MS5251 – Research for Marketing Decisions

Group Project

A Marketing Research done on

‘Glacier Park – Ice Cream Parlour’

A service-oriented business

Submitted by

Group 10

MS21A021 Harish Guptha K

MS21A033 L R Kavith
MS21A053 Sharath Ram
MS21A058 Sanjana Anand

Department of Management Studies

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

(March, 2022)

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Contents Page No

1. Abstract 3
2. About Glacier Park 3
3. Step 1: Problem Definition 3
a. Management Decision Problem
i. Secondary Data Analysis - Code and Thematic Analysis
b. Marketing Research Problem
4. Step 2: Developing an Approach to The Problem 12
5. Step 3: Research Design 13
6. Step 4: Data Collection 15
7. Step 5: Analyse Data 16
8. Step 6: Result and Interpretation 17
9. Conclusion 24

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1. Abstract

Customer satisfaction is a debatable and abstract concept. It varies from person to

person and product to product. This concept is also focal to the sales and performance of any
company. In this report, we analyse Glacier Park’s declining sales in the last 3 years. In our
research analysis we use exploratory and descriptive research to provide valuable insights for
Glacier Park.

2. About Glacier Park

Glacier Park is a famous Ice cream outlet serving 93

varieties of delightful ice-creams to customers in
Coimbatore for the past 20 years. It is located at Gandhi
Puram, heart of the Coimbatore City and a commercial
space as well.

Once a popular Ice cream Parlour, Glacier Park has seen

a negative trend in the Customer Footfall in the last 3
years. Marketing research is conducted to Glacier Park
to find the probable root cause and provide suggestions
to improve the sales.

Tools and Techniques Used

● Coding and Thematic Analysis

● Survey Forms
● SPSS Software
● Graphs
● Paired T-Tests
● Chi-Squared Test

Symptoms - Glacier Park has seen a reduction in Customer footfall in the last 2 years

3. Problem Definition

Management Decision Problem - How to improve the sales for Glacier Park?

Secondary Data Analysis - To Analyse the root cause behind the low sales. We conduct
Coding and Thematic Analysis for the reviews taken from Zomato, Google Reviews.

Exploratory Research - Coding and Thematic Analysis

Restaurant Name - Glacier Park, Coimbatore

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Analysis of Qualitative secondary data on Zomato and Google Reviews to identify probable
cause using coding and thematic analysis. Qualitative secondary data is given below from
customers who gave 3 or below ratings:

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5
1) Sharon (Rating 2)

over pricey, not customer friendly, portion sizes are small, nice atmosphere but probably Commented [1]: Over Pricey

won’t spend much time here. garlic pops, French fries 1 handful only, ice cream tastes Commented [2]: Not Customer Friendly

strange like butter Commented [3]: Portion Size are small

Commented [4]: Poor Ambience
2) Akshanyaa (Rating 2) Commented [5]: Ice cream tastes like butter

👍 refreshing snacks and ice creams will be a boost to revitalize your shopping.
👎 Food taste is very average. Commented [6]: Food is very Average

👎 if you are looking for a high-class ice cream experience this place is not for you.
👍Quicker service.
👎Average ambience. Commented [7]: Average Ambience

👍Seating capacity of this place is large.

3) Saloni Singhania (Rating 1.5)

In this 21st century, when you have better places nearby, glacier park is not up to the mark. I
wouldn't want to go there again. No ambience, no taste and only service is nice! Commented [8]: No Ambience
Commented [9]: No Taste
4) Aj (Rating 1)

It's a worst place for ice cream lover... Quality of ice cream they provide you is very bad when Commented [10]: Poor Quality

compared to boomerang. But the cost is same...

5) Aaron Vb (Rating 1)

Very bad taste Commented [11]: Bad Taste

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6) VedaGiri (Rating 1)

taste is very worst Commented [12]: Worst Taste

7) Sampathkumar Sekar (Rating 1)

Must be goodly packed Commented [13]: Poor Packaging

8) Lolitha Anjani (Rating 3)

The taste of burger was good once upon a time but now average. Prices are reasonable. Commented [14]: Burger Taste Average

Ambience is below average. Commented [15]: Average Ambience

Ice creams are good. Sandwiches are fine. Crowded at weekends. Very low lighting. Commented [16]: Low Lighting

