Research Research

I guess the starting point for any kind of project, if you want it to have any real relevance, is to conduct different forms of research. Secondary research is a great (and fairly easy) place to start - to see what other people & organisations have already found out. Primary research can be where it starts to get tricky, yet rewarding if the research does in fact back up your view that what you're doing is correct!

My FMP is all about menswear. Why men buy what they buy & why they shop the way they shop. What motivates them to purchase? Do they want something that isn't currently offered to them? The starting point of the project was to re-brand a menswear brand within John Lewis - currently named 'John Lewis & Co' (I say currently because I think it's a brand name with no imagination, it's too wordy & shouldn't contain the name of it's owner brand!) At the beginning it seemed fairly straight forward - re-brand it. Make it more interesting, change the instore layout & design. Simple. But after researching for what seems like an eternity it has become apparant to me that simply changing these small details won't make a great deal of difference to the male shopper. So much more needs to be done to interest the male consumer & excite him. So now there is much more scope within the project to explore new technology, new marketing methods, new product possibilities etc.

Primary research gave me a great, albeit slightly concerning, insight into the male mind. A questionnaire was the starting point for primary research, a quick & simple way to question a wide range of consumers free of charge! The questionnaire gained 50 responses & was then closed to enable me to read the results easily - although one quesion only has 49 answers which is proving to be a nightmare to calculate % responses!

The second method of primary research undertaken was a focus group - which I am now in the slow process of attempting to write up & make relevant to the project. Five male friends & co-workers were kind enough to give me around an hour of their time wednesday evening last week to help me understand a little more about the way in which men shop. Their ages ranged from 17-26 which in turn provided a difference in opinions & ways of thinking. The participants, as we now shall name them, also differed in occupation - from college student to retail manager. Each participant cited a different brand as their favourite place to shop, & each had their own opinions & reasonings as to why they shop the way they do. As tragic as it may sound the evening honestly was so interesting & insightful - & is now proving to be a great help paired with both my previous primary & secondary research.

It is now seeming to all come together quite nicely, thankfully! Another key research method undertaken last week was a trip to London - which will be explained later....