Marketing Research

On
Consumers preferences and behavior in clean processed food products.

The research proposal

Student:

Nguyen Ngoc Quang Nguyen Hanh Huong Nguyen Nu Hoang Anh Duong Hoang Tu

Class : Deadline: Word count:

BBUS 11 Aug 31st 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 10 11

I. Introduction............................. 1. Background.................................. 1.1. Current market review. 1.2. Internal review. 2. Problem statement. II. Research objectives.. .... III. Research method 1. Research design......... 2. Data types and resources........... 3. Data collection method.......... 4. Questionnaire design......... IV. References V. Appendix

I.

Introduction:

1. Background: Masan food Group was established in 2002 in Vietnam by Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang CEO who is the first person bought noodles with chili for Vietnamese people in Russia. Then, he brought Masan come back to Vietnam with 4 main famous consuming products line: soy sauce, fish sauce, noodles and seasoning seeds. Current target customers Masan food are women and house-wifes who always have health-conscious and looking for the fresh and healthy products. A significant practical problem discussed here is the consumer's health is seriously threatened when a variety of food companies have big names like Vinamilk, the use of preservatives or other substances that may cause cancer for consumers: melamine in fresh milk or yogurt, substances in soy sauce 3MPCD, or Dr Thanh tea, Green tea 0*c is not the suspected use of preservatives deadline,... Masan food is a variety of products such as soy sauce does not contain 3MCPD- Tam Thai Tu, or Tien Vua noodle does not contain transfat or not using the oil to fry many times. In six months of 2009, sales reached 1.523 billion Masan Food (up 120% over the same period in 2008) and 285 billion after tax profit (according VCSC) and strong growth has expected to top the sauce and pasta products food immediately. 1.1 Current market review:

In 2005 with the same problem Chinsu defendants have used the substance 3MCPD (a toxin produced in the fermentation process to produce soy sauce, potentially cancercausing) the maximum allowable concentrations. At that time in Vietnam, consumers began to fear for their products are using. Health Department also began an examination and discovered 100 of large companies are using these substances in cancer of their products: Nam Duong, Trung Thanh, Nha Trang, etc .From the Association standards and protect Consumers advised customers to use clean products

and did not use unknown origin products and use no transfat to protect their health. Under these circumstances, Masan food completely denied the information alleged to have used substances in soy sauce 3MCPD, and less than two months late, 9/2007 Masan gave birth to soy sauce Tam Thai Tu and awards announced 1 billion for anyone to find substance in 3 MCPD Chinsu sauce to create trust with customers. Previous efforts have been Masan worthy achievement: Being selected as Vietnam high quality goods in 2010; title "Vietnam 2010 good foods and products," Information and Use "by Vietnam Economic Times certification Date 11/01/2010; Gold Award Brands food safety - Quality Award food safety in 2009 of the Ministry of Health (tienphong online) but the larger idea that profit from sales customers and more than 50% market share of this product.

1.2 Internal review: To keep pace with the dynamic development and significant industry in soy sauce, fish sauce, Masan group has built two new factories in Binh Duong city, a factory with a production line with high technology, a factory specializing in packaging and distribution and a headquartered is located in Ho Chi Minh City. As stated above, fish sauce and noodles Tien Vua are experiencing a high growth in the current market with competitive advantages in quality clean, safe for health and high price high average. But the opportunity to Masan to dominate market share in the consumer goods industry is not small, with the market segment not only for housewives from 25 to 50 years old, but also split the market to focus on youth (10 to 25 year olds) who tend to work a lot less time ( Omachi, Tien Vua product as a sample). Besides Masan group has also organized campaigns to raise brand as propagand the use of organic produce, have health benefits or becoming a sponsor of the cooking programs on broadcast like "Mon an ngon "- VTV3, Vao bep moi ngay - HTV, to enhance the brandname and build up the trust products to consumers.

2. Problem statement: In order to improve and perfect the product to meet the satisfaction of consumers. Marketing research determined that the information surrounding the product, pricing and communication of Soya sauce, fish sauce Tam Thai Tu , Chinsu and Tien Vua noodle in relation to other products is available on the market to identify the thoughts, opinions and expectations of customers for these products. For from this study will be the company to market a good product to our customers.

