CoffeeTime is a premium brand of coffee that is considering entering a completely foreign market. In order to succeed in this new market, the company has done extensive research consisting of demographics, infrastructure and competition. Brad Collins, CEO of CoffeeTime, has identified India to be the next opportunity for advancement. The company is well aware that India has approximately three times the population of the U.S. and is one of the most powerful economies in South Asia. New industrial and investment transformations have provided new opportunities for Indian businesspersons and an estimated 100-200 million consumers; hence, a larger customer base for CoffeeTime. There was extensive research done on demographics (population by age, gender, and education), the leisure and lifestyle (number of theaters and malls), infrastructure (number of colleges and schools) and competition (number of coffee chains and restaurants) in different areas of the country. Market researchers can use such information to determine which cities would be most profitable for the coffee chain. However, this information would be inconsistent if the correct sample size or survey questions were not chosen. Analysts have come up with many different types of survey questions to guide them through the process of the research. It is matter of choosing the ones that will provide the best results. Although the research done by CoffeeTime analysts consists of valuable information, there are still many factors that the company has not taken into consideration.
The survey questions did not indicate whether people in India would support foreign coffee over domestic. The people are well accustomed to the local coffee shops. CoffeeTime should use the survey to determine whether the local people of any of the cities examined prefer domestic or foreign coffee. In other words, would they want to support a foreign company rather than an Indian one? The company also failed to gather information about future demographics. For example, it was mentioned in the scenario that village farming and modern agriculture accounts for approximately 34% of the country’s GDP. Therefore, it can be estimated that the remaining 66% accounts for the engineering, medical, business industries and etc. This is the target market for CoffeeTime. The company must conduct extra research to determine which areas this target market is likely to be in within the country. The CEO and analysts have no doubt chosen a profitable region for expansion. However, there is still much research to be done before the idea is actually implemented.