confidence interval and the central limit theorem. Therefore if we were to replicate the survey again with the same random sample size we believe that the sample range would be “very likely” to be simple and look like a normal curve. However, if we were to actually re-due the survey we believe that the margin of error could be corrected based on knowledge gathered from the original survey. We would completely restructure the survey to gather more useful information which would result a different +/- percent range and this negating this axiom. Because of our mistakes, this axiom is negated, refer to our explanation in Axiom 7.

6. In almost all cases, the margin of sample error of a random sample is independent of the size of the population.

According to Bush and Burns, Marketing Research “in almost all cases the margin of sampling error of a random sample is interdependent of the sample size of the population,” This states that a sample error would not change if it were a different set of the population, but same population in. However, this theory doesn’t hold true when the sample size is less than 5 percent of the population. In our survey, we gathered 67 far less than 5 percent of the running community of


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the COlorado Springs area. So, it is possible that our sampling error would change if we used a different set of 67 people from the population

7. A random sample size can be a tiny percent of the population size and still have a small margin of sample error.

This axiom does not stand true for in this instance because the survey sample size was small while still having a large margin of sample error at +/- 11.194 percent. In addition to this, there was significant diversity within respondents survey impacting the margin of error.

8. The size of a random sample depends on the client’s desired accuracy (acceptable margin of sample error) balanced against the cost of data collection for that sample size.

We were not able to apply this axiom as a budget was never determined for conducting the survey. Had we had a budget we could have calculated a cost per survey (dollar per survey), which could then be multiplied by the sample size and sample error to get the sample cost using the formula on page 250 within the text.

Appendix IV-E New Survey Information

1. What is your zip code? ________________ 2. What is your gender? (mark one) ____ Male ____ Female 3. What is your age? (mark one) ____ 14 or younger ____ 15 to 34 ____ 35 to 50 ____ 51 to 69 ____ 70 or older 4. Which of the following best describes your before tax household income? (mark home) ____ Under $15,000 ____ $75,000 to $99,000 ____ $15,000 to $24,999 ____ $100,000 to $$149,999 ____ $25,000 to $49,000 ____ $150,000 and above ____ $50,000 to $74,999 5. What channels do you primarily use? (select all that apply) ____ Social Media: Facebook ____ Newspaper ____ Social Media: Twitter ____ Radio ____ Social Media: Youtube ____ Television Other social media channel: ____________________________ 6. In the last two years, how many times have you shopped at the Colorado Running Company (CRC)? (circle one) ____

Four times or more per year ____ I have never shopped at CRC, but would like to. ____ Two times per year ____ I have never shopped at CRC and don’t want to. ____ Once in 1 year ____ Once in 2 years 7. If you have shopped at the Colorado Running Company, what athletic apparel items have you purchased? (select all

that apply) ____ Running Jackets (Waterproof) ____ Sports bras ____ Running Jackets (Fleece) ____ Long sleeved tops


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____ Vests ____ Short sleeved tops ____ Hoodies ____ Tank Tops ____ Shorts/Skirts ____ Leggings/Yoga pants ____ Sweatpants ____ Headbands ____ Sunglasses ____ Socks ____ Light/thermal gloves ____ Hats ____ Neck warmers Other: ______________________ ____ I have not shopped at the Colorado Running Company 8. Where do you prefer to shop for athletic apparel? ____ Target ____ Sports Authority ____ Athleta ____ Amazon ____ Lulu Lemon ____ Macy’s ____ Dick’s Sporting Goods ____ The Colorado Running Company Other online retailer (if yes, please specify): _________________________ Other Brick & Mortar retailer (if yes, please specify): _________________________ 9. How important is it that your athletic apparel is… (rate from 1=low to 10=high for each factor) ____ Brand Name ____ Form Fitting ____ Low Price ____ High Quality ____ Brightly Colored/Fun ____ High Tech ____ Practical ____ Anti-Stink 10. You have 10 points to distribute to each of the following statements (1= does not describe me to 10=

describes me very well). Your answers must add to 10 points. ____ I place a high value on style and appearance. ____ I have a strong interest in social &/or physical recreation. ____ I consider myself to be traditional and steady. Total 0/10 Our research objectives for this new survey are as follows:

1. Gather demographic and psycho-demographic information surrounding generational cohorts and VALS to validate our target market personas.

