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Marketplace research and information services |
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MARKET RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS SERVICES HRA is an industry leader in providing the store-level research and analysis essential to keeping your business viable and profitable. We help you discover what motivates your customers to visit your locations as well as what keeps them coming back. We will help you understand how your customers perceive your business and exactly how they use it. We can measure the satisfaction levels of your customers and employees. We conduct mystery shops to ensure efficient compliance with product or merchandising promotions. We can determine your level of success vis-à-vis the competition through price sensitivity, product awareness, and advertising studies and analysis. We employ all proven methods for conducting market research, e.g., customer intercept studies, phone surveys, etc. In addition, we use our own innovative methods such as hand-held computer data collection and web-based surveying. If your market research requires interviewing customers, we can design the questionnaire, arrange, schedule and supervise the fieldwork, process and analyze the results, and present conclusions and recommendations.
Advertising Recall and Awareness HRA’s experience in this arena focuses on recall and awareness of advertisements aired in unique/special media locations such as cinemas and in-store television units. These types of recall situations typically entail the use of exit interviews with viewers (who are unaware of the research prior to viewing the trailer/advertisement). Acquisition and Alliance ConsultingWhen our clients are interested in evaluating the possibility of acquiring another retail chain, or of forming a new business alliance, HR and Associates provides research and expert advice and analysis on issues such as cross-over usage, revenue-generating opportunities and sales cannibalization. Competitor AnalysisIn the retail industry, it is critical to benchmark the activities of your competitors. HRA provides leading-edge analytical benchmarking tools that help our clients gain this competitive advantage in their marketplaces. We help organizations by assessing and analyzing competitive strategic and tactical efforts. Our analyses bring to light “best practices” used to enhance productivity in your industry, and we identify superior performance that drives superior results. In addition, we employ merchandising and pricing audits to keep our clients abreast of competitive activity. Customer and Employee Satisfaction StudiesNothing is more important to success than hearing and understanding the voices of the customer and the employee. Knowing customer needs and expectations is crucial in both designing products and services and in monitoring performance. HR and Associates designs customer and employee satisfaction measurement systems that ask the right questions to discover critical attitudes and preferences. We assist clients with an array of services ranging from exit interviews and surveys to discreet observational studies and more. We help clients determine what to measure and what service levels to achieve. We also provide the most effective means for collecting and analyzing data to monitor performance. Customer Intercept StudiesIn addition to our expertise in impact studies, HRA is a leader in customer intercept studies for retail outlets. These studies are used to address a wide range of issues, such as customer usage and preferences, frequency of visits and travel patterns within the area of the outlet. Customer ProfilingCustomer Profiling enables our clients to better understand the characteristics of their customer base. Utilizing existing, syndicated data as well as custom data, we can help you examine and compare specific elements of customer segments (such as demographics, consumption/usage patterns, lifestyle factors, etc.) to provide better understanding and targeting of core and potential customers. Data Collection ServicesHRA provides cost-effective solutions to meet your data gathering needs, project schedule, and budget. Wherever possible, we use standard commercially available hardware and software, but we can also provide electronic design and software development services to create a custom solution to meet your exact requirements. We provide a broad spectrum of data collection methods, including:
• Telephone interviews A feasibility study measures the potential success of a business venture by analyzing the market viability for a proposed concept. A completed feasibility study is the foundation for a solid business plan. This type of study is the first essential step in starting any new venture or in planning a merger, acquisition or expansion. The depth and scope of HR and Associates’ feasibility studies are determined by our clients’ needs, and we provide studies for any and all kinds of new or expansion-oriented business projects. Often, our studies incorporate a comparison of two or more choices facing management, e.g., “ which markets are better for our new restaurant concept” or “which country offers the greatest potential to support our grocery business?” Our feasibility studies minimize risk by identifying pitfalls and providing facts that lead to informed decisions which help eliminate costly future changes. In addition, our studies help maximize success by highlighting hidden opportunities in your target markets. On study completion, HRA provides your management team with a comprehensive recommendation based on research results. Mystery Shop ServicesHRA conducts a broad spectrum of detailed mystery shopping studies, typically focusing on the following kinds of information:
• Pricing Mystery shop studies enable us to provide our clients with a powerful resource for improving service delivery and increasing customer satisfaction. The scope of our mystery shop services ranges from choosing select stores within a specific market to creating a random sample of a nationwide network of sites. Some of the things we are often asked to evaluate and measure include: • Facilities: is everything on-site clean, well-presented and working properly?• Performance against service standards: how closely are specific service standards being met? • Competitive performance: how does our client’s customer service compare to that of local, regional and/or national competitors? • Courtesy and helpfulness of staff: do staff members have the requisite interpersonal skills? • Product knowledge: how well does the staff understand the features, functions, cost and benefits of the products/services you offer? • Test purchases: do staff members adopt your company’s desired method of selling, closing sales effectively, and cross-selling/suggestive-selling? • Refunds and complaints procedures: how are customers treated when returning products, and how are customer complaints handled? Pre/Post Testing HRA offers in-depth expertise in conducting pre- and post- waves of research to measure the effects of new marketing or organizational efforts. Examples include the introduction of a new customer service method, a new pricing policy, or a new product. Questionnaire DesignHR and Associates is an authority in the art of asking questions that avoid the pitfalls of bias in consumer response data collection. HRA will: • Advise you on when to use mail, telephone and in-person questionnaires, whether to use paper and pencil or computerized approaches (including the Internet), and how to combine the various options to best meet the needs of a specific situation.• Design a questionnaire to guide the overall logic of your project. • Help you decide whether to use open-ended or closed-ended questions and how to choose the most appropriate research approach, whether rating, ranking, multiple choice, check-list or other possible options. • Provide instructions for interviewers to make certain that your questionnaires are properly administered. • Specify all information needs for a study. • Evaluate the most productive approaches to data collection, and recommend the best option (mail, telephone, in-person, etc.) for each unique project. • Select the best procedures for situations commonly encountered in marketing research. Sales Forecasting Using sophisticated graphical data analysis tools, HRA helps you use past data to more accurately predict future sales. We use various forecasting methods, including ARIMA and Exponential Smoothing Models. Multiple factors are always considered; these include seasonal factors, interventions and events. Our advanced services include model comparison and analysis of goodness-of-fit statistics to verify and correct model selection. Graphical charts and data reports convey predicted sales with clarity and impact. We are experienced in implementing videotaping services for studies requiring observational or behavioral data. For example, we have used video equipment to examine traffic patterns at quick service restaurant sites to study the impact of reduced parking lot space on restaurant accessibility and usage. We also offer the flexibility of simultaneously viewing several angles of a particular setting. Visit Motivation/Usage Occasion Studies HRA’s visit motivation and usage studies help you discover the true reasons behind customer visits to your establishment. This knowledge enables you to focus on the strengths of your business while eliminating its weaknesses. It also allows you to create promotions or other motivation initiatives that work consistently to increase visit frequency. Knowing how your customers perceive and utilize your business is also essential to providing incentive for repeat visits and for promoting customer loyalty. We also help you leverage this knowledge to segment your customers into those who drive incremental sales and those who provide only occasional business. |
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