Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
solid purchase decision information or other insights from a group of customers. Depending
on the situation, focus groups can also be quite cost effective.
A focus group interview is simply a discussion among six to ten customers or other indi-
viduals of interest, guided by a skilled moderator. In many cases this discussion is recorded
so careful analysis of the comments can be made. It is not a formal interview so much as
it is an informal discussion where people get to know each other well enough to talk freely.
As barriers to discussion break down, participants begin to react to each other and the
conversation unfolds, hopefully yielding much valuable information about how the group
feels about important marketing issues.
The key to success in a focus group interview is the synergistic effect of the informal
discussion. The group chosen for the interview is extremely important. It must fairly repre-
sent the population of interest and it must be a group where free-fl owing discussion is pos-
sible. The moderator plays a very important but extremely subtle role, making sure the right
subjects are covered and that no one individual dominates the discussion. The moderator
must also be careful not to bias responses in any way.
Focus group interviews can provide many new ideas and perceptions from the customer's
viewpoint about advertising programs, packaging, quality of products, performance, and
relative comparisons of competitors. Group interviews also add a great deal of support and
help to clarify more quantitative surveys because they can suggest how strongly impressions
are held.
However, focus group interviews can also be misused. They will likely generate very
little factual or quantitative data. As such, results are very diffi cult to tabulate or quantify.
Some group members may tend to dominate and to infl uence the thinking of others, perhaps
creating a “bandwagon” effect. And any results must be interpreted with the nature of
the group in mind. Thus it is critical not to extend the results of a focus group interview
beyond their designed use. Still, focus group interviews offer a highly productive and rela-
tively inexpensive method for gaining insights into customer attitudes and for generating
marketing ideas.
Internal data analysis
Agribusiness marketers can often get so involved in developing and implementing a market-
ing plan that they have little time for detailed market analysis. This is particularly true in
smaller or local agribusinesses, where marketing people may have a number of responsibili-
ties and have limited time to devote to careful exploration of what is going on in the market.
One typically underutilized resource for better understanding customer attitudes and prefer-
ences is internal customer and transactions data. By looking at the data a fi rm has on its own
customers and their transactions with the fi rm, a marketer can learn much that will be helpful
in developing or refi ning a successful marketing strategy.
Transactions data can provide a wealth of insights into a market. Sorting customers by
their sales volumes can begin to help a fi rm understand the composition of its portfolio of
customers. Looking at sales across product lines may point out important cross-selling
opportunities. Exploring the timing of purchases may allow a fi rm to improve customer
retention. If a fi rm knows that the Hendricks Vegetable Growers always place their seed
orders by January 15, then any delay past that date becomes a warning sign that the customer
may be looking elsewhere for seed. In many cases, fi rm transactions data are obtained and
stored solely for accounting purposes. However, the investment it may take to make these
available for market planning purposes is likely time and money well spent.
 
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