Market Study on Cereal Business in UK Free-Sample for Students

Question: Completed a Workshop Group Presentation. Answer: Introduction This section provides an overview of the whole assignment. The group carried out a market study on cereal business in the UK. The group formed a new company called imago and uses it to elaborate on how the cereal products are basically used for breakfast and procedures used to sell the products. The first part discusses all the processes used when carrying out the assignment thats from identifying the major point of discussion to observations identified and conclusions made. In the second section the paper describes how the group examined the findings and response to the results. It also presents the challenges faced during the workshop task and how to overcome the challenges and various improvements to make. In addition, the paper demonstrates key points learnt from the workshop group assignment task and critical reflection of the same discussed in the paper. The assignment process When carrying out our group assignment, we planned the whole process in a systematic way. The following steps were used to organize our work. First, we identified the main point of study which was a market study for cereal products in the UK. In the next step we came up with objectives that guided us in carrying out the study. The first objective was identifying the gap that exists in the market which was demand for cereal products recommended for break fast. The second one was to identify strategies to be used for marketing the new product. For example the channels to use for reaching the consumers, considering consumer preferences in order to solve their problems and relay clear information to the customers about the company. Our third objective was to discover the methods to use for marketing like advertisements. The last objective was identifying the competitors, that is, other companies selling the same types of products. The third step was reviewing the existing information about cereal product. These products are believed to have bioactive elements that are health enhancing. Some studies show that flour combination with wheat which is a cereal product that provides health benefits to all individuals. (Losso, 2010). Fourth step involved observations on how other UK markets sell the products, strategies they use, their market performance and their target groups. From the findings of our observations we decided to form the Imago Company which will concentrate on the new cereal product. We then analyzed the information obtained after interpreting to find out the target market, the approximate number of consumers and the prices to quote for the new products. (Browne, 2013). The last step was conclusion of the main area of discussion for the study. In this case we focused on important cereal products that should be used for breakfast to ensure healthy living. We chose imago as our new company that gives a view on how marketing of the cereal product should be conducted. The company gives descriptions of main concepts such as the marketing analysis the company uses, its target customers, product delivery and ways of communicating about the product to clients, operations design, strategy and development of the business. (International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory Practice, 2012) Content of the group To be able to handle the task given to us in the workshop to be done as a group, we first had to identify the cereal product that meets health requirements of people; we then identified its importance and how to ensure consumers get the information about the product. After determining the product we chose a company that will be able to sell it. We shared views on how to make our company more competitive, which is through initiating affordable cost, making sure quality of the product is good as well as packaging. I learned that pricing should always go hand in hand with quality because customers want to see value for the money they spend on products. I also learnt that breakfast is an important meal that helps to burn calories and helps one concentrate and focus throughout the days work. Cereal products are recommended as breakfast meals and should always be considered by everyone to lead a healthy lifestyle as seen from our observations (Albertson, 2012). The group therefore found it necessary to have more companies that sell health-conscious products. Consumers are likely to engage in purchasing the healthy products which will definitely lead to increase in demand that raises the need of wide market of cereal products to curb future demand increase. From the assignment task, I have learnt that before selecting products to sell in the market especially a new product, one should first look at the importance that the products have. For instance the product under discussion in this case is cereals which are used to produce breakfast product that is the most important meal for a day. I also learned that to be able to have effective marketing strategy, a marketer should always differentiate the market into segments or niches then develop appropriate strategy to pitch for his/her product to the respective market niches identified. For example if the product target is middle age group, mode of advertisement should be social media that is through the internet. For old age advertisement mode should be through radio and television channels or magazines Strategic role of the operations and production technology Imago focused on four aspects of operations strategy. These are HIGH Volume and LOW Variety, Variation and Visibility. I learned that this strategy played a crucial role in that the high volume production results to lower cost of production and Low variety means Imago will focus on small number of products that it can perfect over time in accordance to consumer behaviour. From the operation strategy Imago will also need to monitor delivery of the products by the suppliers/distributors to the market and ascertain if it is on time as collecting feedback from customers for improvements as a result of brand visibility. Imago will also need to invest in appropriate technology so that it can be able to march demand and supply at any given time. To meet performance objectives which include quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost I learned that Imago would need source cereals and other raw materials that produced organically as opposed to inorganically. If it h as to be inorganic then the levels of chemicals in these raw materials should be within England