Air ventilation is bad. Commented [17]: Air Ventilation is bad

9) Christone Manosa (Rating 1)

Glaciers Park...is gloomy and dark. I do agree it's good for an ice cream parlour. I liked it top. Commented [18]: Gloomy and Dark

But the ice cream they give is very bad quality. The menu list has variety of choices. But Commented [19]: Poor Quality

whatever the choice we make they bring same kinds of flavours mixing in different way. Ice
cream is not up to the mark... gone twice but never had full. Never satisfy ice cream crave.
They have to find better ice cream maker Commented [20]: Poor Food Taste

10) Karthikeyan Sakthivel (Rating 1)

Worst customer service ever. Went to this shop with my wife. Particularly that one person at Commented [21]: Bad/Rude Customer Service

the ice cream counter, the way he approached us as a customer and the choice of his words is
inappropriate. He spoiler our very special day. Bad choice to choose this parlour ...

11) Sweatha Venkat (Rating 1)

Sandwich is not good at all and the foods are also too delayed Commented [22]: Sandwich not good
Commented [23]: Food Served Late
12) Josephine John (Rating 1)

Very poor service. Please keep servers who can speak more politely to the customers. I used to Commented [24]: Impolite to Customers

come often but because of the poor service I'm never gonna come again. Keep losing your Commented [25]: Poor Service

customers... congratulations!

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The comments from the coding and thematic analysis are as follows:

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Sharon Akshanyaa Saloni Aj Aaron Vb VedaGiri
Singhania
Over Food is very No Ambience Poor Quality Bad Taste Worst Taste
Pricey Average

Not
No Taste
Customer
Average
Friendly
Ambience
Portion
Size are
small

Poor
Ambience

Ice cream
tastes like
butter

Sampathkum Lolitha Christone Karthikeya Sweatha Josephine

ar Sekar Anjani Manosa n Sakthivel Venkat John
Poor Burger Taste Gloomy and Bad/Rude Sandwich Impolite to
Packaging Average Dark Customer not good Customers
Service

Average Poor Quality Poor Service

Ambience

Poor Food
Low Lighting Taste

Air
Ventilation is
bad

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Primary Themes Sub-Themes Customer Quotations
Bad Taste Ice cream tastes like butter
(8)

Food is very Average

No Taste

Bad Taste

Worst Taste

Burger Taste Average

Poor Food Taste

Sandwich not good

Poor Service

Poor Ambience/ Physical Gloomy and Dark

Space
(5)
Air Ventilation is bad

Average Ambience

Low Lighting

Poor Ambience

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 No Ambience

Poor Customer Service Not Customer Friendly

(3)
Bad/Rude Customer Service

Impolite to Customers

Poor Service

Low Value/ High Priced Over Pricey

(1)
Portion Size are small

Poor Packaging Poor Packaging

(1)

Poor Quality Poor Quality

(2)

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Marketing Research Problem - To compare product and service quality of glacial park with
its competitors. Identify room for improvement, rectify them and improve sales of Glacial Park.

Research Components

C1: Who are the competitors for Glacier Park?

C2: Dimensions of products offered (Ice Cream, etc.) and Service (in Store and Delivery)

C3: What are the demographics and psychographics of the Glacier Park customers? How does
it differ from competitors?

C4: Comparison with competitors?

C5: Factors influencing customers to opt for ice creams and related products?

4. Developing an Approach to problem

C1 Ans: Boomerang
C2 Theory:
https://www.worldwidejournals.com/paripex/recent_issues_pdf/2014/April/April_2014_1397
566913_01068_54.pdf

C2 Ans:
Service Quality Dimensions - Reliability, Courtesy, Responsiveness, Competence, Access,
Communication
Product Quality Dimensions - Taste, Availability, Colour, Packing, Price, Image, Variety,
Quality, Quantity

RQ1: Do customers feel service quality is important in choosing an ice cream parlour?

H0: Service quality is not important in choosing an ice cream parlour.

H1: Service quality is not important in choosing an ice cream parlour.

RQ2: Determine and compare Glacial Park with Boomerang on the ambience at the ice
cream parlour.
H0: There is no difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the ambience
at the ice cream parlour.

H1: There is a difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the ambience
at the ice cream parlour.

RQ3: How does the taste of ice creams at Glacial Park compare with that of
Boomerang?

