Case Study: Low Market Share at Cosmos The Cosmos Soft Drink Co. Ltd was concerned about low market share. Despite extensive advertising in newspapers and magazines and colorful displays in most large retailers, sales remained disappointingly low compared to the well-known brands in the market. The image for its drinks that the company was trying to create was a sporty and youthful one. One of the reasons for this was because the directors had found out that the proportion of the population under 18 was expected to increase in the next ten years and the sports-participation rates of most age groups were increasing. The directors were in agreement that the image was the correct one to have and that other factors were to blames for the poor sales performance. They decided to use primary research and conduct a survey of the general public, This was to be a telephone survey as they believed that quick results were essential to allow them to take the right measures to boost sales. A questionnaire of 30 questions was drawn up asking for details of soft drinks and the reasons for purchase decisions, names and addresses of respondents so that free vouchers could be sent, income levels to identify consumer profiles and many other details that the director's thought might be useful. About 120 people were contacted by picking names using random sampling from the telephone directory. The results of the survey proved to be very disappointing because many calls were not answered, some people refused to answer some of the questions and some of the elderly respondents said all soft drinks were too sweet and fizzy for them anyway. In total, there were 35 completed questionnaires. The directors were no clearer after the survey than before as to what could be done to increase sales of Cosmos soft drinks