AboutChris Hawkes Expertise I can help people to understand whether or not market research might help them address the
business decisions that they are facing. I can also help them consider the different types of
research that might be appropriate in their situation, and can help them estimate the costs of
the different methdologies, and the pros and cons of each approach.
Experience I've worked in a Fortune 500 company, as a market researcher for the last 8 years. I've managed dozens of qualitative and quantitative market research. I've conducted extensive market research in the US, and in over 20 other countries around the world as well.
Organizations American Marketing Association
Publications MarketResearch101.com and EzineArticles.
Education/Credentials I have a degree in Finance, which I realy haven't ever used, except to try to understand how my mortgage payments were calculated.
Expert: Chris Hawkes Date: 11/28/2007 Subject: Research Question
Question QUESTION: I am doing a research proposal for college and have to come up with a marketing question. The area I am looking at is the baby car seat market. I am proposing that there is a niche in the Irish market for the development of a car seat specialized for obese children as there is not one already marketed towards them. I am just wondering if you would be able to suggest a research question for this?...as the ones I am forming are too vague and are research questions and not marketing questions.
Thanks
ANSWER: Hello John,
We're not really here to help out with students, but I'll give you a few ideas. The truth is that this is where things get a little bit vague, depending on who you're working for. Some people want to see 10 objectives and others want those boiled down into 2-3. I'm a simplicity guy and believe that fewer objectives means that you've done good work to avoid 'boiling the ocean' - which is the kiss of death for a MR project. Anyway, that's my philosophy.
If this were my project I'd probably say that the marketing problem is:
Is this market sufficiently large to justify the development of a product?
Could the same product be leveraged into the US market?
How could a car seat for fat children be marketed and messaged to hit the right target customer without offending them?
The research objectives might be something along these lines:
Is there a recognized need for babyseats in Ireland for large babies?
What are the unique needs of this target? (weigh requirements, additional reinforcements for strength in a crash, special mobility requirements - how are these large babies moved?)
(if you wanted to touch on naming - what types of names of this product would communicate it's capabilities without causing embarrassment?)
Let me know if I missed the mark with these suggestions - and I'll try again. By the way, if you want to thank me you could mention the website www.marketresearch101.com in class and we'd be even. I'm trying to get the word out - and there's some great info out there.
Thanks,
Chris Hawkes
MarketResearch101.com
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks, that makes it a bit clearer. One more question if you were going to undertake this research, what research methods would you use????and would the sample just be the parents, grandparents and childminders or would you use pediatrician and other experts as well???
nd I'll spread the word about the website no problem.
Answer You ask some good questions, John. You'll make a good researcher if you decide to go that way!
I'll answer the easy part first - I think that a couple of pediatricians should be able to give you some good overall information (weights/heights/ages) which I would think he would have off the top of his head. Then he could give you an idea of how many parents are unhappy with the current products for these overweight kids. Even a bit of a concept test might make sense. That move should save you a lot of interviews with parents. Then you would want to talk to some parents (the ones who would chose the car seats) and ask them if they have any complaints or wishes about their current car seats. If they say yes, and you have a physical concept or at least an artists rendering of what it might look like and how it would function that would be great. You'll probably ask them for a price and they'll ask for it to be the same as all others - and you'll have to explain that they'll be more expensive and you might want to have a ballpark number to understand the level of dissatisfaction (do they just want to complain about it, or would they reach into their back pocket to solve the problem).
I would probably do the pediatricians by phone or phone/web - unless you could easily do them face to face. I would definitely want to have some parent/child visits in person to see the processes and the challenges in the usage of child seats that were too small for the child. You could also do some mini-focus groups - although I'd lean towards a one-on-one discussions.
Does that help? Does that make sense with what you were thinking?
PS - thanks for the help in getting the word out - I really, really appreciate that.
Chris Hawkes
MarketResearch101.com
PS - if you send me your address I'll send you a little tchachka as a thankyou for helping me to get the word out. (a nice USB drive with MR101 on it).
