8/10/2019 MR Grp 3

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BIZRATE.COM

Aneesh Varghese, Sooraj Jose, Dijo George, Deepthi L.,

Jean George Varghese

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2/5

1.What is the original value proposition for consumers? What role does marketing

research play in defining this value proposition?

The data is collected from the consumers when they purchased from Bizrates online

partners. A pop up window would appear and a survey is offered to get response on a variety

of criteria.

Later the data thus collected is used for preparing merchant ratings with respect to various

dimensions.

Customers can ensure that the ecommerce site they use is suitable for them by selecting the

site high in ratings for the preferred parameters.

Market research can be used to check the appropriateness and usefulness of the various

parameters used for measuring customer feedback.

2.What is the original value proposition for merchants? What role does marketing

research play in defining this value proposition?

The research done was sold to merchants in a detailed form. It consisted of Customer analysis

report, consumer online report and custom cuts.

They can understand where they stand and the areas for improvement by the analysis of

ratings they get.The merchants got ratings by virtue of which they earned more customers

and also the various reports helped in gauging the level of their market position.

It is rather more reliable as the data is from the actual customers who have done the purchase.

Marketing research helps to identify the benefit received by the merchants and the cost they

incur for the same.

3.How does marketing research help BizRate to become a relationship-enabler between

the consumer and merchant?

Bizrate gives a sense of trust for the customer that a certain merchant is credible.This is

beneficial for both the customer and the merchant as the customer as well as the merchant can

utilize the credibility factor to their own advantage.

The customer can make sure that the purchases he makes are from the sources most suitable

to his requirements.

The merchant can increase his customer base and sales.He can also focus on the areas of

improvement required.

4. What is effect of Red October on the value proposition to the consumers? To the

merchant/vendor? To BizRate?

Value proposition to consumers: BizRate unveiled new product searching tool for theconsumer which allowed not only shopping by merchant but by specific product also.

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Consumers had options to perform comparisons like quality, price, etc. A consumer when

comparing a merchant in a particular category; the consumer could also inspect the BizRate

rating. In case of product based searches the consumer should be taken directly to the retailers

webpage that features there product. Also BizRate provided a rebate. As a result of customer

participation the credibility and integrity increased among the consumers and this became themajor part of the consumer value propositions.

Value proposition to merchants: BizRates merchandising pods helped the merchants with

rating of 4 and above to display promotional banners in a predefined space with the ratings

also; this was done without charging any fee, but BizRate collected a cut of sales generated

from click through.

This helped the merchants to advertise their product without spending much money on

advertisement.

Value proposition to BizRate: By launching Red October, it helped BizRate to achieve 4million unique visitors and make it the 12thmost popular shopping website in Internet. Also it

was ranked by Media Metirx as 2ndbest shopping portal in web beating Yahoo and MSN, this

was achieved by spending only 10 million USD on marketing. Number of merchants joined

increased from 1700 to 2700 with a retention rate of 99%. This affected the brand value of

BizRate and they had a large customer and merchant base.

5. Does Red October enhance or inhibit consumer-vendor relationship? How?

Yes, Red October enhanced the customer- vendor relationship, the consumer were given

option to do comparison of the merchant quality with price and consumer could rate themerchant and provide feedback at necessary times; there by the merchant can find solution to

the trouble to enhance customer satisfaction and finally building a good relationship among

them. Consumer also had an option to opt out of merchandising display and view rating

information without any promotional banner. Also many surveys done by BizRate by

participating consumer helped the merchant to know the problems faced by the consumer

while making a purchase through WEB and this survey could help the merchant to find

solution to the problem by which credibility can be increased and also customer satisfaction

and finally helps in maintaining a good relation between consumer and the merchants.

6. Describe the management decision problem facing BizRate?

The management decision problem is whether the company should go with e-commerce only

or go for a coexistence of both ecommerce and research division.

The research division is Bizrates core competency.So The company should focus on it.

Red October gave the company a new opportunity in the field ecommerce.The profits came

from this caused a rethink to occur.

But the company has a dilemma of whether they should go with their core field of research or

to incorporate the ecommerce also.

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But the latter option can dilute the efficiency of the firm and deviate the focus from its

research field.

7. Describe the corresponding Marketing Research Problem

Marketing Research Problem Identification mainly focuses on 6 aspects

Market Potential Research

Market Share Research

Market Characteristics Research

Sales Analysis Research

Forecasting Research &

Business Trend Research

In case of Bizrate the company had to focus on the below mentioned aspects,

How much was their Market Share from internet market research and e-

commerce separately? Also the Profit from each segment had to be noted.

They had to analyze whether the market characteristics in e-commerce would

increase/decrease taking the data from the past few years.

What would be the trend and forecast of both these businesses separately?

How would the customers reactto the change in the companys business?

How will the clients respond (vendors)to this change from a internet MR firm to a

e-commerce firm?

Will it be able to survive by only focusing on the e-commerce side where its

competitors already have a strong hold?

8. Outline the information required to tackle the Marketing Research Problem

The methods used for problem solving in Marketing Research are,

Segmentation Research

Product Research

Pricing Research

Promotion Research &

Distribution Research

The information required for Bizrate to solve the MR problem should have been,

The comparative study on the expected growth of e-commerce with internet market

research for the past few years and forecast for the future.

What did the customers generally prefer The e-commerce business or the internet

market research business?

Identify the core strength of the company?

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What should be the promotional strategy if they decide to move the business only to

e-commerce?

The overall cost for the transition?

What should be the strategy to generate additional income from one business if they

completely avoid the other business?

9. Create Research Questions and corresponding hypothesis?

Will the transition be acceptable for the customers? (Yes/No)

How do the customers see our firm now? (As a market research firm/ As an e-

commerce firm).

Will the company be able to generate the same amount of profit if it makes the

transition? (Yes/No).

Will be company be able to maintain the promises (if the transition happens) they had

made to the customers during its initial stage of 1996-97.(Yes/No)

Will this decision of transition make them compromise on the Ethical aspect?

(Yes/No)

How long will it take the public to cope up with the new transition made?

Will they be able to get a competitive edge if they focus on one business rather than

both? (Yes/No)

Is this change really needed, considering the future forecast (trend)? (Yes/No)