Market Research

Proposal

Canterbury Travels

Prepared by: 6A Consulting Group

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6A Consulting Group
Executive Summary
Canterbury Travels commenced its operations 2 months back, in
Hometown, located in North Central US, residing a population of 50000.
There were 2 competitors during its market entry- Holiday travels and
Leisure Tours, which had a strong foothold in the market. Owner
Roxanne Freeman wants to know more about the business Hometown
offers and also the effectiveness of her advertising by measuring the
awareness level about Canterbury Travels. So she needs to conduct a
survey to measure these dimensions, which would affect the way
Canterbury Travels conducts its business.

Symptoms
Our discussion with Roxanne Freeman yielded the following symptoms,
currently faced by Canterbury Travels-

 Low demand for travel options by residents of Hometown.

 Many customers ordering through established competitors in the
market.

Problem Definition
To understand the travel business in Hometown with Volumetric and
Monetary scales, and to measure the effectiveness of advertisement,
through measurement of the level of awareness about Canterbury
Travels in Hometown.

Objectives

 To determine the total volume of travel business in Hometown.

 To determine the awareness level about Canterbury Travels, in
Hometown.

Research Design
This Market Research would be carried out in two phases. The first phase
would consist of secondary research. In this phase we will analyse the
trends and predictions laid down by the travel industry’s prominent

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6A Consulting Group
research reports, on US Travel Industry and Consumer Behaviour –as of
December 2014, issued by industry’s top research agencies such as Euro
monitor, BCG, AT Kearney, Frost & Sullivan and TRC market research.
These reports will provide us with the market structure and dynamics
that are currently prevalent in the travel industry of United States of
America. The inferences and deductions from these reports will be used
to enlist the variables that affect the effectiveness of advertising in US
travel market. After collecting and analysing this information concluded

by secondary research, we would move onto the next phase of this study.

The second phase will be primary market research which would

comprise of an exploratory study and descriptive studies. Through the
exploratory study, we would give you direct consumer insights from the
residents of Hometown. These insights shall be recorded (in video
format) by our team, in form of in-depth interviews and focus-group
interviews, and shall be available to your top-management for the
authentication of the final report. With the descriptive study, we will
establish relationships between various factors found in the above
research and highlight the relative importance of each variable, thereby
catalysing your business decision. These factors and variable will be
analysed with the help of analytical tools, and provide you with the
research findings in final research report, which shall assist in an
informed decision making.

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6A Consulting Group
Research Hypothesis

Post Explorative study, our team will come up with various Hypotheses in
order to establish a relationship among the concerned factors affecting
the effectiveness of advertisement of Canterbury Travels. In order to
assist you, we postulate following dummy hypotheses-

Hypothesis 1: Online presence has a positive effect on choosing a travel

agency.

Hypothesis 2: Maintaining a Social Media presence has a positive effect

on choosing a travel agency.

The results from the analytical tools will lay the foundation of proving the
hypothesis, thereby making the research conclusive in nature, which
further will help in an improved decision making.

Selection of Sample
The team will use various Data mining techniques in order to contact the
Hometown residents who are using travel agencies for their travel
purposes. Also, residents who are not using the travel agencies for their
travel purposes shall also be contacted. In order to get a holistic
approach for the business problem, the team will select a sample that
caters to the major demographics and psychographics across the target
group. In no case the identity of Canterbury Travels shall be revealed to
the respondents.

Data Gathering

Data Analysis and Evaluation

Our team, comprising of enthusiastic and dedicated professionals, is
adequately equipped with the mathematical and analytical tools to assess
the gathered data. The analytical tool that shall be used is SPSS. The
mathematical and analytical techniques that shall be used for the
research are- Regression technique, Delhi Method, Weight analysis, Factor
analysis, Analysis Hierarchy method, to name a few. In order to assist you,
we provide you the following dummy tables-

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 Relative Importance of Dummy Variables

Key Success Importance Grade Standard Importance

factors Deviation percentage
Dummy Variable 1 .87 1.5 59
Dummy Variable 2 1.72 .98 91
Dummy Variable 3 1.29 .45 28

Weight of Dummy Variable 1

Dummy Dummy Dummy Geometri Weight Consisten

Variable Variable Variable c Mean cy Ratio
1 2 3
Dummy 1 .35 .5 .5 .371
Variable
1
Dummy .65 1 .29 .25 .271
Variable
2
Dummy .28 .32 1 .25 .718
Variable
3

Overall Evaluation
Budgeting

The research is estimated to be carried out within a span of 100

days and in a budget of $13,500. For your assistance, breakup of
the various activities have been shown in the timeline and budget
in the subsequent pages.

Sr. Sequence of Operations Cost/Unit Cost (in $.)

No.
1 Research reports( by BCG & TRC Market research) $ 150.00 $ 300.00
2 Questionnaire design for exploratory study $ 150.00 $ 150.00
3 Questionnaire translation & retranslation for language $ 75.00 $ 100.00
verification
4 Pilot testing of questionnaire for exploratory study (20 $ 10.00 $ 200.00
sample)
5 Rephrasing of questionnaire in accordance to pilot testing $ 30.00 $ 30.00
findings

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 6 Sampling Design $ 50.00 $ 50.00

7 Commissioning of Exploratory study questionnaire (200 $ 10.00 $ 2,000.00

sample)
8 Data Analysis & research finding (1 week) $ 1,000.00 $ 1,000.00
9 Formulation of objectives and hypotheses for descriptive $ 35.00 $ 35.00
study
10 Questionnaire design for descriptive study $ 150.00 $ 150.00
11 Questionnaire translation & retranslation for language $ 75.00 $ 150.00
verification
12 Pilot testing of questionnaire for descriptive study (20 $ 10.00 $ 200.00
sample)
13 Rephrasing of questionnaire in accordance to pilot testing $ 30.00 $ 30.00
findings
14 Sampling design $50.00 $50.00
15 Commissioning of Exploratory study questionnaire (200 $10.00 $ 2,000.00
sample)
16 Commissioning of Exploratory study $10.00 $1000.00
questionnaire( Secondary sampling units)- if required (100
estimated)
17 Commissioning of Exploratory study questionnaire( Tertiary $10.00 $300.00
sampling units)- if required (30 estimated)
18 Data Analysis & research finding (2 week) $ 2,500.00 $ 5,000.00
19 Final research Report $ 200.00 $ 200.00
Total $ 13,445.00

Timeline

Resear
Questionna Rephrasing Data Questionna Pilot Commissioni Final
ch
ire of Analysi ire design Testing ng of Report
report
Study translation Questionnai s Questionnair

2 5 1 day 4 7 3 25 4
days days days days days days days

3 25 3 5 1 day
7 15 6
days days days days days
6A Consulting Group Objective days
Questionna Pilot Commissioni s& Questionna Rephrasing Data
ire design Testing ng of Hypothes ire of Analysi
translation s
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6A Consulting Group