Case Study: Point of Sale - Survey

A leading company in Point of Sale market research in Germany used cluetec's mobile market research application mQuest. The advantages of using the mobile application are detailed in this case study.

 

 

Company: Bormann & Gordon Unternehmensberatung GmbH

Industry: Management Consultancy in the area of POS Research in Germany & Europe

Project: POS survey, commissioned by a large German beer brewer

Solution: mQuest® mobile Survey Software – a Product from cluetec GmbH

 

Starting Point

Bormann & Gordon Unternehmensberatung GmbH is one of the leading companies in the area of POS (Point of Sale) market research in Germany. A large number of internationally recognised brand manufacturers in both the food and non-food areas, commission Bormann & Gordon to carry out market surveys for them.

 

Scope of work

In summer 2011, Bormann & Gordon were commissioned by a large beer brewer to carry out a representative, random POS Survey in German supermarkets and drink outlets. In order to record exactly the quality and performance of the long-term and action-based positioning of the beer products at POS in the shops, a team of about 40 researchers set about recording the status quo throughout Germany. In addition, Bormann & Gordon drew up a questionnaire of medium-complexity, which had to be easy for the researchers to use during their field work. A further point was that the researchers had to backup what they had seen with photos and in order to improve field control the recorded data was to be sent daily to Bormann & Gordon. It was important that the software could be used offline and that it also enabled mobile access to Bormann & Gordon. The questionnaire could be completed offline, which avoided any problems with network coverage, data security and transmission speeds from the outset. Those responsible for the implementation of the project at Bormann & Gordon went on the search for a software that was intuitive, usable, reliable and that could be used as a mobile application, which combined the following performance characteristics:

• Mobile use, e.g. for tablet devices • Intuitive user prompts
• Option of storing article records and supermarket addresses
• In-built plausibility checks 
• Software that can be used offline with online transfer 
• Direct data export from the table devices to the B&G server should be possible at all times 
• Generation of interim results to provide better field control
• Option of embedding photographic material directly in the data record 
• Rapid evaluation at the end of the market survey

 

Permanent field control through daily transfer of survey data

"The solution from cluetec is the market leader when it comes to standard software for mobile market research", explained Reiner Grau, Managing Partner at Bormann & Gordon GmbH. "For this reason, our search for a suitable solution led us logically to mQuest®". In addition, the scope of performance offered by the software covered all Bormann & Gordon's requirements and at the same time, allowed a certain amount of customising within the standard solution, e.g. in the design of questionnaire pages.

Reiner Graul sees a large benefit of the mobile solution as the possibility of being able to view the recorded data at any time and to be able to monitor the progress of the project. "Thanks to the permanent field control through the daily data exports, we can very quickly identify if any misunderstandings have occurred during the survey and can react accordingly. In the past, when such surveys were done on a paper-and-pencil basis, the mistake would only become apparent at the end of the survey and there was no possibility of being able to correct it". Today, an ambiguously phrased question can be changed easily and the update can be synchronised with all clients automatically.

 

Integrated plausability checks prevent misunderstandings and increase quality

"A further large plus of the software is that automatic plausibility checks are carried out, increasing the quality of the survey's findings", explains Reiner Graul form Bormann & Gordon. The plausibility checks are carried out on the data as it is entered, thereby avoiding misunderstandings. This increases the validity of the survey and the quality of the field research.

 

Easily integrated photos raise the objectivity of the investigation

Modern market research projects also include photographs, e.g. of products and product placements, as an objective element of POS surveys. While in the past, the mapping of picture to supermarket was often very involved and time-consuming, with mQuest®, photographs can be created directly with the tablet device and automatically assigned to the current data record. "It is easy to imagine just how difficult it would have been to make manual retrospective assignments in the case of a project of this magnitude. With 4 or 5 different photographs each in a random survey of 500 supermarkets, you would very quickly have built up a collection of a couple of thousand pictures", observes Reiner Graul.

 

Enormous time savings with mobile, software-controlled market research

The mQuest® software was implemented for Bormann & Gordon's own Android tablet devices. The questionnaire was delivered as a PowerPoint template and programmed by the cluetec team. Reiner Graul is convinced that, "The more complex the project is, the more sense it makes to deploy software-controlled, mobile surveying methods. We see a great advantage in terms of time, through the speed with which the recorded data can be processed". In the past, you could reckon with the fact that you wouldn't get the datasheets back from all the researchers for perhaps two weeks. Today, all the data is available immediately. "This time saving is very important for us and our clients. Additionally, in the past, the inputs were made manually, with all the associated problems ", added Reiner Graul. "This is an anachronism that we don't want to have to be confronted with any more today".

 

Clients were impressed by the ease of working with the software user interface

Before starting the actual field research, Bormann & Gordon simulated the survey process with the clients, on- site. "In order to get a clearer picture of the upcoming survey in advance, several of our client's managers carried out a simulation of the market research", explains Reiner Graul. "The initial scepticism that some of them had shown in respect of the technical solution was quickly transformed into enthusiasm for it. They were particularly impressed by the easy menu navigation and the usability of the software. If you can read and write, then mQuest® is certainly not an obstacle to carrying out a survey correctly", says Reiner Graul with a wry smile on his face.

 

The future lies in mobile, software-controlled market research!

"We are already working together with cluetec on a third project and we are very satisfied“, is Reiner Graul's summary of the collaboration. "mQuest® is a very reliable software that has already proved itself many times. We will certainly carry out further projects with mQuest®".

 

Advantages of mobile market research

• No irreparable errors during the survey - Misunderstandings can be corrected in realtime 
   
• Ease of use during the survey - Article records, supermarket addresses can be stored in the system
   
• Error prevention - In-built plausibility checks prevent wrong inputs
   
• Control - Permanent field control through continuous data transfer
   
• Quality plus-point - Objective photographic material can be embedded directly in the data record
   
• Time saving - All recorded data is available immediately after the survey

 

About cluetec

cluetec GmbH is an IT specialist for mobile software solutions. The company was founded in 2000 with headquarters in Karlsruhe and currently employs 30 staff. cluetec develops and distributes mQuest®, the leading mobile survey software for market and opinion research and traffic research. Since 2011 the catalogueapp, an application for displaying digital product catalogues on tablet devices, complements the product portfolio of cluetec. In addition, the company offers custom software development for mobile solutions, Java EE and Web 2.0 for market research and industry. Customers of cluetec include established companies from the automotive industry such as ZF Friedrichshafen, Peugeot and Volkswagen, as well as leading market research institutes such as GfK and TNS Infratest. Learn more at www.mQuest.eu.

 

About Bormann & Gordon Unternehmensberatung GmbH

Established in 1972, Bormann & Gordon Unternehmensberatung GmbH is one of the leading companies in the area of POS (Point of Sale) market research in Germany. The core competencies of Bormann & Gordon include the optimisation of Point-of-Sale for shoppers/customers, trade and industry. Their clients include a large number of internationally recognised brand manufacturers in both the food and non-food areas, e.g. Nestlé, Kraft Foods and Unilever. The company, located in Bad Homburg, has 12 fulltime employees at its headquarters and around 100 field workers/interviewers throughout Germany for survey projects.