H0: Service quality is not important in choosing an ice cream parlour.

H1: Service quality is not important in choosing an ice cream parlour.

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 RQ4: Determine and compare Glacial Park with Boomerang on the price of the
products offered.

H0: There is no difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the ambience
at the ice cream parlour.

H1: There is no difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the ambience
at the ice cream parlour.

5. Research Design

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An exploratory research design has been followed, as the probable cause was not known.
Through our coding and thematic analysis, we identified the probable cause/causes of the
decline in Sales. In order to analyse the problems, we are using descriptive research in the
form of surveys to collect data and answer the research questions.
● Identity and Basic information such as Name, Gender, Age, Income and consumption
were collected to identify association with consumption of ice cream.
● Questions based on the probable causes identified through the coding and thematic
analysis were asked. Dimensions such as Service quality, Ambience, Variety, Taste and
Price were questioned upon using a Likert scale for both Glacier Park and Boomerang
(Competitor - Identified with comparing the location and the type of products served).
● A question “Are you a power ranger?” was added to filter out the response of people
who answer without reading the questions (yes - Reject, No - Accept)
● Lastly, A question on if the respondents would visit Glacier Park again or not was asked
to help identify which among the dimensions lead to their choice of visiting again or
not and needed to be focussed on.
The link for the same is attached here - https://forms.gle/B9HZpVDAv9qE7t9o8

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6. Data Collection
We have done Survey using Google form from 59 respondents, randomly sampled from
the overall population of Glacier Park Customers.

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7. Analyse Data

Using SPSS Software, we analysed the below data collected through the surveys.

The collected data was transferred to SPSS software and necessary conversions of data type
was performed. The data cleaning was performed to ensure the correctness of analysis. The
details of the analysis performed and its results are explained in the next step.

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8. Result and Interpretation

Analysis of the respondents’ basic information and demographics:

We can see that the Gender ratio is almost equal, with 35 male and 24 female
respondents.

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We can see that we have respondents representing all the age groups, however most of
our respondents are from the age group 20-39.

We can see that most of our respondents consume ice cream from than 2 times a month.
This would give us clear results as the respondents know more about the ice cream
parlour and other ice cream parlours and would be in a better position to give us
insights.

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 RQ1: Determine and compare Glacier Park with Boomerang on the service quality at
the ice cream parlour.

H0: There is no difference between the service quality at Glacier Park and Boomerang.

H1: There is no difference between the service quality at Glacier Park and Boomerang.

To analyse the hypothesis, we have done a Paired T-test.

1. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on service quality
specifically with respect to response time, for Glacier Park and that of its competitor,
Boomerang.

From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on response time between Glacier Park and
Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to response time is better for Boomerang.

2. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on service quality
specifically with respect to Communication of staff, for Glacier Park and that of its
competitor, Boomerang.

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 From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on communication of staff between Glacier Park
and Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to communication of staff is better for
Boomerang.

3. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on service quality
specifically with respect to attitude of staff, for Glacier Park and that of its competitor,
Boomerang.

From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on attitude of staff between Glacier Park and

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Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to the attitude of staff is better for Boomerang.

4. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on service quality
specifically with respect to readiness of staff, for Glacier Park and that of its competitor
Boomerang.

From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on readiness of staff between Glacier Park and
Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to the readiness of staff is better for
Boomerang.

RQ2: Determine and compare Glacial Park with Boomerang on the ambience at the ice
cream parlour.
H0: There is no difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the ambience
at the ice cream parlour.

H1: There is a difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the ambience
at the ice cream parlour.

To analyse the same, we have used a Paired T test.

5. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on Ambience
specifically with respect to lighting at the parlour, for Glacier Park and that of its competitor
Boomerang.

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 From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on lighting at the parlour between Glacier Park
and Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to the lighting at the parlour is better for
Boomerang.

6. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on Ambience
specifically with respect to air ventilation at the parlour, for Glacier Park and that of its
competitor Boomerang.

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 From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on air ventilation at the parlour between Glacier
Park and Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to the air ventilation at the parlour is better for
Boomerang.

7. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on Ambience
specifically with respect to spaciousness at the parlour, for Glacier Park and that of its
competitor Boomerang.

From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on spaciousness between Glacier Park and
Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to the spaciousness at the parlour is better for
Boomerang.

