Task 1A: Understanding your Consumers and Competitors for targeted Seniors
Individual task worth 20%
4 Page document (excludes reference list and appendix)
Due 9th September at 2pm (Sydney time) via Turnitin.
In the MKTG5001 unit of study we refer to this stage as “Where are we Now?”
In this individual task students are allocated a customer segment (Seniors aged 60-75 years) and a client company see below allocated groups and client company/brand.
Your customer segment is specified as follows:
Resident of Australia.
Aged between 60 and 75 years.
Have retired from their full time career (but may continue some part time work).
These people are likely to be relatively asset rich in terms of owning their home and having at least partial financial capacity (through savings/investments) to maintain a reasonable standard of living.
They are typically in good health and most are able to engage in an active lifestyle (i.e. they are NOT in a frail end of life phase)
They typically do NOT live in aged or assisted care facilities i.e. they live independently in their own home/apartments.
They look more like this … NOT like this …
Best Ways for Seniors to Stay Healthy | Venice FL Senior Living5 Benefits of Exercise for Seniors and Aging Adults | The GreenFields Who will care for you when you are elderly and frail? You should plan now |PBS NewsHourHome care services for elderly people: Things to know – Mature Times
See below for your allocated groups and client company/brand
Group Number
Brands for Task 1a –
Aust. market & Seniors customers
Website –
starting point
[tutorial number].1
Flight Centre (travel agent)
https://www.flightcentre.com.au (Links to an external site.)
[tutorial number].2
Samsung (household cleaning appliances)
https://www.samsung.com/au/ (Links to an external site.)
[tutorial number].3
Adidas (sports gear)
https://www.adidas.com.au (Links to an external site.)
[tutorial number].4
Ikea (home living)
https://www.ikea.com/au/en/ (Links to an external site.)
[tutorial number].5
Olay (skin and hair care)
https://www.olay.com.au/en-au/ (Links to an external site.)
Your job is to demonstrate a deep empathetic understanding of the consumers in your segment; as well as conduct a thorough competitive analysis of the other businesses and brands who seek to fulfil customer needs in your assigned and deliver this in a 4 page document (excluding references and appendix).
The consumer and competitive analyses will be critical in helping you to identify new ways for your client to better satisfy consumer needs in your future Task 2a and 2b (see Overview of MKTG5001 Assessments for links between practical assessments). So, the outcome of task 1A is to develop a solid understanding of the targeted customer and competitors that cater for the needs of this segment.
You have been allocated Australian seniors aged between 60 and 75 years as your target segment and client company (to be announced in tutorials week 3) and deliver the following.
An in-depth customer analysis that includes the kinds of understanding addressed in the Empathy Map Tool that you have used thus far.
Remember the goal of this exercise is to “understand” our customers as real people with wider lives, hopes, fears, and human needs (customers are not just demographics and numbers).
The empathy map is a key tool to help you think through the issues that allow for deeper customer understandings that you will explain in your assignment. You should attach your empathy map as an APPENDIX (Note: appendices are not included in page/word count).
You may like to have a look at the a great customer profile we have already shared. Click here.
Thorough competitor analysis. This is an important step because we want to know how our client’s product offering compare to that of competitors. Such comparison may include (but not limited to) evaluation of product features, service elements, advertising, sales promotions, approaches to distribution, brand awareness, brand imagery and price etc. The critical idea to keep in mind is to think about the competitors that also appeal to the specific needs of your segment i.e. seniors aged 60-75 years.
Remember that this competitive analysis must be viewed through the eyes of your targeted customers – Australian Seniors. For example, your customer segments will have specific needs and preferences that vary from other customer segments. This means that your targeted customers may emphasise specific product features that are not so important to other segments. Note: then that you need to understand your customers before you can do your competitive analysis.
Administrative Guidelines:
Individual reports must be no more than 4 pages in length in size 12 font, 1.5 line spacing. Please note the four pages excludes your reference list and appendices.
You must include your empathy map as an appendix. We will be looking to see how you have USED the empathy map to develop your customer profile.
Students must individually upload assignments to the appropriate folder in Turnitin (see link under Assignments on Canvas).
Task 1a Rubric
Task 1A feedback will use the below rubric, with each aspect being graded as a:
1 = Poor; 2 = Fair; 3 = Good; 4 = Excellent
Customer Analysis (customer profile):
- Empathetic understanding of their wider hopes, fears and concerns (what is important to them? How do they think and feel?)
