Ikea Marketing Problem

* Material is cheap. Need to improve. Should IKEA improve the quality of their product and raise the price? What people would say about this.

* The information does not exist and the cost will justify the value due to customers being more satisfied with their purchase which in the end will cause them to be repeat buyers and recommend IKEA

* IKEA can afford to do an extensive amount of research and the timing is right, the longer they hold off creating higher and better quality, they could lose an extensive amount of their customers.  College students are a big market for IKEA and will start buying furniture in the summer so it would benefit IKEA to learn their customer preference to quality before then.

* Also college students want furniture to last them all the way through their college career so quality is a big concern.

- Quality over Price

- How much more would customers will be willing to pay in order to get a better quality furniture

·   Step 2 (define the problem specific to the client) –

What aspect of the “2011 American consumer” is a problem to understand or an opportunity to explore for your client?

* The problem that IKEA has is that it’s known for having an extensive line of furniture and is one of the best recognized furniture brands, but the quality is not meeting up to customer standards when it comes to durability and longevity.

Step 3 (establish research objectives) –

Show how your proposed research will specifically address the research problem

* Our proposed research will give IKEA consumer insight on their preference on price over quantity or vice versa.  

* Our research will show how satisfied customers are currently with IKEAs products and if their satisfaction increases, decreases, or stays the same once the proposed new higher quality furniture is introduced to the customers.

* One research objective is to give customers a quality, long lasting product, while maintaining IKEA’s great low prices.

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