Read the case study below. It summarizes a market research brief provided by your client called Stitched Up. Remember this is a fictitious company.

Market Research Brief

Company Background

Stitched Up (which can be abbreviated to SU) is a fictitious clothing brand that offers products that are 100% ethically manufactured in Australia. Stitched Up has positioned itself uniquely in the market as a brand for “affordable, ethical basics that will complement your style”. Their product range is curated to include only items they believe most people need, including t-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, and socks. For simplicity, Stitched Up offers only one style of each product and serves adults of all genders.

Enjoying trends of ethical and sustainable fashion, Stitched Up has experienced tremendous growth in the last 10 years, since it originated in Melbourne. It has expanded its network and now has 8 retail stores around Australia, as well as an online store. Stitched Up has 5,000 customers on its database.

Current Situation

Fast fashion has dominated the clothing industry over the last few decades. Trend-driven garments, made at high volume and low cost, are undoubtedly quick, cheap, and profitable. In recent years, however, some brands have begun actively pushing against this standard, by embracing the sustainable fashion movement. Green Strategy defines sustainable fashion as: “In practice, this implies continuous work to improve all stages of the product’s life cycle, from design, raw material production, manufacturing, transport, storage, marketing and final sale, to use, reuse, repair, remake and recycling of the product and its component”.

So, what is driving the uptake of sustainable fashion? Primarily, it is consumers, who are making conscious decisions when it comes to buying clothing. In 2018, 76% of consumers aged 18-24 years reported being ‘very supportive’ or ‘quite supportive’ of sustainability in the clothing industry, while 56% of those aged 55+ years also indicated support (Statista, 2018). A 2019 McKinsey study showed increase in demand with online searches for “sustainable fashion” tripling between 2016 and 2019 (Cheng, 2019).

In Australia, brands such as Keegan the Label, Nobody Denim, and KowTow are leading the way by using faux fur and organic cotton that can be traced from farm to final product, swapping toxic chemical processes for organic ones, and recycling zips and reducing wastage.

Despite sustainable fashion trends, the economic, financial, and societal upheaval caused by COVID-19 impacts businesses, including Stitched Up. In the last two months, while its retail stores were closed, Stitched Up diverted customers to their online store, where, like many companies, they found that basket size and purchase amounts were actually larger (Chalmers, 2020). Indeed, the Boston Consulting Group surveyed Australian consumers in late April and found the percentage of people who shopped online had increased to 76%, compared to 39% four years ago.

Now, Stitched Up are strategically focused on their retail stores, which have just re-opened. Stitched Up have thoughtfully designed and invested in the layout and staff of their retail stores to ensure a safe and enjoyable atmosphere, in which customers can try on products and learn about sustainable fashion. They’ve so far been encouraged by the return of demand to their retail stores.

Stitched Up believes it is more important than ever before to understand their customer profile and enhance customer experience in their retail spaces. More specifically, Stitched Up’s CEO would like to ensure the company has a solid understanding of who exactly their customers are and how their customers think, feel, and behave in relation to product and retail experiences at this turbulent time.

Market Research Requirements

Based on the above summary of the company background and current situation, the CEO of Stitched Up (your client) would like to better understand their customer profile and their customers’ experiences with Stitched Up.

More specifically, your client has asked you to propose a market research project that addresses the following four research objectives:

1. To learn about customers’ behaviours and habits when they visit Stitched Up retail stores.

2. To understand customers’ perceptions and attitudes towards the Stitched Up brand.

3. To measure the outcomes of Stitched Up’s upcoming social media campaign.

4. To determine the factors that drive customer experience with Stitched Up.

The client has requested that you include two phases of market research in your proposal, each addressing particular research objectives, as outlined below:

Phase 1: A qualitative study to explore the behaviours, habits, perceptions, and attitudes of Stitched Up customers.

Phase 2: A quantitative study to measure campaign outcomes and the customer experience at Stitched Up stores.

ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

You need to complete ALL four (4) assessment questions below. Ensure you respond to these questions adhering to the instructions and requirements stated on pages 1-2.

Your responses to these questions will comprise the proposal to the client, Stitched Up.

For brevity, you can abbreviate Stitched Up to SU in your responses to these questions.

All of the information you need to complete these questions is contained in the case study and the knowledge and skills you have learned throughout the semester.

QUESTION 3

This question relates to Phase 2 (quantitative study) of the market research project - specifically, Research Objective #3 about social media campaign outcomes.

The client would like to conduct an experiment to address this objective. Stitched Up has designed two social media campaigns. Campaign A is called ‘Support Us’ and it emphasizes the importance of customers visiting retail stores to support the survival of the business. Campaign B is called ‘Sustainable Savings’ and it informs customers of savings they can make on purchases made in Stitched Up retail stores. The client wants to determine which social media campaign—Campaign A or B—has the strongest impact on customers’ likelihood to visit retail stores, rated by customers on a scale of 1 = ‘not at all likely to visit’ to 9 = ‘very likely to visit.

Which type of experimental design (before-after or after-only, with the control group) do you recommend and why? In your answer, outline the process of the experimental design i.e., how it would be implemented specifically for Stitched Up. You can do this with a diagram or in text (or both) – either way, you need to articulate the relevant steps of the experimental design. In your answer, identify the independent variable (and its levels), the dependent variable, and four (4) extraneous variables that may apply. Further, explain to the client the advantages and disadvantages of experimental research, as it relates to Phase 2 and the project overall.

Note: It is important that you apply relevant theory to the Stitched Up case study and the specific question i.e., do not repeat theory abstractly with no application to the case.