- Demonstrates understanding of their daily behaviours and patterns of life (what do they do? What do they see?)
- What needs does the product category seek to fulfil in making life better? (pains and gains?)
- What influences their purchase decisions for your product category?
Competitive analysis:
- Identification of full range of key competitors that seek to fulfil the core needs for our target segment?
- Selection of most appropriate criteria on which to compare each alternative competitor, that is, key criteria that matches what is important to the target consumer?
Document Aspects:
- Clarity of expression and readability
- Referencing is thorough in scope (as evidence of your search effort) and strongly supports your claims.
- Strength of argument and persuasiveness. e.g., is it cohesive, realistic and is there a clear link between your analysis and opportunities?
NOTE: the above criteria are NOT simply averaged to arrive at a final mark.
The above criteria should be read in conjunction with the assignment brief.
5001 Task1A
Understanding one’s consumers and competitors is a significant step in establishing improved ways to meet the former’s needs and develop a competitive edge against industry rivals. In marketing, these steps can be achieved by conducting consumer and competition analysis to establish consumers’ profiles and unique needs and understand what rival firms are doing to satisfy consumers’ needs. Therefore, this report aims to create a consumer profile using the empathy map and conduct a competitive analysis to assess how Ikea’s rival firms fulfil consumers’ needs and how the company can establish new ways to satisfy consumers’ needs better.
Customer Analysis
The targeted group for this report is Australian seniors aged between 60 and 75 years, a potential customer base for Ikea. From a marketing perspective, it is vital to thoroughly analyse this consumer segment to understand their needs and better inform Ikea of ways to meet this population’s demands. One of the ways in which this analysis can be done is using an empathy map, a tool that helps synthesise observations and draw out insights on a client by visualising what they say, do, think and feel (Campese et al., 2018) (see appendix 1). The empathy map below is divided into four areas to provide an adequate characterisation of the targeted client, generate a sufficient understanding of their needs and how Ikea fulfils them to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors.
Figure 1: Empathy Map
As is evident from the empathy map, there are a few specific things that consumers in the selected segment hope for, fear, are concerned about, think, do, say and feel. Although there lacks adequate literature about what the group says, an analysis of characteristics suggests that the population may seek satisfaction and enhanced customer experience, a range of products to choose from, self-assembled products that are cost-effective to match their financial status and information of products to avoid the time-consuming and tiring process of evaluating different designs in retail stores. Further analysis of this group suggests that they think and have particular concerns about furniture and other home accessories. Most notably, this consumer segment might value a comprehensive product portfolio to choose those that meet their needs, given that they live independently. The group may also have concerns about shopping convenience because of their old age. Besides, senior Australian consumers within this age bracket are likely highly concerned about product longevity because they need household items to last them in their old age.
A further look into this group also reveals some unique behaviours and feelings that may affect their shopping habits. Most notably, reports indicate that individuals in this age bracket are highly involved in volunteering work, are socially engaged, undertake part-time jobs, and most of them live independently (“Older Australia at a glance,” 2018). This information also implies that the group feels socially engaged, emotionally attached to certain items, and highly concerned about products’ lifespan.
Needs that the Product Category Seeks to Fulfill and Factors that Influence Consumer’s Purchase Decision
Synthesis of information from the empathy map draws valuable insight into the needs that Ikea products fulfil from a consumer’s perspective. First, the brand’s products satisfy consumers’ emotional requirements, notably emotional attachment to items. Magids et al. (2015) note that companies can reap huge payoffs by appealing to customers’ emotions. Zorfas and Leemon (2016) also emphasise that connecting with customers at an emotional level, such as tapping into their deep and unspoken emotional needs, appealing to emotional motivators like the desire for a sense of belonging, is the most effective way of maximising customer value. In this context, Ikea appeals to consumers emotional and functionality needs by manufacturing quality furniture and accessories with a prolonged lifespan. Besides, Ikea acknowledges that sometimes, it is typical for consumers to have a story connected to specific products in their ownership (Gardberg & Ringvall, 2018). This emotional connection and opportunity to have a product-related story is made possible by Ikea’s long-lasting, re-usable and recyclable quality products.
Apart from emotional needs, Ikea’s products also seek to fulfil consumers’ price needs. Despite this target market being asset rich, it also has unique budgets and is likely to spend reasonably and manage its investment to last them during old age. Therefore, Ikea products fulfil the price needs by offering affordable furniture and other accessories that may last a lifetime.
