BUSINESS COGNATE

SCHOOL-BASED
ASSESSMENT

An Assessment of the Impact of the Marketing Strategies used at Bert’s Auto Parts on
Profitability.

Territory: Jamaica
Proficiency: General
School: Mona High School
Teacher: Ms. L. Fyne
Candidate Name: Sanique Ennis
Center: 100152
Candidate #:1001520758

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Contents

Topic/ Issue/ Problem 3

Objectives 4

Background/ Overview 5

Methodology 6

Presentation and Analysis of Data 8

Conclusion 11

Recommendations 12

Appendices 13

Bibliography 14

Page 2
 Topic/ Issue/ Problem

An assessment of the impact of the marketing strategies used at Bert’s Auto Parts on its

profitability

Page 3
 Objectives

1. To identify the marketing strategies used at Bert’s Auto Parts.

2. To discuss how these marketing strategies affect the profitability at Bert’s Auto
Parts over one year.

Page 4
 Background/ Overview

Burt’s Auto Parts was established in 1988, it has been recognized as one of the leading Auto

Parts dealers and retailers in Jamaica. Their success is based on the emphasis they place on

satisfying their customers through researching and forecasting current and future demand for

auto parts.

Their recruiting and training programs also provide qualified savvy employees whose focus is to

use their technical expertise to add value to each customer's shopping experience.

Bert's employs a highly motivated staff complement of over 270 persons and operates three

locations in Kingston. Employees participate actively in the goals of the organization and are

recognized for their contribution through various incentive programs. Branch recreation and

company fun days are greatly appreciated giving credence to the underlying company's belief in

working and playing hard. In keeping with Bert's culture, they have a combined knowledge base

of over fifty years in auto parts research, purchasing and sales. Their management team is

however comprised of a broad spectrum of specialists in areas not exclusive to auto parts. These

areas include accounting, human resource management, strategic management, and marketing.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, I have become concerned as to how small business owners gain

capital, how effective is their marketing skills and how they sustain their business. Also having a

positive impact on society by sharing my knowledge and understanding of how Burt’s Auto Parts

gain customers and different marketing strategies they’ve used. With that being said how they

supplying customer’s wants/needs by providing them with the right equipment they need for

their cars.

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 Methodology

To complete this research under the instruction of the teacher, the researcher compiled

information on the topic, “An assessment of the impact of the marketing strategies used at Bert’s

Auto Parts”. The researcher wrote a letter of accommodation to assess “Bert’s Auto Parts”. In the

process of waiting on the organization to approve the letter, the researcher formulated the interview

schedule and the questionnaire which would be used to gather data. The qualitative and

quantitative approach was utilized. Quantitative data gets you the numbers to prove the broad

general points of your research. Qualitative data brings you the details and the depth to understand

the full implications. An interview schedule is a guide that an interviewer uses when conducting a

structured interview. It has two components: a set of questions designed to be asked exactly as

worded, and instructions to the interviewer about how to proceed through the questions. A

questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions to gather information from

respondents. The Interview Schedule was chosen because it is useful to obtain detailed information

about personal feelings, perceptions, and opinions. They allow more detailed questions to be asked.

Additionally, they usually achieve a high response rate and respondents' own words are recorded.

The questionnaire was chosen as the method of research because it is inexpensive and consumes

less time. This method also provides the respondents with confidentiality, meaning the identity of

the individual is not needed.

When the letter was finally approved, the researcher went to the company for the assessment. This

data collection was conducted at Bert’s Auto Parts, where the researcher interviewed and

distributed questionnaires and interview instruments to the manager and ten (11) employees. Thus

the sample size for this research was twelve individuals. It would have been quite impossible to

get responses from everyone in the business, so the researcher decided to choose them randomly.

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Some employees could not fill out the questionnaires on spot. Thus, they took it home to finalize

their answer and resubmit to the researcher.

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 Presentation and Analysis of Data

Based on chart 1, 50% of the respondents mentioned that paid advertisements were mostly utilized

by Bert’s Auto Parts. This was followed by cause marketing, word of mouth and transactional

marketing which accounted for 25, 17 and 8 percent of the responses from respondents

respectively.

Chart 2, illustrates that 40% of respondents noted that the quality of Bert’s Auto Parts marketing

strategies are very beneficial. Additionally, another 40% of respondents mentioned that the quality

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of marketing strategies is beneficial while 10% each noted that the quality of marketing strategies

is unimportant and not beneficial. Your chart is not reflecting that. It is actually saying 50% each.

