Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation.

It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. Organizations need to retain existing customers while targeting non customers.!"# $easuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and%or services to the marketplace. &ustomer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product%service to product%service. 'he state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. 'he level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other factors the customer, such as other products against which the customer can compare the organization(s products.

CONSUMER PREFERENCES 'he underlying foundation of demand, therefore, is a model of how consumers behave. 'he individual consumer has a set of preferences and values whose determination are outside the realm of economics. 'hey are no doubt dependent upon culture, education, and individual tastes, among a plethora of other factors. 'he measure of these values in this model for a particular good is in terms of the real opportunity cost to the consumer who purchases and consumes the good. If an individual purchases a particular good, then the opportunity cost of that purchase is the forgone goods the consumer could have bought instead. &onsumer preferences are defined as the sub)ective *individual+ tastes, as measured by utility, of various bundles of goods. 'hey permit the consumer to rank these bundles of goods according to the levels of utility they give the consumer. ,ote that preferences are independent of income and prices. -bility to purchase goods does not determine a consumer.s likes or dislikes

Chapter 2

Research Objective and Methodology

2. Research Objective o! the St"dy# The main objective behind doing this research is to get the full knowledge about the consumer preference and statisfaction towards NIKE brand n its products in comparison to ADIDAS brand sports products

2.2 Research Methodology o! the St"dy# Methodology is generall! a guideline for solving a problem" with specific components such as phases" tasks" methods" techni#ues and tools It can also be defined as follows$

2.$ Research %esign# % &esearch design is the strateg!" the plan" and the structure of conducting a research project ' A research design is the specification of methods and procedures for ac#uiring the

information needed

( It is the over)all operational pattern or framework of the project that stipulates what information is to be collected from which source b! what procedures

%escriptive research design is a scientific method which involves observing and describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in an! wa! The &esearch Design used b! me is %ESCR&P'&(E research design

'ypes o! research design Ever! &esearch needs lots of dedication from the researcher*s part)the amount of dedication mainl! depends on the subject matter of the research +efore undertaking an! research in an! subject areas one must be sure about the intended purpose of the research)this purpose determines what t!pe of research one is going to undertake An! scientific research ma! fall into the following three broadl! categories$ E)ploratory research)This t!pe of research ma! generate an! novel idea in the domain of knowledge It is primaril! done for the purpose of finding an!thing new in an! subject arena and alwa!s tries to shed some light in the unknown domain of knowledge This kind of research also helps us to generate new discipline in sciences and help us to identif! problems of those particular research areas

Constr"ctive research) This is mainl! done b! man! technological corporates in order to find new,alternative solutions to an! particular crisis or problems -or e.ample) renewable energ! research or development of the capacit! of optical fiber ma! fall into this categor! of research

E*pirical research)This is ver! impressive observational t!pe of research" where one observes or test on real)life data or anal!sis the pattern of some specific events in order to identif! the nature or the class of trend that specific phenomenon maintains

+ased on the test result" researchers tr! to draw lines in order to predict the result of that t!pe of incidents with certain level of confidence

2.+ %ata Collection# The task of data collection begins after a research problem had been defined and research design,plan chalked out Data collection can be done b! both primar! and secondar! method So"rces o! %ata Collection# Pri*ary Method# Data that have been observed and recorded b! the researchers for the first time to their knowledge It can be collected b!$ /ommunication 0bservation 1uestionnaire

There are basic approaches to data collections using primar! methods$ 1ualitative research includes interviews" focus groups" participant observations and ethnographies 1uantitative research includes controlled laborator! e.periments" field work" #uestionnaires and surve!s

The term primar! research is widel! used in academic research" market research and competitive intelligence

Secondary Method# Data that have been alread! collected b! and readil! available from other sources Such data are cheaper and more #uickl! obtainable than the primar! data and also ma! be available when primar! data cannot be obtained at all

'he type o! data collection "sed by *e is a pri*ary so"rce, -"estionnaire.

2.. Sa*pling %esign#

Pop"lation# A population can be defined as including all people or items with the characteristic one wish to understand +ecause there is ver! rarel! enough time or mone! to gather information from ever!one or ever!thing in a population" the goal becomes finding a representative sample 2or subset3 of that population

Sa*pling Unit# 0ne of the units in to which an aggregate is divide or regarded as divided for the purposes of sampling" each unit being regarded as individual and indivisible when selection is made One / 0 NIKE shoes and sportswear product user is the sampling unit

Sa*ple Si1e# The sample si4e is an important feature of an! empirical stud! in which the goal is to make inferences about a population from a sample Sample si4e taken is $2.