Decision alternatives: after getting to know the consumer insights, product modification will be made on such attributes such as: tastes, packaging, price, promotional efforts and distribution network to create product that suitable for the customers.

II. Research objectives:

Target respondent: Vietnamese people at all ages group in Hanoi. For the purpose of exploring new clean processed food, target respondents can be divided into users and non-users of Masans products. Types of information-construct: Frequency of purchasing processed food (such as instant noodle and fish sauce) Reasons for food consumption. Products features influencing purchasing decision. Preferred distribution channels. Distribution channels features influencing purchasing decision. Level of brand awareness. Level of satisfaction on clean processed foods. Reasons for purchasing Masan. Unit of measurement: Ratio questions are measured using 5-point scale from 1= poor/very unimportant/strongly disagree to 5 = excellent/very important/strongly agree. For multiple choice questions, frequencies are used as unit of measurement.

Objectives: The research attempt to determine: The important reason that influence people to consume processed foods (noodle or fish sauce) Whether there are any differences in purchasing decision between people who purchase foods themselves with those who do not. Find out the relationship between demographic characteristic (age, gender) and behavioral characteristic (food consumption per week) of targeted customers with food consumption and purchasing decision.

Find out which distribution channels can reach customers the most and what factors affecting the choice of channel. Testing the brand awareness of targeted consumers about food like noodle and fish sauce in general and Masan in particular. Assessing the current perceived performance of Masans food by targeted customers. Whether the consumption of processed products is influenced by preservative substances or by other factors.

III. Research method:

The methodology that will be applied by the study has been chosen in order to acquire information and deduce conclusions about the preference of using clean processed food products.

1. Research design:

Two different categories of research design are used including exploratory and descriptive design. 1.1 Exploratory design In this design, secondary data is collected through reports of prestigious Market Survey companies like TNS Vietnam, or through other particular websites to get better understanding about the overview of Vietnam current processed food market and verify the practical opportunities for clean product development. Firstly, according to a journal of Saga website, we can forecast the future growth for the processed food in general and clean product sector in particular. Screening other report of foodexvietnam.com website on Vietnam market and inspecting the success of other food making companies such as Kinhdo, Vissan and Unilever, the potentiality of successfully targeting young consumer segment is realized. Then, though TNS report and review of internal marketing campaign with the strong brand value and current product growth, the opportunity to target new segment of customers is identified. 1.2 Descriptive design

Cross-sectional study or the sample survey, more specifically, is deployed to gather information about preferences and behaviors in consumption of clean processed food of a sample population

2. Data types and resources:

For the purpose of this research, and in order to achieve the objectives will be collected and will be used both primary and secondary data. The secondary data will contribute toward the formation of background information, needed by both the researcher in order to build constructively the project and the reader to comprehend more thoroughly the survey outcome. Published data of various entities and websites such as foodexvietnam.com and trade organization and syndicated services data provided by firm that collect data in a standardized format like TNS Vietnam. Primary data will be collected by questionnaire survey. It will be conducted in 2 ways: online survey and directly mall survey with customers visiting supermarket.

3. Data collection method

The research objectives are testing all age-groups of people about processed food consumption and purchasing behavior. Questionnaire designed to collect data in order to answer the problem in terms of a survey. Apart from the secondary data which were formed from the Internet and journals, the survey is aimed to get the primary data from 100 people at all ages in Hanoi. Basically, research is conducted with the use of two methods: mall survey and online survey. As processed food is a daily consumption product, the mall survey is used to easily get accessed to the targeted respondents. In addition, the company can quickly obtain information from respondents and increases the effectiveness of information gotten because it is a great advantage to interview respondents in the same settings in which they purchase the product, the mall and supermarket in this situation, and to have them see and hold the product instead of looking at an image on a computer screen. The mall survey is also beneficial because of face-to-face interaction so that the interviewer can guide the respondents in answering the survey. Moreover, it is an opportunity for researchers to test the effectiveness of mall as a distribution channel. On the other hand, online survey is able to compensate the disadvantages from the mall survey, which is costly and human bias, when the survey is delivered in exactly the same

manner in all instances for all respondents. The greatest benefit of online survey is low cost with larger geographic boundary, as well as this type of collection mode brings the ease, flexibility and convenience to the respondent. An important thing is the large majority of young Vietnamese have internet access so that is easier for researchers to get the access to a large number of respondents. The questionnaire is posted and spread over social network and on the online survey website

4. Questionnaire design:

The questionnaire is designed to gather information about behavior and attitudes of both the users and non-users of processed food products. It begins with the introduction and screening questions to warm-up. The flow will continue with mediumto-difficult questions to test the behavior and preference in the clean products in general and one question to classify the awareness of Masans customers in particular. The personal information request will be left at the end of the survey due to privacy issue.