2. Gather information relating to channel preferences to inform marketing promotions and presence decisions. 3. Gather data concerning which athletic apparel items our respondents are buying and from where for further

competitive analysis. 4. Gather data concerning athletic apparel factor preference to inform purchasing decisions.

We have phrased these new questions to gather data on the following:

1. For athletic apparel factor preference, whether any two average importance levels are significantly different; this would tell us more specifically which athletic apparel factor preference the CRC should focus on, e.g., if it was more important that clothing was bright colored/fun or name brand. We can then pair this data to each target market persona (see SPSS Clickstream to Obtain a Paired Samples t-Test).

2. Differences between which items are typically purchased for male and female customers (see SPSS Clickstream to Perform Analysis of Variance (ANOVA))

3. What generational cohorts are on what channels (see SPSS Clickstream to Create Cross-Tabulations with ChiSquare Analysis below)


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SPSS Clickstream to Obtain a Paired Samples t-Test


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Clickstream to Perform Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)


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SPSS Clickstream to Create Cross-Tabulations with Chi-Square Analysis


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Appendix V Proposal SUMMARY

Client: John O’Neill, Manager, Colorado Running Company. http://corunco.com/

The Colorado Running Company (CRC) is a running specialty store in Colorado Spring founded by owner Jeff Tarbert and manager John O’Neill in June of 2000. At the beginning of the semester, Mr. O’Neill agreed to help Marketing Research students from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs by allowing us to use his business for the class project in which students conducted exploratory marketing research for the CRC including a focus group, apparel survey, and social media experiment using Brandify. This research centered on the issue of apparel purchasing, particularly for women.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Problem: Lack of Segmentation.

Symptom: Apparel is not selling.

Vision/Ideal Scenario:

Ideally, the mission of The Colorado Running Co., is to provide shoes and apparel to the entire population of Colorado Springs, according to Manager John O'Neill. In order to accomplish this, The Colorado Running Co. needs to fully understand the primary market segment that they serve to provide them with the apparel that best fits their needs.

Reality of the Situation:

Currently, Mr. O'Neill is allocating most of his time buying apparel and revising those orders because he does not know what apparel appeals to the customers coming into the store. This symptom is the result of not knowing the buying habits or preferences of the primary segment The Colorado Running Co. serves, which limits the company from providing them with apparel that meets their needs when they need them.

Consequence:

Without understanding the primary segment The Colorado Running Co. serves, they will not be able to purchase the apparel that appeals most to these consumers and the returns will remain small.

DECISION ALTERNATIVES

The following are the proposed decision alternatives to potentially address the stated problem:

1. Conduct monthly or quarterly survey to gather demographic information and apparel preferences 2. Conduct monthly product “try before you buy” apparel experiments with CRC running group to gather feedback 3. Conduct monthly product focus groups with local athletes to inform inventory effectiveness and purchasing

decisions

http://corunco.com/

http://corunco.com/


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4. Consider adopting social media software to aid in analyzing engagement and effectiveness and perhaps distributing product-centered surveys to followers

RESEARCH METHOD, OBJECTIVES, & OUTCOMES In order to solve this problem, our team will be conducting a demographic survey, focus group, apparel survey, and a social media experiment to better understand the market demographics, how it can be segmented, and what people are looking for in performance apparel. Once we know more about the customers, we can further our research into current trends in performance apparel to provide well-informed decision alternatives for The Colorado Running Co.

1. Focus Group: Question up to 12 candidates (minimum of 6) who meet the selected target market characteristics about their athletic apparel preferences by perhaps labeling at least 4 brands on a scale of 1 to 3 (3 being their least favorite, 1 being their most favorite) along with other qualitative questions. From the focus group, we will have expanded our understanding of consumer behavior within the company's market, such as how consumers feel or think, how they make decisions, how they are influenced and motivated, how knowledgeable of products they are, etc. (Please refer to Appendix II for information pertaining to our previous Focus Group.)

2. Apparel Survey: This survey will be completed with the statistically significant number of respondents needed based off of our total population (again, at least 5%). Our questions will focus almost entirely on demographic characteristics, apparel preferences, and brands as well as timing of purchases and other needs. The apparel survey will refine our findings from the focus group by narrowing our understanding of what specific sports performance brands and apparel products consumers prefer to buy and how to sell them to the Target Market Persona. (Please refer to Appendix IV for information pertaining to our previous Survey.)