Sa*pling 3rea# A method in which the area to be sampled is subdivided into smaller blocks which are selected at random and then subsample or full! surve!ed5 method is used when a complete frame of reference is not available Sampling area is NOR'4 %E54&.

Sa*pling 'echni-"e#

Sa*pling 'echni-"e

Non6Probability Sa*pling 'echni-"e

Probability Sa*pling 'echni-"e

Si*ple Rando* Convenience Sa*pling Sa*pling

Syste*atic 8"dge*ental Sa*pling Sa*pling

Strati!ied 7"ota Sa*pling Sa*pling

Cl"ster Sno9ball Sa*pling Sa*pling

Other Sa*pling 'echni-"e

Non6Probability Sa*pling 'echni-"e# 6nder this techni#ue selection depends upon the situation The sample is not a proportion of the population and there is no s!stem in selecting the sample No such assurance is given that each item has a chance of being included as a sample Convenience Sa*pling# 7enerali4ation to a population can seldom be made with this procedure This is one of the weakest sampling procedures 8"dge*ental Sa*pling# It is a form of convenience in which the population elements are selected based on the judgement of the researchers 7"ota Sa*pling# A pre)defined number 2#uota3 of people who meet certain criteria are surve!ed Sno9ball Sa*pling# An initial group of respondents is selected" usuall! at random After being interviewed" these respondents are asked to identif! others who belong to the target population of interest Subse#uent respondents are selected based on the referrals

Probability Sa*pling 'echni-"e# 6nder this techni#ue such sample is selected from the population b! means of some s!stematic wa! in which ever! element of the population has a chance of being included in the sample It is more comple." e.pensive and time consuming Its t!pes are as under$

 Si*ple Rando* Sa*pling# Each element in the population has an e#ual probabilit! selection and each combination of elements has an e#ual probabilit! of selection Syste*atic Sa*pling# It is a method of probabilit! sampling in which the defined target population is ordered and the sample is selected according to position using a skip interval Strati!ied Sa*pling# -irstl! divide population into groups that differ in important wa!s +asis for grouping must be known before sampling Then select random sample from within each group Cl"ster Sa*pling# This sampling is appropriate when it is ver! time consuming or e.pensive to choose the individuals one at a time It is also known as multistage cluster sampling

The sampling techni#ue used is the C5US'ER S3MP5&N:. 2.; Research &nstr"*ent# The research instrument used is a 7UES'&ONN3&RE

N"*ber o! -"estions# The #uestionnaire prepared b! me contains %8 #uestions

'ypes o! -"estions#

Open Ended 7"estions# 0pen ended #uestions are those #uestions that give the audience an opportunit! to e.press their opinions In these t!pes of #uestions" there are no predetermined set of responses and the person is free to answer however he,she chooses +! including open ended #uestions in !our #uestionnaire" !ou can get true" insightful and even une.pected suggestions 1ualitative #uestions fall under the categor! of open ended #uestions An ideal #uestionnaire would include an open ended #uestion at the end of the #uestionnaire that would ask the respondent about suggestions for changes or improvements Closed Ended 7"estions#

/losed ended #uestions are #uestions that include multiple choice answers 9ultiple choice #uestions fall under the categor! of closed ended #uestions These multiple choices could either be in even numbers or in odd numbers +! including closed ended #uestions in !our #uestionnaire design" !ou can easil! calculate statistical data and percentages :reliminar! anal!sis can also be performed with ease /losed ended #uestions can be asked to different groups at different intervals This can enable !ou to efficientl! track opinion over time Rating Scale 7"estions# In rating scale #uestions" the respondent is asked to rate a particular issue on a scale that ranges from poor to good &ating scale #uestions usuall! have an even number of choices" so that respondents are not given the choice of a middle option

-indings

;alf of the population prefers bu!ing Nike sportswear products Nike is preferred over Adidas <=> of the population is satisfied with the Nike products Durabilit! and comfort are the main concern for bu!ing shoes ?=> of total population visits the Nike showroom once in a month 9ore than half of the population thinks that Nike should introduce new range of shoes

 &eebok and puma are the least preferred brand of shoes and sportswear

/onclusion Nike is the preferred brand of shoes and other sports accessories among public :uma n &eebok are the least preferred brand of shoes and other sports accessories amongst the public 9ore than half of the population visits the Nike showroom once in a month <=> of the population is satisfied with the Nike brand

 Durabilit! and comfort are the main concern of public in relation to sport shoes :ricing strateg! in India pla!s an important part in attracting consumers 9ore than half of the population believes that Nike advertisements are satisfactor!