Qs 1

Types close-ended: multiple categories

Objectives

Explanation 20 (teenagers), 20-30

Clarify respondents age Under group

(youths and early marriage), 31-50 (adult), 51 and above (the elderly) different attitudes and lifestyle with skipped. different beverage preferences, this age group is

close-ended: dichotomous

Specify

gender

of In order to identify any differences in preferences and attitudes between male and female.

respondents

close-ended: multiple

Frequency of consumption

Identify how much respondents consume per week so that marketers can adjust volume

category -

packaging and forecast sales. Sort respondents into different groups for the behaviour specification purpose.

Close-ended: multiple categories

Clarify

the

main -

To identify who is the actual customers who make purchase This also helps to identify differences in purchasing behavior of people if they purchase by themselves with those do not.

customers (who make decision to purchase). -

Interval scale

The important reasons that influence customers to consume products.

Factors are chosen by analyzing the common reasons of consumers for using processed food.

close-ended: multiple categories

Find out preferred channel of targeted customers. To test the

Testing the effectiveness of retail channels - those are channels that consumers mostly buy drinks from.

7&8 Open-ended

brand Respondents recall names of 3 helps marketers to see if there are any brands that are already positioned in customers mind.

awareness of targeted brands from their memories. This respondents.

Close-ended: dichotomous

To test the awareness If respondents said no, then they of targeted respondents may be do not care about the about problem. the main problem.

10

Close-ended: dichotomous

To test the knowledge Assessing the current perceived of respondents about performance of Masans food by our products. targeted customers

11

Close-ended: dichotomous

Main question, to test Whether influences of

the

consumption

of

the processed products is influenced by factors

problem to purchasing preservative substances or by other decision of customers.

Note: For question with the answer "others", consumers can list out other reasons for the questions asked. This is for the purpose to identify any factor that is not recognised by the researchers.

The questionnaire is attached in Appendix 1

REFERENCES

1. TNS Vietnam, 2010, Vietnam consumer report 2010, Hanoi, Vietnam, [online]. Available at: http://www.amchamvietnam.com/(accessed 1st January, 2010).

2. Foodex Vietnam, 2011, [online]. Available at: http://foodexvietnam.com/vn (accessed August, 2011).

3. Saga, 2009, Vietnam food making report Q2 2009, [online]. Available at: http://www.saga.vn/Chuoigiatri/nghiencuuvaphattrien/8821.saga (accessed September, 2009).

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Please indicate your age: a. 10-19 b. 31-50 2. Your gender: a. Male b. Female c. 20-30 d. 51 and above

3. How often do you consume processed food products?

a. Rarely b. 1-3 times a week

c. 4-6 times a week d. everyday

4. Who usually makes decision of purchasing processed food for you? a. Family members b. Yourself c. Your friends d. Others .

5. How important are the following factors for purchasing fruit drink? (Tick one column per row) Factors Very Unimpor tant Taste Nutritional Value Visual appeal of packaging Price Advertisements Brand Whether chemical ingredient harmful of not Other is the Unimportant Neutral Importan t Very Important

6. Which is your most preferred place for purchasing processed food products? a. Retail store c. Restaurant b. Supermarket/hypermarket d. Others (Please specify)__________________

7. Name any three brands of fish sauce in your mind at this moment: 1.________________ 2.______________ 3.________________ 8. Name any three brands of noodles in your mind at this moment: 1.________________ 2.______________ 3.________________

9. Have you ever heard about processed food products that contained toxic preservative substance? a. Yes b. No

10. Do you know that products of Masan group (such as Tien Vua noodles or Chinsu fish sauce) are clean and do not contain toxic preservative substance? a. Yes b. No

11. Do you prefer to use the cleaner and safer processed food products? a. Yes b. No

12. Personal details: a. Name: b. Phone: c. Email address:

- Thank you for your support -