To identify whether the existing customers have recommended Fresh Asia to others, and the possible reasons for not recommending it;
     To confirm whether the existing customers will recommend Fresh Asia to others, and the possible reasons for not recommending it;
     To identify consumption frequency of specific grocery products of target population;
     To reveal grocery product preference of target customers;
     To examine customers’ evaluation on current product mix;
     To explore the alternatives to modify the current product mix in order to customers’ needs and wants more effectively and profitably.
Section B    Research Design
     Data sources and data types
To address the first research question, we need to collect secondary data about the main factors affecting floor traffic in a retail environment and major promotional tools available. Secondary data sources such as e-library will be exploited. Other state-of-mind data (e.g. customer evaluation of current product mix), state-of-behaviour data (e.g. shopped in the store before), state-of-intention data (e.g. recommend it to friends in the future) and state-of-being data (e.g. student nationality) will be collected through primary research.
     Research design
In this case, exploratory design is not necessary before pilot fieldwork, because researchers have clear knowledge about business context of Fresh Asia and possible reasons causing the two management problems. Meanwhile, research questions and information requirements are developed without too much difficulty. Exploratory research which focuses on establishing preliminary ideas about research problems or hypotheses will not be used prior to pilot fieldwork. Nonetheless, if unexpected concepts or unclear perspectives are raised during pilot fieldwork or formal data collection, we may use exploratory design to find further information. Additionally, it can be seen from the research questions that majority of information required in this research is not about specific causal relationships, which implies that formal causal research design will not be employed, neither.
Both research problems will be addressed with descriptive research design. In terms of customer traffic problem, we need a thorough description and identification about factors affecting floor traffic, consumer awareness among target population and effective promotional tools to address this problem. For the second research problem, ascertaining and understanding target customers’ preference about grocery products is the key to enhance business performance. All those points towards a descriptive nature of information needed.
More specifically, a single cross-sectional approach will be used for the project. The first research problem is short-term oriented with the aim to increase current customer traffic at this moment of time. One relatively large sample drawn from the target population can provide enough data and information to design marketing strategies to attract more consumers. The second research problem involves both customers’ current preferences and future preference changes as time passes by. Thus, a longitudinal research design seems to be more proper for the second problem. However, considering time and budget constraints, the firm cannot afford to employ professional researchers for a long period of time. Maybe in the future, the firm can use the questionnaire we designed for it to measure the preference system of a fixed sample of international students periodically (e.g., once every month) in order to detect changes in customer needs (such as different wants in different seasons).