Market Research Project

Katie Basham

Lindsay Evans

Michael Fredrick

Mana Hildenbrandt

Andrew Mullis

Mitch Tharp

Wheeler Painter

• Research Proposal

• Introduction/Background- Katie

• Purpose/Explanation- Mana

• Methodology- Michael

• Research/Statistical Analysis- Wheeler, Andrew, Mitch

• Limitations- Katie

• Conclusions/Recommendations- Mana

Introduction

• One of Bowling Green’s most successful tanning salons

• 15 Different locations

• Founded on the idea of outstanding customer service

• Four C’s of Express Tan (Cleanliness, customer service, consistency, Communication)

Background

• Our group identified strategic issues for Express Tan

• Detailed survey based on hypotheses was then formed and distributed

• Use of qualitative and quantitative data

• Personal observation of current customers

• Data analysis

Purpose of Research

• To provide analyzed data on what past, present, and future customers expect from Express Tan

• To give insight into the target market

• To understand company marketing issues

• To offer Express Tan information to effectively market it’s business

Executive SummaryResearch Objectives•Identify the areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for Express Tan’s marketing strategy.

•Determine the awareness amongst potential customers of Express Tan.

•Evaluate factors that could prompt potential customers to utilize the company’s products and services.

•Better understand the regional perception of indoor tanning.

•Measure the satisfaction of customers and potential customers of Express Tan.

•Recognize consumer attitudes towards Express Tan verse competing businesses.

•Generate feedback from the questionnaire to make available to the company.

•Recommend promotional platforms that Express Tan can use to enhance their advertising and customer reach.

Research Methods•The Express Tan Research Group created a questionnaire that would better measure our research objectives; constructed of nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scale questions.

•The data was gathered from Western Kentucky University students, as well as, Express Tan customers and entered into SPSS for analysis.

•The group interpreted and drew conclusions from the data in order to provide Express Tan Salon with reliable recommendations.

Findings•The results from the questionnaire show to be accurate and are easy to interpret.

• The questionnaire results examined a better understanding of the respondent’s attitudes towards indoor tanning and their perceptions of the Express Tan Salons.

• Overall, consumers appear to be satisfied with the company’s products and services.

• The results showed that a younger generation (age 18-29) view indoor tanning in a negative way, yet older generations (age 30+) do not view tanning beds as harmful to their body.

• In correlation, our results showed that younger people (age 18-22) are the ones using tanning salons more frequently.

•The results confirm that a majority of the population feels it is socially acceptable for men to tan and believe that others aremore attractive when they tan.

•Location was concluded to be a deciding factor when choosing a tanning salon. The questionnaire results helped to identify the target market around the Express Tan locations and allowed for our group to give the company suggestions for their promotional platform.

•Decoding the data has showed Sun Tan City to be the biggest competitor of Express Tan.

• The hypothesis is rejected from this analysis because Sun Tan City was chosen as a better tanning facility. However, the test shows that the respondents still think Express Tan is a quality tanning salon option.

Executive Summary

Executive SummaryLimitations•Time and money restrictions caused for an inadequate sample size.

•Although an effort was made to obtain a representative sample of the population, the sample gathered may not be representative of the population. (age group diversity)

•The results of this study may not be able to be generalized. This research provides only initial evidence, additional research should be undertaken to validate the results of this study.

Conclusions•The Express Tan Research Group has recognized how tanning and Express Tan Salon is perceived by the survey respondents.

•In the research analysis, the data concluded that 93% of the individuals who were surveyed have not been exposed to an Express Tan advertisement.

• This identification has lead to a composer of a new marketing strategy for the company.

•Determining the factors that could prompt potential customers to utilize the company’s products and services has helped in future advertising strategies.

•From the results, respondents generally seem to be satisfied with their experience at Express Tan locations. Through the use of the questionnaire, our group has been able to find ways to maintain the current customer base, as well as, target potential new customers.

• During the research process, the Express Tan team faced numerous limitations that we made every effort to prevail over, including:

• Lack of funds

• Time restrictions

• age group diversity

• accurate data predictions

• We altered our strategy several times in order to better our results from the analysis and despite the limitations we encountered, the Express Tan research group feels that we can provide a sufficient amount of information to the company for future use.

Limitations

Hypothesis 1

• The Express Tan Research Group believes age influences the frequency a person goes to a tanning salon.

1. How many visits in 2014?

Frequency Perce

nt

Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Valid never used a

tanning bed

30 30.0 30.0 30.0

less than once a

month

25 25.0 25.0 55.0

1 to 3 19 19.0 19.0 74.0

4 to 7 16 16.0 16.0 90.0

8 to 11 4 4.0 4.0 94.0

more than 11 6 6.0 6.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

26. What is your age?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Valid 18 to 22 79 79.0 79.0 79.0

23 to 29 18 18.0 18.0 97.0

30 to 44 3 3.0 3.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Report

1. how many visits in 2014 26. What is your age?

Mean 2.57 1.24

N 100 100

Std. Deviation 1.465 .495

Hypothesis 2

• The Express Tan Research Group believes that the variety of tanning beds is very important to consumers when determining where to tan.