3. Social Media Experiment: A social media experiment will be conducted through Brandify, which will determine how well The Colorado Running Co. is digitally connected to their customers within the Target Market Personas as well as their wants and needs. The social media experiment will allow us to further provide value by capturing data and making recommendations to improve brand presence so that we may explore what kinds of online content, promotions, and channels may work well for the CRC. (Please refer to Appendix III for information pertaining to our previous Social Media Experiment.)

DELIVERABLES Based on our desired outcomes, at the end of the six week period, we would provide the following deliverables:

1. Survey Executive Brief (to Professor Anthony Santella- A.S.)* 2. Focus Group Executive Brief (A.S.)* 3. Social Media Experiment Executive Brief (A.S.)* 4. Project Executive Brief (A.S. and client, John O’Neill)* 5. Research Appendix (A.S.)*


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*We are prepared to provide more information about our findings and research outside of the Executive Brief upon request by our client.

TIMETABLE* Deliverables: Estimated Date of

Completion

Complete Marketing Research Proposal 10/5/15

Complete Survey 11/11/15

Complete executive brief 11/9/15

Complete Focus Group 11/11/15

Create executive brief 11/11/15

Complete Social Media Experiment 11/9/15


Complete Research Appendix Preparation 11/25/15

Complete and compile primary research on industry trends/Competition 10/26/15

Complete secondary research on Colorado Springs area 10/26/15

Complete Project Close/Final Walk-Through 11/25/15


*This timetable reflects the dates of completion for our previous project. We would recommend following a similar time span for repeating the project.


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COST Since this project will be completed for this business free of charge, the cost will be everybody’s time. The time is

broken down by each group on the team, and the number of hours each group has is based on the number of hours

each person contributed to doing their task, going to meetings, or anything related to this project. These hours are

estimates until the end of the project when we will know more accurately how many hours each group spent on the

project. Proposal team: 25 hours

Survey team: 20 hours

Focus Group team: 25 hours

Social Media team: 20 hours

RESEARCH APPENDIX

Secondary Research

Demographics of Northern Colorado Springs Area

Colorado Springs is the second-largest city in Colorado with a total population of 445,830 people according to a 2014 estimate by the United States Census Bureau. Colorado Springs has a sizable veteran population with 52,492 veterans in Colorado Springs from 2009-2013 and a median household income of $53,962 (US Census Bureau, 2015).

According to ZipAtlas, a structured collection of geographically segmented social and economic profiles, the CRC is, when segmented by median household incomes per zip code, geographically close to areas of high-middle and very high income levels (see map below).


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Median Household Incomes by Zip Code for Colorado Springs, ZipAtlas.com, 2015.

Demographics Trends of Northern Colorado Springs Area

Real income in Colorado Springs has increased at a faster rate than US income, according to the latest information available from the American Community Survey (see table below). This potentially means more disposable income for families and individuals in the area, which could be advantageous to a specialty retail store.

American Community Survey, DepartmentofNumbers.com, 2014.

Apparel Industry Trends

● According to ResearchandMarket.com’s Global Sports Apparel Market Report 2015-2016, “One key emerging trend is the introduction of high-tech fabrics in the market” as evidenced by the increase in demand for “advanced and comfortable” new sports apparel lines.

● NPD Analyst Marshal Cohen reported in Fortune magazine that another key trend for the sports apparel industry was that athletic gear has very recently become “chic” and some consumer groups, particularly young women, will be drawn to active wear that “makes a fashion statement.” Euromonitor build on that trend with its 2014 Personal Appearances: Global Consumer Survey Report in that men tend to “seek [the] ‘sporty’ look while women prefer to look stylish.”

● Another trend for the retail industry as a whole is the increase in preference to shop online as opposed to shopping at a brick-and-mortar store, particularly after brand trust has been established by the shopper.


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EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

Target Market Personas


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We would also like to propose the following persona, as informed by the persona verification from the work of the survey team this last semester:

Customer Lifetime Value The life time value of the customers is still considerably high. The people going into the Colorado Running Company are active individuals that are healthy, and in shape. They will still be buying products from them because they know they are getting good quality. Even when they do get older they will still go to the Colorado Running Company because they will still want a comfortable pair of shoes or apparel. They will also bring their own children to the store which will create a new market for the company and will still bring in customers for a long time.


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Value Position Maps

Expert Interviews

We would also recommend conducting more expert interviews of other competitors including Dick’s Sporting Goods.