Feasibility Of Introducing Sugar-Free Carbonated Drinks By Golden Circle

Identification and clarification of information needs

Discuss About The Journal Of Food Measurement Characterization.

The research is conducted for determining the feasibility of introduction of sugar free carbonated drinks food and Beverage Company named Golden Circle based in Brisbane, Australia. A wide range of soft drinks such as lemonade, golden pash, orange, creaming soda, tropical crunch orange, lemon and lime is produced by Golden circle Consumption of soft drinks is strongly linked with obesity and overweight. Drinking soft drink at higher level is associated with consequences of ill health such as metallic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, dental care, osteoporosis and displacement of healthier beverage and food options from diet. Introduction of sugar free carbonated drink is a type of investment intended to be made by company for reducing the consumption of soft drinks (Al-Mazyad et al., 2017). Nonetheless, the soft drinks produced by company does not contain sugar free components that appeals to the growing health consciousness consumers in country.

It is required to be determined by the company whether there exist the need for introduction of sugar free carbonated drink for customers. There is a direct link between the consumption of sugar and its related illness and increased obesity among consumers. It has also been ascertained that increase in body weight of adults is due to increased consumption sugar sweetened drinks. Such findings are implications for manufacturers such as Golden circle to introduce sugar free carbonated drink in the market. The aim of the initiative taken for introducing sugar free carbonated drinks is to reduce the intake of excessive sugar among the Australian population. Sales of carbonated drinks in region had reduced considerably in year 2014 and are expected to continue in year 2018 respectively.  Because of growing advice of doctors on the intake of sugars, the consumption of carbonated drinks seems to be regulated by consumers. It is indicated by rising research that there are negative effects of consuming glucose, sucrose and fructose. The recommendation for new product needs to be done conclusively by conducting research on take of customers regarding the consumption of carbonated drinks.

Research intends to determine the market variable such as demographic variables, attitude and customer preferences for sweetened or sugar free drinks and the inclination towards purchasing new sugar free product. Therefore, research will mainly be focused on customer and prioritized measure determination is required to be done as such measures are taken into account by customers irrespective of sugar level, taste and price when buying soft drink from Golden circle. In addition to this, it is required to explore the diversity of needs of customers regarding their soft drink purchase. It is also required to determine how the demand of consumers to buy sugar free drinks is stimulated by the several elements of marketing mix of retail.  

Some of the research questions that have been formulated for addressing the need of introducing sugar free carbonated drink are as follows:

What are the trend and patterns of regarding the consumption of soft drinks in Australia?

Defining the research question

What are the preferences and intentional behavior of customers when buying sugar free carbonated drinks?

What are the preferences of customers when buying carbonated or sweetened drinks?

What is the current attitude of customers toward buying different flavors of soft drinks offered by Golden Circle?

Information that is incorporated in the research would be regarding the behavior of customers for the existing or available soft drink brands of Golden Circle in the market. Responses of customers relating to the introduction of sugarless brand into the market have also been accounted for (Franckle, 2016).

The main objective of research is to determine the requirement of introduction of sugar free carbonated drinks in the market. Factors that is considered most influential on purchase decision when buying carbonated drink are determined while researching for the viability of introducing sugar free drinks. One of the key objectives of conducting research is to have an understanding of the role of soft drinks among people and level of consumption among different demographic groups (Zahniser et al., 2016). Research also takes into account how the consumption habit of soft drinks has affected health across different groups of age. The recent downtrend in soft drinks industry coincides with the focus of media around the implication of health with excessive consumption of soft drinks with artificial sweeteners and high sugar contents (Burns et al., 2014).

An adequate amount of illumination will become apparent on the behavior of customers regarding sugar free and softened drinks after engaging in research. In addition to this, some lights will also be thrown on reasons associated with reduced purchasing of range of soft drinks offered by Golden Circle in the market. While working on product capitalization and recommending on suggested brand is done by gathering the information regarding the reason for customers to choose soft drinks offered by Golden circle as their preferred brand. Gathering information on the flavors offered by customers would help in determining what type of soft drinks offered by Golden circle results in generating optimum sales. Furthermore, adequate recommendations would also be made by collecting collated information regarding the purchasing intensions and attitude of customers toward considering the fact that consuming sugar free drink is a healthy option.  

Research design is a plan that helps researcher in answering research related questions. The approach of research design is quantitative and conducting survey analysis using the structured questionnaires is the strategy employed in this research paper. In event of descriptive research, questionnaires are best studied because a variety of relevant questions are asked in relation to area such as characteristics, lifestyle, demographics, attitude, intentions, motivation and awareness.

Questions are authoritative, economical and comparatively easy to explain and understand and can be issued to any demographic group. Descriptive statistics helps in analysis of such questions so that there can be interrogation between identified variables. The nature of the study is explanatory and questionnaires helps in collecting three variables that is behavior, opinions and attitude. Questionnaire designs are governed by the need to provide consistency by enabling informal comparison of trend of consumption from previous year. A large sample will be researched across wide range of age by keeping the objective of research at the heart of process of design.