It was noted by 59% or seven (7) of the twelve (12) respondents that Bert’s Auto Parts received

on average per day over 15 customers. It was further noted by 25% (3) of the respondents that the

company received on average 11 to 15 customers per day. Sixteen percent of respondents noted

that Bert’s received from 1-5 and 6 to 10 customers on average per day with 8% saying that 1-5

customers do business per day and another 8% saying 6 to 10 customers do business per day.

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A total of 10 or 83% of the respondents noted that Bert’s Auto Parts Marketing Strategies are good

while 17% or 3 of the respondents noted that they were not good. Your chart is showing two.

Based on chart 5, 50% or 6 of the respondents noted that paid advertisements were more effective

in gaining more customers when compared to cause marketing, word of mouth and transactional

marketing which accounted for 25, 17 and 1 percent of respondent’s responses respectively.

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Not seeing the report on the Interview that was conducted. A sample SBA was
emailed with the example.

Conclusion

The basic objective of this study is to assess the Impact of some Marketing strategies that

are used at Bert’s Auto Parts and to identify them.

According to the data collected the findings concluded that the Marketing strategies that

are used at Bert’s Auto Parts had an impact on profitability and the effectiveness and efficiency in

gaining new customers.

The marketing strategy used at Bert’s Auto Parts overall game plan is to reach prospective

consumers and turning them into customers of the goods and services the business provides. In

this case majority of the responses said Paid Advertisement and I researched and find out that most

people are internet friendly and often they will see ads popping up on their phones, radios,

television and older people when driving most times they will see billboards advertising the

business(Bert’s Auto Parts), etc.

School Based Assessment Page 11

 Recommendations
The researcher having assessed Bert’s auto parts marketing strategies would further recommend

the following point below to improve the number of customers and to boost its profitability

within the business.

● The focus on Word of Mouth marketing; seeing that it is one of the most effective

ways in marketing a company and based on the findings of this research it only

accounts for 17% of the marketing strategies utilized by Bert’s Auto Parts. In this

marketing strategy, existing customers will act as sales representatives by simply

attesting to a wonderful and attractive customer care/service that they have

become loyal to (brand loyalty) in return they will further introduce/refer the

product and services in their network. A positive word of mouth keeps customers

coming back and referring other customers who also keep coming back, this is

normally done for free by the customers rather than focusing to pay for

advertisements. To implement this strategy the company will have to

1. Offer an incentive.

2. Create a referral program.

3. Sharing customer testimonials.

4. Build a customer service oriented atmosphere- offer a unique share-

worthy experience.

School Based Assessment Page 12

 Appendices
Students Questionnaire

Please tick (√) the appropriate answer for each question or fill in a response where
necessary.
Age: 18-35 ( ) 35-55& over ( ) Gender: M ( ) F( )

1. For how long have you been working for this company?
Less than 1 year ( ) 5-10 years ( )
1-5 years ( ) More than 15 years ( )

2. Do you think that there are enough employees to accommodate customers when
the day is hectic?
Yes ( ) No ( ) Not Really ( )

3. Does the marketing strategies used in your organization help to gain more customers?
Yes ( ) No ( )

4. Which marketing strategies are used at Bert’s Auto Parts?

Cause marketing ( ) Transactional marketing ( )
Word of mouth ( ) Paid Advertisement ( )

5. Rate the quality of the marketing strategies used in your organization?

Very beneficial ( ) Beneficial ( )
Not beneficial ( ) Un-importance ( )

6. How does the marketing strategies impact the profitability of Bert’s Auto Parts
Good ( ) Not so good ( ) doesn’t help much ( ) Bad ( )

7. What kind of marketing strategy do you think is more effective to gain more
customers?
Cause marketing ( ) Transactional marketing ( )
Word of mouth ( ) Paid Advertisement ( )

8. If they are any other marketing strategy that you would choose, would you have chosen
any other one?
Yes ( ) No ( )

9. If you had the chance to change the marketing strategy used at Bert’s Auto Parts
would you change it?
Yes ( ) No ( )
10. How many customers do you get on a daily basis?
1-5 ( ) 5-10 ( ) 10- 15 ( ) 15-20 & over ( )

School Based Assessment Page 13

 Bibliography

Willis, Robert (1861). Principles of Mechanism: Designed For The Use Of Students In The
Universities And For Engineering Students Generally. London: John W. Parker.

Mechanization & Automation, Mechanical Engineering Community, retrieved 2018-04-17.

Hunt, Shelby D. (July 1976). "The Nature and Scope of Marketing". Marketing. Baker, Michael
The Strategic Marketing Plan Audit 2008.

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