Furthermore, an analysis of the empathy map and the brand’s wide range of assorted products reveals that it seeks to satisfy consumer’s love and belonging needs. Evidence from the research indicates that this target consumer is highly engaged in social and volunteering work. Arguably, these social works may include charity events where items are donated to needy people in society. As a charitable group, this population likely highly regard products with lasting value and longevity as they pass them down to other users. Therefore, Ikea fulfils this need by offering assorted products with a lasting value and longevity that may help the consumers satisfy their love and belongingness needs.
Fundamentally, several factors may influence consumers purchasing decisions. Scholars group these factors into four core sets; situational, personal, psychological, and social (“Factors influencing consumer decisions,” n.d.). In this context, psychological, personal, and social factors are likely the core factors influencing consumers’ purchase decisions for Ikea’s different product categories. On the one hand, personal factors such as the life stage, economic situation and the need for long-lasting products is a factor that influences the group’s purchase decision. Psychological factors such as consumers’ emotional attachment to items also influence their purchase decision. Besides, social factors such as belonging to volunteering and charity groups also influence the target group to purchase durable household furniture and accessories that can retain their value and be passed down to others.
Competitive Analysis
Despite being one of the biggest furniture companies globally, Ikea faces fierce competition from new market entrants and companies with a long footprint in the industry. These companies include domestic manufacturers of similar or substitute goods. Among the company’s top competitors include Groupe SEB, Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon, Target and Wayfair. These companies compete with Ikea by fulfilling the target segment’s core needs, as shown in figure 2.
Figure 2: Competitive Comparison
| Criteria for Comparison | Groupe SEB | Walmart | Bed Bath & Beyond | Amazon’s furniture brand (Rivet ad Stone & Beam) | Target | Wayfair |
| Price | The target group values affordability and convenience. The company fulfils this need by offering free shipping for its product categories. | Consumers’ purchase decision is based on cost advantages because of their economic status. Amazon fulfils this need by offering free shipping for its products. | The target consumers are price conscious and prefer spending reasonably, probably because of their economic status. Therefore, this group chooses durable and affordable items. Target fulfils this need by selling inexpensive furniture and other related products. | |||
| Convenience | This target consumer wants highly assorted product designs to furnish their homes and meet their décor requirements. Walmart fulfils this need by selling every category of furniture to meet the group’s home décor requirements. Besides, given their old age, this target segment wants a convenient shopping experience to get different items in the same place. Walmart fulfils this need by offering various product designs under the same roof. | Target consumers want a convenient shopping experience. Amazon offers this convenience by selling most of its products online and offering low shipping costs | Wayfair fulfils the target consumers’ convenience needs by offering a wide selection of furniture and outstanding customer services, unlike Ikea, which contracts third parties to provide assembly, moving and delivery services to consumers. |
Conclusion
Essentially, the customer and competitive analysis reveal that the target consumer segment has unique needs that influence purchasing decisions. Although Ikea partially meets these needs, it is evident that its competitors supersede the entity in some critical criteria such as convenience. Therefore, this criterion should be considered when advising Ikea of better ways to satisfy the consumers’ needs.
References
“Factors influencing consumer decision” (n.d.). Lumen Learning. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-principlesofmarketing/chapter/reading-situational-factors/
“Older Australia at a glance” (2018, September 10). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/older-people/older-australia-at-a-glance/contents/health-functioning
Campese, C., Vanegas, C.A.L., & Costa, J.M.H. (2018). Benefits of the empathy map method and the satisfaction of a company with its application in the development of concepts for a white glue tube. IDGP.org, 16(2), 104-113. https://www.pmd.igdp.org.br/article/10.4322/pmd.2018.008/pdf/pmd-16-2-104.pdf
Gardberg, J., & Ringvall, K. (2018). Ikea Australia: People and planet positive 2018 creating a circular Ikea. Ikea. https://www.ikea.com/ms/en_AU/media/pdf/sustainability/IKEAPeoplePlanetBrochure.pdf
Magids, S., Zorfas, A., & Leemon, D. (2015, November 11). The new science of customer emotions. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/11/the-new-science-of-customer-emotions
Zorfas, A., & Leemon, D. (2016, August 29). An emotional connection matters more than customer satisfaction. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/08/an-emotional-connection-matters-more-than-customer-satisfaction
Appendices
Appendix 1: Empathy Map
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