To help with our research we conducted a telephone survey because this method can be used over a wide area, is one of the cheapest and very fast. We obtained some random telephone numbers from 2 local areas because 1 area is near to the centre and second area is with some big houses and garden and theses areas as are core area use in the survey. We conducted this survey because we wanted to ask the local people that are going to support this local independent garden centre their views.

We tried to keep our survey short to get quick answers and we also ask encourage people to give us answers off all question by entering them in new garden centre draw for i?? 100 vouchers to spend in garden centre. We conducted this survey with 80 local random people, within all age’s groups, asking them “Would they going support new independent garden centre”? “What would they like to see in garden centre form which our team analysis the data and 51% people were agreeing to support this new garden center but 19% people were disagreeing on putting a new garden centre and 10% people were not sure about the garden centre.

Mail surveys The mail survey is one of the most appropriate ways to gather primary data. It was another cheap method and it’s easy to analyze, although this method was really slow to collect our data. In this survey our team produces a short and quick questionnaire with a pre-paid / pre- addressed return envelope, a covering letter and entry to a free prize draw(as an incentive) because people don’t like to spend money and we mailed it in 2 selected areas with high population which are based 1 mile from the new garden centre. We sent this to 200 people in both local areas.

From those local areas 64% people in favor of independent garden supporting new garden centre area and 46% people were against or some are not sure about new independent garden centre. I used following Secondary research methods: Sales figure This method was really easy and useful for are research because it’s contains information about sales and profit figures of our competitors and we found the information on their website. We research all the services and products provided from our competitors and try to find out which service and product them not doing well.

Our team also looked at their annual account figure for last 2 years; the report showed us that company has gone in 10% loss from last year. We also looked at their sales figure, the sales figure was high 17% on garden furniture from last year but it was down 21% on footwear and clothing. So our team comes to conclusion that the new garden centre will try to up sell on footwear and clothing. We also looked at sales figures from different area customers there has been a downfall from customers leave 5 miles away from the garden centre.

Website monitoring Our team monitors the website of Wyevale for 1 week. This method was one the important part of our research because this method helps to find out how many people shop at Wyevale online. We also try to find out what kind of product they sell on internet which they don’t sell in the store. We monitored what products people more like to buy form internet for example garden tools people more like to buy gardens tool because when we compare the prices from store to internet their was a big difference for example hand multi ladder is i??

89. 99 in store but online i?? 69. 99 it which attract customers to buy that product online. We also monitored what ages customer likes to shop online 76% customers are ages 60-80 and 33% are aged between 20-50, When we monitored the site we took some e-mail ID’s and e-mail a short survey which we send through to post before. We also ask them do they like Wyevale website, 81% people said they liked the website and 19% people who don’t like or not sure about it.

P2- Explain the context which different marketing research methods are appropriate I used following primary and secondary research methods: Mystery shopping: To get good and positive results we use Mystery shopping method. We used this method because this is one of the fast and easy ways to collect and analyse data. This research method will help us to finalize our decision of having the new garden centre. Two members of our team visited the Wyevale garden centre which is just 1 mile away form the new garden centre.

First shopper went into Plants and flower department, in that department he looked at the different types of plants and flower for example he looked at how many type of plants were their and how they were displayed in the shop. Second shopper went to the tool and equipment department and he looked at type of tools and equipments they were selling. He looked at the tools which are displayed on the shop but most the tool is old designed and high priced. Some machinery for example Blowers & Vacuums Wyevale only has 2 types of blowers and vacuums which are quit costly.

Then the mystery shopper asked the one the staff member about the new pumps the employee was unable to tell the shopper where are the pumps are displayed. Then we asked the employee about the functions of one of the vacuum he was unable to explain the function and he was looking nervous while he was trying explaining. Our shoppers compare the prices from internet and shop there was a big difference for example the garden lighting in the store is i?? 16. 99 but on internet it’s i?? 9. 99.

In the end our team analyse the data and which showed us that Wyevale don’t sell all the products in the stores they only sell via internet and they sell cheaper online not in the store. After looking at the data we come to our decision that there should be a new garden centre. Company report: To get better results and to make are decision easy. We looked at local Wyevale annual report of 2007. In March 2007 Wyevale introduce new birds and animal department in the garden centre which really helped the centre because they were the first to introduce birds and animal care and pet accessories.

Which was something new for the customer Wyevale provides extra support for elderly people who have pets and look after them which attracts more customers and which also boost the centre profits. In the report we also find out that their was a huge staff turn over in September because many employees went back to school and colleges and it effected the centre because they have to recruit new staff and train them which cost the company money and time.

In April 2007 the garden centre changed the layout of the centre and introduces a cafe and golf club for customers especially for old people so they can come again and again to the centre to spend more time which help the company profit to got up but in the same month the centre stopped providing service on outdoor heating because from last 8 months the sales for the products was really bad and it was over stocked so centre stopped selling the outdoor heating product .

In July 2007 they introduce summer houses but that didn’t do well enough because the price was quite high and most the customers in that are a are aged over 60 who not interested in summer house too much . In December the garden centre had good time because they introduced new Christmas products. The products are quite modern and cheap which attracts more customers and the centre end up with good sales figure.

After look at the company report we found out their has been some major changes in year 2007 and we found out that they had bad year from 2006 and form which our team came to the decision that we should have the new garden centre and centre should provide the products and services on which Wyevale are down. Face to face: To make a final decision our teams did one more research by using face to face method because we need to get views of the people about new independent. One of our team members of our team did this research.

First member conduct this research outside the Wyevale garden centre he asked the customers about their shopping experiences at Wyevale garden centre. Our team member asked the customers to complete a small questionnaire. We asked them a set of question about the new independent garden centre for example we asked them “what would they like to see in new garden centre? ” 26% people ask for a restaurant and a cafe. To encourage people to complete questionnaire we entered them in a small contest for i?? 100 vouchers.

We also asked them question about how the customer service in Wyevale garden centre 35% people gave bad reviews about the customer service. We also asked them “is it value of money? ” 54% customers said “no”. We also asked some people about “how long does is take them they travel to the garden centre 74% people said 35mintues which is a advantage for our new garden centre because our garden centre is just 10mintues away from main town centre. To come to our final decision we analysed the data and we come to our decision that we should have the independent garden centre.