Research Developments

CHAPTER 9

Research Developments

9.1 Marketplace Research

9.1.1 NOSE store, Sungei Wang Plaza

Entrance of NOSE store Sungei Wang Plaza located on the LG floor.

Handbag Placements on the top shelves.

Both Handbag and Shoe placements on the lower shelves.

Wallet placements on top of the accessories section.

Accessories placements.

9.2 Market Observation

9.2.1 Vincci store, Sengei Wang Plaza

Entrance of Vincci store Sungei Wang Plaza, located on the 1 floor.

Vincci counter.

9.2.2 Voir store, Sengei Wang Plaza

Entrance for Voir store Sungei Wang Plaza, located on the G floor.

9.2.3 Comparison

The market observation for NOSE and its direct competitor was done during the weekend. This was achieved by observing the customers that came into the store, tried out the products and actually leaving with the product. Below are the findings.

Brand & Time	Actions	Walk in and observe	Tried on the products	Bought the products
NOSE (3.00pm-4.00pm)		36	18	13
VINCCI (1.45pm-2.45pm)		Above 60	52	41
VOIR (6.00pm - 6.35pm)		9	3	1

9.3 Survey

Both offline and online surveys were conducted, with a total of 91 participants with the range from 13 to above 40 years old. This survey was aimed to get information on the consumers behaviour towards fashion retail and indirectly this allows me to know the whole situation of the retail market.

Section A: Basic Overall Questions

Section B: Personality Questions

Section C: Questions on the brand NOSE.

9.4 Interview

9.4.1 Person in touch

An interview was conducted in order to get more details about the company and the brand.

Person : Ms. Wati

Designation : Sales and Marketing Executive, NOSE Malaysia.

Phone Number

Office : 03-51232668

Mobile : 012-9639833

Office : Lot 691, Wisma RSH,

Jalan Lagoon Selatan off Jalan Kewajipan,

47500 Subang Jaya,

Selangor Malaysia.

Method 1 : Telephone Conversation.

Details : Ms. Wati requested to set an appointment on Friday, 24.06.2011 at 3.00pm. On that day Ms. Wati requested to postpone the meeting to 4.00pm.

Method 2 : Face to face Meeting at NOSE headquarters, Wisma RSH in Subang Jaya.

Details : Arrived at NOSE headquarters early, met with Ms. Wati at 4.00pm and the meeting was conducted in one of the meeting rooms located in Wisma RSH.

Wisma RSH

These were the related questions that were asked during the interview with Ms. Wati.

Questions	Answer
How big is the company?	NOSE is actually a small company that started off with our current CEOs that are actually husband and wife. So NOSE is actually a small company. We consist of Marketting and Visual - 1 Advertising & promotion – 1 Export – 1 Merchandising – 3 Operation – 3 Product Designer – 3 Human Resource – 3 Finance – 4 Inventory – 1 IT - 1
What kind of promotion has NOSE done?	Magazine ads. Sponsorship for events, charity, campaign, and local artist. Fashion show.
How often does NOSE gets involved with charity and campaigns?	As often as possible. Usually the charity that we have done we’ve been approached by various organizations as well as we reaching out to them.
Who do you think are your main competitors? Why do you think so?	Vincci and Charles and Keith, because we offer the same products the only difference is base on our designs, quality and brand awareness of the public.
What is your opinion on NOSE main strengths?	We aspire to be different and very trendy. We are up to date to the fashion scenes that are out there. We come up with bold and fashion forward design and at the same time try to be affordable. The wife of the CEO is a very detailed person, she is a perfectionist so our products and design are very detailed and exclusive
What do you think that maybe NOSE biggest weakness?	We are currently in the progress of opening a few more stores in the year 2011 but it takes time due to the capacity of the company.
What other advantages that you think NOSE have that other brands don’t?	NOSE is kind of a family based company. The CEO is from Ipoh and have family in the manufacturing industry. Our products are made in one of the factories located in Ipoh. So we have that advantage of cutting cost.
What type of promotions do NOSE offer?	Currently we have buy any second item and get 20% off on the 2nd item. We also had buy above RM100 and get a free recycling bag. NOSE usually go on sale when Mega sale begins.
How many times does NOSE come up with new designs?	Every week we bring in new collection. 10 new shoe design and 5 new bag design every week.
Do you continue producing old designs once new ones have come out?	It depends on the shoes. usually we manufacture certain amount and once it is finish we do not produce it anymore but some pump shoe designs we do repeat.
What is NOSE current promotional strategy?	Magazine, Website, posters in shopping malls, we used to have billboards but not anymore.
Where is NOSE newest outlet and the first?	First is in KLCC and the newest would be in Serawak.
How were the sales of NOSE products compared to 5 years ago until now?	Safe to say that sales have been increasing yearly. People are starting to be more aware of our product, but at a slow pace.