Assessment Description

The purpose of this assessment is to provide students with an opportunity to describe the fundamentals of marketing research by communicating results to various stakeholders to assist in business decision making.

Assessment Instructions

Presume that you are managing a local Gelatissimo franchise and you were thinking to expand in a nearby suburb. While conducting your industry research, you have come across the following excerpt from the Ice Cream Stores in Australia 2019 IBISWorld Report:

"Many industry establishments operate under franchise agreements. However, many individual stores of traditional ice cream store franchises, such as Wendy's, have closed over the past five years, as rising industry competition and growing rent costs have significantly reduced profit margins. Conversely, the number of ice cream stores providing high-end, premium and gourmet ice cream products has increased. These ice cream and gelato stores can charge higher prices, resulting in higher profit margins.

Evolving consumer tastes have been boosting industry demand for premium products such as gelato and sorbet over the past five years. Companies such as Ben & Jerry's, Gelato Messina and Gelatissimo have benefited from this trend and have expanded their market shares over the past five years. Some of these stores manufacture gelato by hand and follow traditional Italian recipes, attracting a large and loyal following. However, changing consumer tastes, in particular, rising health consciousness, have negatively affected brands such as Baskin-Robbins and Trampoline. Consequently, some industry operators have begun to offer healthy alternatives, such as dairy-free vegan and sugar-free ice cream. Ongoing health and wellbeing trends have been limiting industry revenue growth over the period, with consumers increasingly becoming concerned about the high

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Assessment Information

sugar and fat content of ice cream.

Overall, industry revenue is expected to grow at an annualised 0.7% over the five years through 2019-20, to total $451.8 million. This includes an anticipated 0.9% rise in the current year.

The number of industry enterprises is projected to increase further over the next five years, driven by rising consumer demand for independent and gourmet ice cream stores. Many new independent stores are likely to be established in areas with high household incomes over the next five years, as new entrants capitalise on expanding demand for premium products. However, rising competition and the ongoing health consciousness trend are likely to limit industry revenue growth over the period. Industry revenue is forecast to increase at an annualised 1.8% over the five years through 2024-25, to total $494.8 million." Adopted from: Ice Cream Stores in Australia, IBISWorld 2019.

You can read the full Ice Cream Stores in Australia 2019 IBISWorld Report clicking here. To access this report, you will need to log in with your Open Athens credentials. If you did not receive your login details or you've lost it, please refer to student experience officers at your campus.

Based on this information and your intentions to expand your franchise, you are required to write a two-page summary addressing the following points:

Identification of the management problem by including reasons why you should be focusing on this problem;

Description of the research problem based on the identified management problem; and

At least three research objectives that support your business decision making to expand.