whats up with pasta
...ritional value and ultimately the buying behaviour of people such as mothers and wives. In addition, there is the perception that Spaniards can’t cook pasta, which possible affects the consumption in restaurants - Lack of understanding of the Spanish pasta market; the previous research focused on quantitative statistical data of sales and failed to describe the buying behaviour of consumers - Differences in terms of geographical consumption as well as seasonality make it difficult to develop a marketing strategy without understanding the reason for those differences Getting problem specific data The areas on which we will concentrate on obtaining problem specific data are three: 1. Perceptions/attitudes towards pasta, including its nutritional value, available alternatives in the market, usage, and reasons for buying (context) 2. Segmentation: Analysis of the population that buys pasta and the factors that influence them in their buying decision, i.e. cultural issues, price, etc. (consumer) 3. Positioning/ Differentiation: How is pasta currently being marketed? How can I position it to achieve higher revenues? => Analysis of promotion activities, sales channels, etc.) (company and competition) To get the information desired, we will conduct market research using a 3-step approach: In the first step, we will analyze available secondary research. We will gather information from AEFPA and other related associations and review industry specific publications and generic market research from companies such as Nielsen. This method is characterized by low costs and will provide us with insight into general market trends and consumer characterization, which we will use as a basis to choose focus groups in a next step. In the second step, we will conduct exploratory research based on focus groups and in-depth-interviews with members of the major purchasing groups as identified in the last research step. This step will give us insight into consumer’s perception towards pasta (i.e. nutritional value in comparison to alternative products) as well as help us identify other data requirements for our research. In order to keep control of costs while still gaining a broad understanding of the whole market, we will limit this research to three geographical areas: - Cataluña-Aragon: Most important area in terms of sales in Spain, (15,2% of volume consumption) - Madrid/Barcelona: Metropolitan areas with consumption levels very close to the lowest levels in the whole of Spain (12,8% and 12,6% of the market’s consumption by volume respectively) - Zaragoza: Commonly kno...