Specifying research objectives

The method of collecting data was done by conducting survey and framing questions that is web based. Online questionnaires help in achieving self completion and allow administration at pace by simplifying functionality, offering clarity and being professional in their appearance. Since the researcher did not have the resource and time to administer telephonic based or face to face interviews. Researcher was able to maintain consistency in this particular study by using an online questionnaire and it also used an online omnibus panel of 500 respondents. Questionnaires were significantly different and expanded for meeting specific research objectives.

Questionnaires were first scripted in format of Microsoft word before it was produced using an online survey tool. In order to avoid overly complicated or confusion related to questionnaires, simple language and wording of questions are used. The survey comprised of short sections by linking it with research objectives. Questions comprised of demographic profiling that captures the age, gender, employment status, number of children living under age 18 and number of children living in household. All the questions framed are closed ended offering independent alternatives.

Now, for understanding the attitude of respondents toward soft drink consumption, a number of closed questions in the form of statement have been prepared. The statements are rated by respondents in terms of strongly agreed and strongly disagreed using a five point Likert scale (Zendeboodi et al., 2018).  Some research objectives to which statements are related to brand loyalty, health and personal consumption. Purchasing of soft drinks could be impacted by increased importance of health of individual and aging process.

Research design is underpinned by adaption, development and selection of an appropriate theoretical framework which is a key element of research approach. It was found that the most effective way of sampling opinions are questionnaire and validating the findings of enquiry by eliciting required primary data (Zahniser et al., 2014). A sample group of between 300 to 350 people reflecting employment and status across wide age range is targeted. Approach of mono method for gathering quantitative data and the conclusions drawn would help researcher to gain an understanding of the consumption difference by age and ultimately plan for future.

The sampling technique that is deductive approach that helps in explaining casual relationship between variables and concepts. Such approach involves theory development which is subjected to test by series of proposition. Using quantitative measurements such as survey and experiments and adaption and texting of existing hypothesis is allowed in deductive approach (Mchiza et al., 2016). Using deductive approach has helped researcher in bringing consistency as the same set of questions are answered by each respondents that helps in efficient collection of responses from large sample. The difference in consumption of soft drinks can be tested and quantified using existing studies and theories. Numerical data in large quantities is collected in a standard way using deductive approach that helped in comparison and analysis of relationship between key variables (Jithitikulchai & Andreyeva, 2018).

The sampling method is described using the following method:

Confirming the information value

The target population in this survey was both males and females within the age group of 18 to 74 that were divided into three sub groups. Age between 18 to 34 represents young age group, age between 35-54 represents the middle age group and 55 to 74 represents the old age group. Sampling units comprised of individuals residing in Australia. It was decided not to conduct survey on people above 74 years because the questionnaire was to be self completed online.

Sample frame determination:

The study employed a non probability approach compared to probability sampling method due to budget and time constraints. Therefore, study did not incorporate using sampling frame.

Study selected an approach of non probability sampling and such sampling procedure was employed it helps in controlling elements because of population that is relatively homogenous. In order to ensure an even split between number of females and males surveyed, researcher used an element of quota sampling. Researcher used online survey tool named Qualtrics that helped in monitoring levels of response of each group of quota. The approach of volunteer sampling was adopted in order to build the sample (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). Snowball sampling was the first sampling technique where participants took part in study by volunteering. Researcher sent the hyperlink to contact friends and family that forms part of respondents via mail. For completion, respondents were asked to send the link onto their own personal contacts. Self selection sampling was the second technique and sampling was carried out at two different times by choosing sample from two different socio economic areas (Spence & Wang, 2015).

Relevant sample size determination:

The target sample total included completed responses of 300-350 respondents by ensuing that within each of different groups that have been identified, there are 50-80 consumers. For safeguarding the reliability of statistics, there is an equal split of females and males.

An appropriate ethical behavior is conformed under the study in relation to collection, rights of participation, use and storage of data. It is also ensured by researcher that findings were used in responsible and moral way. Respondents have participated based on informed consent and data confidentiality’s have been adequately maintained. In addition to this, researcher has avoided the biasness of findings of primary data representation.

• Using survey approach poses researcher with biggest challenge in terms of rigour and quality of questionnaire design for collection of primary data. It is required to be done for ensuring the validity and reliability of collected data and achieving strong response rate. Limitations have also been dictated in research methodology due to resources, time and financial restrictions.
• The employment of quota sampling was not representative nationally which is indicative of the fact that data could not be weighed up to the overall population.
• For online survey, the sample size was relatively small and valid results of survey were produced by completing 310 surveys. However, the findings generated were less robust compared to large sample when analyzing sets of specific question data.
• The length of questionnaires was too long that resulted in vast amount of data for processing and analysis. Although this was not the case under the study as the accuracy and completion was affected by respondent’s fatigue.  

Conclusion

This research paper has thrown light on the health concern relating to the consumption of soft drinks and it has been found that health factor has considerable impact on purchasing frequency. Therefore, this particular research paper is of significantly important to the manufacturers and producers of soft drinks. It is ensured that any development in the products offered by Golden circle such as sugar free carbonated drinks would acknowledge the systems of customer value such as health. A wide range of areas could be developed and scored for complementing the findings of the study.

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