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8. A Paired T-Test has been used to compare the means of the rating given on Ambience
specifically with respect to cleanliness at the parlour, for Glacier Park and that of its
competitor Boomerang.

From the T-Test, we can conclude that the p value is lesser than the alpha value and
therefore the test is significant. We can thus say that the null hypothesis can be rejected and
there is a difference in the means of the rating on cleanliness between Glacier Park and
Boomerang. The mean rating of Boomerang is greater than that of Glacier Park, which
indicates that customer satisfaction with respect to the cleanliness at the parlour is better for
Boomerang.

9. A Chi Square Test has been used to check for association between Gender and Rating
given for the taste of ice creams at Glacier Park.

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 It can be seen that there is no association between the Gender and the rating for taste of
ice creams at Glacier Park.

RQ3: Does individual annual income have any association with the consumption of ice
cream?
H0: There is no difference in the taste of ice creams between Glacier Park and Boomerang.
H1: There is a difference in the taste of ice creams between Glacier Park and Boomerang.
To analyse the same, we have done a Chi-square test.
10. A Chi Square Test has been used to check for association between Income and consumption
of ice creams.

It can be seen that there is no association between the Income and consumption of ice
creams.
RQ3: How does the taste of ice creams at Glacier Park compare with that of
Boomerang?
H0: There is no difference in the taste of ice creams between Glacier Park and Boomerang.
H1: There is a difference in the taste of ice creams between Glacier Park and Boomerang.
For this, we have compared the means of the rating given on taste.

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11. Comparing the rating given for taste of ice creams at Glacier Park and Boomerang.

We can see that the mean rating of Ice cream taste at Glacier Park is lower than that of
Boomerang. Boomerang has a mean rating of 4.54 as compared to Glacier Park with a rating
of 2.94.

Thus the null hypothesis is rejected and there is a difference in the means of the
rating given to taste of ice cream at Glacier Park and Boomerang.

RQ4: Determine and compare Glacial Park with Boomerang on the price of the products
offered.

H0: There is no difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the price of
the ice cream at the parlour.

H1: There is no difference between Glacial Park and Boomerang with respect to the price of
the ice cream at the parlour.

We can see that about 70% of our respondents feel that the ice creams are overpriced as
compared to Boomerang, while 30% think that the pricing is similar or under-priced.

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From the sample of respondents, we can see that there is a difference in the pricing of
ice creams between Glaciers Park and Boomerang. Assuming that the sample is
representative of the population.

12. Comparing the variety of ice creams at Boomerang and Glacier Park, the result of analysis
denotes the percentage of respondents, filtering based on those who had consumed ice
cream from Glacier Park in the last 6 months. It is seen that the majority of the respondents
either say that the variety of ice creams at Glacier Park and Boomerang are equal or that
Boomerang has more variety than that of Glacier Park.

13. Lastly, we had asked the respondents to rank the factors that are important in choosing an
ice cream parlour from the most important to the least. The factors being: Product taste,
Price, Service Quality, Ambience, Variety.

Based on the responses received, the ranking of the factors from the most important to
the least is as follows - 1. Product taste, 2. Price, 3. Ambience, 4. Variety, 5. Service Quality.

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9. Conclusion

The various dimensions of product and service quality for ice cream parlour were
discussed. The coding and thematic analysis was performed to explore the reasons behind the
fall in the sales of Glacier Park. Based on the reviews, few dimensions were taken into
consideration for analysis and the responses were collected from the customers with respect to
Boomerang as one of the competitors. Later, the responses were analysed to test the hypothesis
using the SPSS tool. The following are the takeaways for Glacier Park,

1. Glacier Park is not performing well in terms of response time, communication, attitude
and readiness of staff when compared with Boomerang.
2. The place is not lit well and the rating for air ventilation is low for Glacier Park with
respect to Boomerang.
3. The parlour is standing relatively low in terms of spaciousness and cleanliness as well
when compared with Boomerang.

The responses were also tested for association between Gender and Rating given for
taste of the ice cream & between the Income and Consumption of ice cream to understand the
market characteristics. But there were no such associations.

Also, the mean rating for taste of ice cream at Glacier Park is lower than Boomerang.
Finally, the variety of ice creams as a factor was tested but most of the respondents were
indifferent between Glacier Park and Boomerang.

-----------------------------------------------Thank you--------------------------------------------------

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