Abstract
Marketing research plays a key role in ensuring that an organization produces goods and delivers services that meet the needs of its customers. It also helps a company to understand the market environment, as well as keep in touch with their competitors’ strategies and tactics. In other words, it helps a company to satisfy its customers’ preferences, and hence gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. This paper discusses how Kudler Fine Foods Organization integrates marketing research, and the importance of developing the company’s marketing strategy and tactics.
Introduction
Marketing research refers to the processes that connect marketers with their customers, competitors, and target markets through information (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011). Globalization, stiff competition, changing technologies, and changes in customer preferences among others require a thorough marketing research to provide marketers with relevant and reliable information. Marketers use this information in making sound decisions and hence produce goods and deliver services that meet the needs or specifications of the customer. For instance, they make strategic and tactical decisions about the target markets.
They also make choices about potential opportunities and marketing plans, among others. Marketing research is an essential tool that is used by most organizations. It helps marketers to remove uncertainties associated with their target markets. This is because marketing research provides them with the information they need about the market, consumers, and the environment at large. This paper will discuss the significance of marketing research in relation to Kudler Fine Foods operations.
Overview of Kudler Fine Foods Organization
Kudler Fine Foods started its operations in 1998. Kathy Kudler founded the organization and introduced gourmet cooking as a means of reducing or relieving stress. The company has grown remarkably and is currently one of the leading companies in the food industry. Each of its three locations has shown significant growth, with the first one opened in 1998, the second in 2000, and the third one in 2003. Efforts are focused on the expansion of services, improvement of the organization’s operations, and keeping in touch with the changing environment.
They also include customer preferences, profitability increment, and customer loyalty which are instrumental to the achievements of the organization. The mission of this organization is to provide customers with hotel products such as food and wine that can satisfy their clients’ needs. To achieve this, the marketing department of the Kudler Fine Foods Company integrates marketing research in its operations to get information about customer preferences and the market environment at large.
Identify areas that need additional marketing research
Therefore, marketing research plays a significant role in organizations, particularly in developing a marketing business plan for both the existing and the new goods and services. It provides marketers with information about consumers, competitors, and market environments (Kotler & Keller, 2012). In reference to its marketing strategy, it can be realized that Kudler Fine Foods offers high quality products and services that satisfy customers of different financial backgrounds.
The quality of food products and wines offered by this company also show that the marketers have travelled globally and researched on the best offers for customers. In other words, they know what is best for both the customer and the company. Kudler Fine Foods’ marketing research is instrumental to the success the company has achieved since its inception. However, there are several areas that need additional marketing research to make Kudler Fine Foods continue to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. These areas include market trends, data management, and budgeting.
Kudler Fine Foods needs to integrate marketing research extensively to keep up with the market trends. Established companies are better placed in a competitive market than small emerging companies. This is because the established companies invest a lot in technology, which small companies cannot afford. The changing customer preferences also need close attention so as to ensure those customers are satisfied. The company can for instance, reduce prices of its products and services. This can lead to customer satisfaction, attraction, and retention. Kudler Fine Foods needs to integrate marketing research technologies that will help the company to keep up with the market trends, particularly the changing customer preferences and their competitors’ core competencies.
Kudler Fine Foods needs data management systems to analyze the market environment. For instance, the company’s marketers can easily identify the frequently purchased products or services, which have ceased to be purchased. If the problem is the company’s pricing strategy, the marketing managers can advise the company to change it to fit with what customers can afford. This company should create several marketing research approaches used in the collection of data rather than relying on one strategy.
With data management systems, Kudler Fine Foods can easily identify products that have a high demand and customer behaviors among other things. The company can also tell whether people are aware and informed about its offers using the data management systems. This way, the company can be well informed about the best and the most effective marketing campaigns that need to be integrated to make its offers a success. All these confirm the significance of marketing research in data management.
The other area that needs additional marketing research is budgets, plans, and strategies. A well-researched marketing plan makes it possible for organizations to plan, budget, and employ relevant and efficient strategies in marketing a product. The costs incurred in marketing products and services of Kudler Fine Foods are sometimes high and lead to decreased profits. Kudler Fine Foods needs additional marketing research in this area to help identify the loopholes and fix them. This can help the company to reduce costs and maximize on profits. In addition, the marketing research can help this company to develop the most relevant and effective strategies that can lead to high sales and profits, as well as customer satisfaction.
Analysis of competitive intelligence and analysis regarding the development of Kudler Fine Foods’ marketing strategy and tactics
Competitive intelligence plays a key role in ensuring that a company gains a competitive advantage over its competitors (Kerin, Hartley & Rudelius, 2011). With its plan and mission, Kudler Fine Foods has succeeded in the business world. This company uses competitive intelligence to keep in touch with the strategies employed by its competitors. For instance, it visits the online sites of its competitors, converses directly with the personnel of their competitors, and researches about critical and sensitive information guarded by its competitors. This way it gets to learn the core competencies of these organizations, their strategies, and tactics they use to be successful. The company then picks the best and the most relevant and integrates them in its business operations.
Development of analysis is also essential for Kudler Fine Foods in establishing its strategies and tactics. It assists in the comparison and identification of the policies and approaches used by their competitors. For instance, this organization has a profile that describes how its competitors respond to its tactics and strategies. This way, it can integrate the most successful strategies and tactics in its operations, and hence gain a competitive advantage over its competitors.
Conclusion
Marketing research is valuable in budgeting, planning, and the development of marketing strategies and tactics to ensure customer satisfaction. Every company should conduct a marketing research in order to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. The Kudler Fine Foods Company has achieved a lot of success in its operations specifically because of integrating marketing research. This has enabled it to adjust accordingly to the changing customer preferences, the changing market, and monitor their competitors. Kudler however needs additional marketing research in areas such as market trends, data management, budgeting, planning, and strategies. This will enable it stay ahead of its competition.
References
Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2011). Marketing: An introduction (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W., & Rudelius, W. (2011). Marketing (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.