Kudler fine foods and the relevant market research

Kovacic, et al (2003) wrote a paper about the research they made which details how the group relied on a market research study to see if the product that they would like to sell, kulen in particular, to their target market including European countries like Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Through the market research they were able to find sufficient reason to launch a market test and eventually a full scale export operation, largely because of the use of market research.

Like Kovacic, Kudler Fine Food’s company is also engaged in the sale of organic food to a particular target market. And while Kovacic has not started with the business and Kudler Fine Food already has, it does not make market research any less significant for any of the two.

Kudler Fine Foods was able to put together a very sound marketing strategy and tactics that it uses to further improve its performance in the business front because of its effective implementation of market research.          Without the market research, Kudler Fine Food’s company is close to groping in the dark since the market research provided Kudler Fine Foods company several important information that it needs to know wherein marketing strategy and tactics greatly depend.

Through the inclusion of the inputs of market research Kudler Fine Foods was able to detect not just the significant growth the company is experiencing, but as well as the capability and the viability of the company to finally expand the services. One of the many dilemmas faced by companies is the ability to know for sure when it is the right time to expand as well as to downsize just to ensure that sustainability as well as growth is possible and attainable.

Through the input of the market research, the company was able to know that aside from starting on the correct marketing strategy that enabled the creation of a situation fit for starting company expansion, there are more and better marketing strategies that they can use to improve the performance of Kudler Fine Food in the business front.

The market research also enabled the company to detect areas of development and improvement in operations. This is just as important because different aspects of the business drastically and quickly change. Sometimes, the reason and nature of such changes are reactionary and it is important for companies like Kudler Fine Foods to be able to detect facets of its operation which still needs a shot in the arm and still has a lot of room for improvement.

Market research makes this data available through research and study methodologies that enables Kudler Fine Foods to get inside the minds of its customers, non-customers and even employees and using that opportunity to explore what one thinks is Kudler Fine Food’s weakest link so far that hinders them from operating in a level that is a notch higher.

And finally, the market research also helped the company pinpoint exactly the frequency of the  improving consumer purchase which provided the necessary data to Kudler Fine Foods that the company’s current strategies are making it easier for increased loyalty of its consumers, which in turn results to improved profitability. Market research, after all, is geared in knowing, interpreting and digesting the pulse of the market and tactics and strategies in the future can be maximized if it is directed in the direction that market research points to.

Additional market research is needed in the following areas that include the better profiling of competitors, internal marketing, knowing what both the patrons and non-patrons of Kudler Fine Foods expect from the company in the long and short term future including the introduction of new products or new services, the study of viable partnership or alliances with other companies the partnership of which can provide better revenue and sales performance for both parties involved,

Market research should not always be focused on what a company wants to work on through self assessment; sometimes, it is also important that companies assess themselves by comparing itself as a company to other rival and competitor companies and see the differences as well as the advantages in favor of the rivals and the competitors and why such advantages exist in the first place.

To be able to be consistent in the pursuit of staying ahead, a company must always understand the rival company’s next moves and thwart it or be a step ahead of it, and this can only be done by the integration of a more detailed profiling of rivals based on more market research. Know your enemy is the famous dogmas of every efficient fighter so that you have an improved judgment every time you decide and anticipates the rival’s next moves. While it may not always guarantee that the rival will become totally predictable, it will make your moves more calculated and not something which is loosely and randomly done like strategies done on impulse.

Through the use of correct market research, the money a company spends for its marketing strategies and tactics (including promotions, advertisement, acquisitions, launching of new products, phasing out of old products, re-branding and brand re-positioning, etc) achieves expected goals.

While most market research are generally capable of identifying whether or not a person likes a brand or not, or which particular brand he likes the most and the least; marketing strategy should never forget to cover its own base and make sure that it also knows what the employee wants and the extent of the company employees’ loyalty to the brand or the company’s products or services.

Most market research efforts are focused too rigidly on knowing what customers want that what the employee wants are ignored, forgotten or removed from the equation, which should not be the case since employees, when outside the office, transforms not only into clients and customers but as well as first hand agents of product and service promotion that can ultimately translate into a highly probable long term client. Modern companies are already cognizant of the need for an effective internal marketing program and like external marketing; all a company needs is a market research.

Knowing what both the patrons and non-patrons of Kudler Fine Foods expect from the company in the long and short term future including the introduction of new products or new services is an important (sub) topic of future market research because it can provide a glimpse of where Kudler Fine Foods should go in order for them to maintain the loyalty of its current patrons and to invite more individuals to become customers of the company as well.

The study of viable partnership or alliances with other companies the partnership of which can provide better revenue and sales performance for both parties involved can be assessed better through the use of data from market research. This is a very tricky business and marketing move, but it is doable and can be a potential tool in improving sales, visibility and touching bases with the target market if the alliance is done with a viable partner in a set up that is as much as possible a win-win situation for both parties involved, or if not, with very minimal losses.

Take for example the move of Starbucks and the bookstores and libraries. Starbucks’ willingness to explore the possibility of setting foot on new grounds enabled such a new phenomena that “a growing number of the nation’s 3,700 academic libraries — eager to lure students from wired coffee shops off campus — are following bookstores and public libraries in opening their doors to Starbucks” (Horovitz). The result was an improved brand recall and greater impact on its target market without the use of hard selling and traditional advertising, and its usual costs.

It is important to mention that analyzing the significance of competitive intelligence possessed by Kudler Fine Foods in the development of the company’s marketing strategy and tactics was an important step towards the realization of the potency of such information and how it can help in the shaping and re-shaping of marketing policies so that it suits well with what the company wants to achieve regardless of the action and presence of its competitors.

References:

Horovitz, B. (2008). Something else to check out at library: Starbucks. USA Today.

Retrieved January 12, 2008, from

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-09-27-starbucks_N.htm

Council of American Survey Research Organizations (2001). Importance of Marketing

Research. Retrieved January 12, 2008, from

http://www.casro.org/media/Importance%20of%20Research.pdf

Kovacic, D., Radman, M., Kolega, A., Markovina J, and Karolyi, D. (2003). Export

Marketing of Slavonian Kulen: the Results of Market Research. Retrieved January 12,

2008, from www.agr.hr/smotra/pdf_68/acs68_33.pdf

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