Table of ContentsIntroductionResearch ResultsCoffee Consumption:Consumption of Coffee Brands:What does this mean for us?RecommendationsIt took us some time to decide which company would ultimately help improve, but after extensive research, we felt that Dunkin Donuts was a company in a competitive industry that we could further research. It became clear that they were a top three brand when it came to coffee, but there was still room for improvement. To explore this question further, we wanted to analyze a sample to better understand current coffee preferences. This is the objective of our first investigation. As you will see, we ran into some expected biases based on the available resources we had and who we could speak to. The survey gave us a better understanding of how the Dunkin Donuts brand ranks, especially among our fellow students. Beyond that, we were able to narrow down the areas of the business we needed to focus on for our next search. We saw that Dunkin Donuts was convenient, price sensitive, and that quality was more of a subjective metric and was going to be difficult to measure. This led us to focus on the interior layout and design aspects of Dunkin Donuts. The reason was that it was the only thing our respondents could not agree on. So we focused our in-depth research on in-store layout preferences. We were given 18 different combinations to assess their preference. After this survey, we were able to determine that consumers care more about comfort than appearance. With all the research we did, from the most preliminary to the most in-depth, we were better prepared to determine our recommendations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIntroductionWe undertook this study to better understand how we could increase the sales and market share of Dunkin Donuts as a company . It was going to take some preliminary research to understand Dunkin Donuts' place in the market, but also more in-depth research to have a more precise answer on how we were going to achieve these results. This study was necessary because the status quo isn't always good enough and if Dunkin Donuts wanted to increase sales and increase its market presence, we needed answers from real coffee consumers. When it came to the scope of the study, we were slightly limited, but we were also able to focus on one of the largest demographics of coffee drinkers among college students. For this research, we had no excess funds or resources beyond Google Forms. In terms of contact with respondents, we each targeted our fellow students. It was free and most fellow students were more than willing to help when it came to completing a quick survey without any incentive. The problem with this form of research and sampling can create potential bias and limit its magnitude. This is very important because when it comes to making a large-scale marketing decision, more in-depth research should be done on a larger scale, in order to better represent all the regions in which Dunkin Donuts is located. It would be far too risky to take the research we havecarried out. I did this and let's allow this to represent the entire coffee drinking population in the United States. The positive aspect however when it comes to making a marketing decision is that Binghamton University can be used as a sample to better represent opportunities within college campuses. All research carries risks, but if the information we have provided is used correctly, it could still be a huge way to possibly help increase sales and increase Dunkin Donuts' overall market share within the industry coffee. The main sampling technique we used throughout our research. this was convenience sampling. Although it is not the most ideal sampling technique, we chose to use convenience sampling to obtain results quickly due to time and cost constraints. In order to meet certain deadlines for this project, convenience sampling appeared to be the most appropriate method to gather as many respondents as possible in a short period of time. Convenience sampling primarily led us to reach out to those who were directly related to us in some way. Our sample size came primarily from classmates, requests via social media sites, and requests for contributions from friends and family. The disadvantage of this sampling technique is that it can lead to some bias and is not completely representative of the population as a whole. Our sample included primarily college-aged adults who may have different opinions toward our research topic, as opposed to older and younger generations. Additionally, given that our sample knew they were being asked about coffee, it is possible that there was also self-selection bias at play. If time and money had not been a factor limiting factor for our research, the most ideal sampling technique we would have implemented would have been simple random sampling. Since with this sampling technique each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected, it is the best sampling technique to use to find out the opinion of a population and avoid the possibility of certain selection biases. Our research attempted to find out what the population thought of Dunkin' Donuts and, therefore, simple random sampling could have provided more conclusive and effective results. Our primary data collection method for this study was through the use of surveys. Specifically, we used the online survey resource Google Forms to create and distribute our surveys. We used this method of data collection because, like our use of convenience sampling, it was the quickest and least expensive method of reaching as many people as possible. Within a few days, we were able to receive 66 responses to our first survey and begin our analysis. The limitation of this research method was that there was little or no opportunity to obtain feedback from respondents and no opportunity for follow-up or clarifying questions. Although we included an open-ended question and an “other” option for some questions, overall the responses we collected were limited to the options we provided. If we had more time and resources for our study, we would have liked to conduct additional research. surveys based on the responses we received and possiblyorganize a focus group. By employing a focus group for our research, it would have allowed us to obtain these personal comments from our respondents and ask further questions to benefit our research. The types of information we attempted to address in our research were the brand perception of Dunkin' Donuts. In the first survey, we focused on many different aspects of Dunkin' Donuts to clarify some of the key issues related to how customers perceive their brand. In our second survey, we focused on how their perception could be improved through an overhaul of their store decor. When analyzing the first survey, we primarily used the Google Form summary feature to examine how individuals responded to our survey. This divided the responses into different percentages and allowed us to easily analyze the data. For the second survey we conducted, we did mock coding of the responses to find out which decor layout was most preferable. Following this, we performed joint analysis and regression analysis to further analyze the significance of the results. Research Results At the beginning of the semester, we collected information from a survey on consumers' coffee purchasing and drinking behavior. We wanted to determine what Dunkin' Donuts could do to improve its sales, competitive position, and customer perception of the brand. Coffee Consumption: Among our responses, we found that 81.5% of our respondents drink coffee, meaning only 18.5% report not drinking it at all. Half of the people who reported drinking coffee said they drank it every day. Just over 30% drink coffee at least once a week, or even several times a week. Consumption of coffee brands: In this first survey, we then asked coffee drinkers where they buy their coffee, which brands they choose and why. Nearly 40% of responses told us that people brew their coffee at home rather than buying it in public. We'll come back to that in a minute. About a quarter of those surveyed said they buy their coffee at Starbucks, followed by Dunkin' Donuts at about 17 percent, and the remaining shoppers tend to shop at local coffee shops. We asked those who brew their coffee at home, which brand of beans they decide to buy and examine customer preferences and brand loyalty. Only 17% of respondents used Dunkin' Donuts homemade coffee. About 40% of respondents chose another brand that we offered as an option, and the remaining 42% chose “other.” Dunkin' Donuts-specific questions: 67% of survey respondents responded that they stop at a Dunkin' Donuts only once a month. or even less. That leaves only the remaining 33% to be done once a week or more. About 43% of our respondents said they would choose Dunkin' Donuts over other brands purely for convenience. That's almost half, leaving only a quarter of them choosing the brand for price, another quarter for quality. Not a single respondent chose the brand for the atmosphere it creates in store. Still, quality was rated 4 out of 5 when we asked the question, and more than a third of respondents said they would be willing to pay more for coffee if the quality was also increased. what does this mean for us? Dunkin' Donuts is clearly convenient, which is definitely a positive when..