standards. Organic raw materials are expensive and Imago may require more funds to source these materials than it would need if it decides to go inorganically like in GMO products. On the issue of speed Imago will have to invest in well organized distribution chain to deliver the products on time. To achieve dependability I learned that Imago will need to invest in machines and/or current production with high up time for continuous flow of products to the market. Imago would also need high capacity production machines to increase production levels and keep production cost as well as having low flexibility for stable product in the market Challenges faced and how we overcome them During the workshop group task we faced some of the following challenges. First selecting the product to study on was difficult. Most products are competitive and sold by almost all companies. Sometimes areas or topic of study is a crucial section to choose since its the foundation of the whole research or study(Bhat, 2015). We overcome this challenge by identifying a unique product which is more health oriented than money oriented making it rare product to be sold by companies. We therefore selected cereal products used in production of breakfast products. As foreseen we faced challenges in getting adequate number of feedback. We had few turn up of feedback from our target group. We needed to obtain information about market performance on various products from the target group before selecting products that fits our interest, but due to lack of adequate information it posed a great challenge to us. We overcome this by covering a wider market size to get more information from a large population in the market field, we also had to increase on resources like time and money to enable us get to reach a large population. The second challenge was assembling the group since for one to achieve effective results after identifying the topic of study a well cooperating team should be formed. Some of the group members failed to corporate fully due to ignorance especially when we had to get in to the interior parts of the market and more time and money needed for us to achieve our objective of coming into contact with many individuals. To overcome such challenge, the team should always agree to work together under any condition given and expect changes on the plans made. For example, the group members should always be ready in case of time rescheduling if the target information expected is not met for them to meet their set target Improvements to make From this study I learned that having healthy breakfast is the best diet for anyone who looks to live a healthy lifestyle. However the company needs to improve on the following aspects in order for it to remain competitive and improve on its market share. Imago should consider conducting health talk to companies in United Kingdom. It can do this buy contracting a medical doctor who will be offering the health talks on behalf of Imago to corporates within its market area. The health talks sessions can be secured by marketing team by visiting the targeted companies or by writing to them offering free health talk session to their employees for about half an hour or so before they start work in the morning or after work in the evening or any other time that the target company feels comfortable with. The talk can be based on a lifestyle topic such lifestyle diseases which include diabetes among other diseases. Of note can be diabetes mellitus type 2. In this case 90% of those people who are obese and diabetic have type 2 diabetes. So clearly there is a correlation of about 0.9 on being obese and having type 2 diabetes. To put this into perspective about 9 out of 10 people who are obese and diabetic have type 2 diabetes. With this stat the doctor can recommend to attendants of the health talk session(s) to consider having healthy breakfasts every morning as well as other meals and this is the point Imago can come in the picture to market its breakfast products. (Patanathabutr and Chaiyakal, 2013) Imago should also consider conducting product activations in the streets or designated locations of cities where it has product presence. As members of the public go about their daily business they will be free to visit Imago tent located in secure environment in streets where the company can have their BMIs and blood cholesterol taken for free. If someone is found to have high BMI (body mass index) then Imagos healthy breakfast products can be recommended to her/him. Imago can also distribute flyers within the area where its activation tent is pitched / located to passersby to improve the company product visibility. In conclusion, the workshop market study assignment carried out has enable us learn how to plan the process of carrying out any research study because we are now familiar on how to plan our work. On the critical review part of the study, the research has helped communicate the important value about healthy living which many people dont know about, the assignment therefore was meant to narrow down the major points people need to know. That is, information about the new products, the importance of the product to human health that consumers need to know and on the marketing side, it discussed how companies need to set strategies in order to sell more and developing more markets for the products. The ways in which the company should operate in order to sell the new product was also illustrated. This will be of great help especially to the new companies joining the market and doesnt have an idea of which product to concentrate on. (Patanathabutr and Chaiyakal, 2013) The general knowledge derived from the market study has proved that working in a group results to effective outcome whereby the time used is not much compared to when working as an individual. The expenses incurred are also not much since the cost is shared amongst the group members. Therefore, I will recommend more research carried out in groups for more effective results despite the challenges. References Albertson, A. (2012). Ready-to-eat cereals and breakfast: Association with healthy body weight and other indicators of healthy lifestyle.CFW Plexus, (AACCI 2011 Annual Meeting). Bhat, C. (2015). Workshop Synthesis: Conducting Travel Surveys using Portable Devices- Challenges and Research Needs.Transportation Research Procedia, 11, pp.199-205. Browne, J. (2013). Getting started with research: Carrying out your research project.Ultrasound, 21(3), pp.159-161 Kanari, Z. and Millar, R. (2004). 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