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

15. Variety is important 100 1 5 2.66 .956

Valid N (list wise) 100

Hypothesis 3

• The Express Tan Research Group believes the longer a customer has to wait in line, the less likely to come back to Express Tan.

Descriptive StatisticsN Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

5. How long to wait for tanning 100 1 4 1.72 .604

20. ET has low wait times 100 1 4 2.23 .874

Valid N (list wise) 100

Hypothesis 4

• The Express Tan Research Group believes that society has a negative perception on the health effects of indoor tanning.

Descriptive StatisticsN Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

3. Indoor tanning is not

harmful

100 1 5 3.84 1.117

Valid N (list wise) 100

Hypothesis 4a

• The Express Tan Research group believes that older consumers do not have a negative perception of tanning.

3. Indoor tanning is not harmful / 26. What is your age?

Cross Tabulation

Count

26. What is your age? Total

18 to 22 23 to 29 30 to 44

3. Indoor tanning is not

harmful

strongly agree 4 0 0 4

agree 9 0 1 10

neutral 11 5 1 17

disagree 30 5 1 36

strongly disagree 25 8 0 33

Total 79 18 3 100

Hypothesis 5

• The Express Tan Research Group believes that having a positive environment at the facility correlates to a positive perception of Express Tan as a tanning option.

18. Express Tan offers clean facilities / 19. Express Tan has friendly staff

Cross TabulationCount

19. ET has friendly staff Total

strongly agree agree neutral disagree

18. ET offers clean

facilities

Strongly agree 26 4 0 0 30

agree 3 21 2 2 28

neutral 1 1 39 0 41

disagree 0 1 0 0 1

Total 30 27 41 2 100

Hypothesis 9

Hypothesis 9: “The Express Tan Research Group believes that the regional population perceives the quality of a tan is greater than the price charged.”

Questions: 6,13

Hypothesis 9

• Question 6

6. “On a monthly basis, how much is the most you would be willing to spend on using a tanning bed in order to maintain a good tan?”

Statistics

6. how much money willing to spend

N

Valid 0

Missing0

Mean2.64

Std. Deviation1.425

6. how much money willing to spend

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Valid

nothing 31 31.0 31.0 31.0

less than 10 20 20.0 20.0 51.0

10 to 15 15 15.0 15.0 66.0

16 to 20 22 22.0 22.0 88.0

more than 20 12 12.0 12.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Hypothesis 9

• Question 13

• 13. “Price is an important factor in determining where I choose to tan”

Statistics

13. price is important

N

Valid100

Missing0

Mean1.60

Std. Deviation.696

13. price is important

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

strongly agree 52 52.0 52.0 52.0

agree 36 36.0 36.0 88.0

neutral 12 12.0 12.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Hypothesis 10

Hypothesis 10: “The Express Tan Research Group believes that people who tan are more attractive.”

-Questions:4, 17

Hypothesis 10

• Question 4

• “I am more attractive when I tan.”

4. tanning = attractive

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

strongly agree 41 41.0 41.0 41.0

agree 31 31.0 31.0 72.0

neutral 15 15.0 15.0 87.0

disagree 5 5.0 5.0 92.0

strongly disagree 8 8.0 8.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Hypothesis 10

• Question 17

“Individuals are more attractive when they tan.”

17. ind. are more attractive when tan

N

Valid

100

Missing

0

Mean

2.27

Std. Deviation

1.162

Hypothesis 11

Hypothesis 11: “The Express Tan Research Group believes that Express Tan is perceived by customers as the best tanning salon.”

-Questions: 11, 24

Hypothesis 11

• Question 11

• “Rank the following tanning salons in Bowling Green from 1 to 4. ‘1’ being the best salon and ‘4’ being the worst.”

11. Sun Tan City- rank

which is the best

tanning salon

11a. Planet Fitness-

rank which is the best

tanning salon

11b. Express Tan- rank

which is the best

tanning salon

11c. No Lines Tanning-

rank which is the best

tanning salon

Mean1.79 2.86 1.88 3.38

N96 97 97 97

Std. Deviation.917 1.041 .820 .822

Hypothesis 12

Hypothesis 12: “The Express Tan Research Group believes that location is a key factor where people choose to tan.”

-Questions: 14, 22

Hypothesis 12

• Question 14

14. Location of establishments is an important factor in determining where I choose to tan.

14. location is important

Mean 2.07

N100

Std. Deviation.832

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

strongly agree26 26.0 26.0 26.0

agree46 46.0 46.0 72.0

neutral23 23.0 23.0 95.0

disagree5 5.0 5.0 100.0

Total100 100.0 100.0

Hypothesis 13

Hypothesis 13: “The Express Tan Research Group believes that customer service is a key indicator when choosing a place of tanning.”

-Questions: 6

Hypothesis 13

• Question 10

• 10. Rank these qualities from 1-5 with 1 being the least important quality you care about when choosing where to tan and 5 being the most important.

___Quality of Beds

___Price

___Location

___Customer Service

___Cleanliness

Hypothesis 13

• Question 10