Marketing Research: Kudler Fine Foods

Marketing Research: Kudler Fine Foods

Kathy Kudler, passionate about gourmet cooking, founded Kudler Fine Foods in 1998. Since 1998, Kudler has grown and boasts three locations in La Jolla, Del Mar, and Encinitas. The Kudler locations offer customers imported and domestic products from the bakery, meat and seafood, produce, cheese and dairy, and wine departments. Experiencing a significant growth, Kudler's focus is on expanding service offered, operations efficiency, and increasing consumer purchasing. Kudler Fine Food's goal is to "provide their customers with the finest selected foodstuff, wines, and related needs in an unparalleled consumer environment" (Kudler Fine Foods, 2008, para. 2). To reach their goals, Kudler must effectively promote the company's new services.

Importance of Marketing Research

Marketing research will assist Kudler Fine Food's in setting the foundation for a business plan to market the new items. Marketing research is the gathering of information on customers, competitors, and the product market. Information that is gathered will be valuable to Kudler in that it will identify the company's target market characteristics like age, location, gender, and income level. When developing or launching a new product or service it is essential to conduct a thorough and focused marketing research. If this is done any decisions based upon the marketing research plan will minimize the risks involved as well as pay dividends. As the business continues to thrive with the new product it is essential for the company to conduct follow-up marketing research throughout the lifecycle of the product. This will assist the company if better communication with customers, minimize the company's risk, identify opportunities, and create a standard to measure progress of the service.

Through market research for the duration of the service provides communication with current customers. This assists the company in two ways; the first area is that the company is obtaining valuable information from current customers who reflect how the customer's needs are met. The second way it assists the company is that it takes the deductive reasoning out of customer service and gives the customer the sense that the company cares. This step is important to the company and the customer because it provides accurate feedback on whether the company is providing the best service. Conducting proper market research it provides the company a chance to minimize the risk that is associated with introducing a new service. The company has a chance to fine tune the marketing strategy to fit into the targeted market. Changes can be made so the customer need can be met. Marketing research allows the company a variety of opportunities that will assist them in marketing to the targeted audience.

By conducting additional marketing research the company has an opportunity to market to individuals who have already developed a predetermined notion of the company and the services it offers. By marketing to these individuals the company has the opportunity to change their mind and perfect the marketing message. Businesses are always trying to develop a standard that they can measure their success against and marketing research can give them a benchmark standard. This benchmark standard will assist them in measuring their progress and how well the business is performing. By creating a standard or benchmark the company can see where there needs to be fine tuning to prevent issues with the service. By not using marketing research, the company would never know about these issues.

Additional Market Research Needs

Additional market research could be helpful in areas such as the identification of potential target customers, new territorial areas and new marketing and sales promotions. Taking the time to investigate what people want is the key to meeting their expectations. Questions such as: Stock level, how much would he/she pay or how often the item would be purchased are examples. These lead shoppers