Five-Step Marketing Research Approach

  
Scenario: You are the founder and CEO of a Marquette, Michigan retail clothing e-commerce business that derives its revenue from several customer types such as tourists, snowmobilers, ATV 4-wheelers, hikers, boaters, kayakers, skiers, craft beer aficionados, Northern Michigan University students and the local citizenry.  The name of your enterprise is Upper Peninsula Supply Co. (https://upsupply.co). You also have a brick-and-mortar store on Marquette’s main shopping street. You have noticed a recent troubling decline in online and brick-and-mortar sales which is threatening your organization’s ability to survive and grow. You have decided to implement the Five-Step Marketing Research Approach to help clarify the problem and develop the remedial strategies necessary to resolve the problem. 
Develop a 1,050-word plan using the scenario above and employing the Five-Step Marketing Research Approach concepts in which you detail the steps you will use to determine the marketing problem that your organization is facing.
Address the following in your role as Upper Peninsula Supply Co’s CEO:

Define the Five-Step Marketing Research Approach and      discuss the importance of research in marketing. 
Describe each stage of the Marketing Research      Approach and explain how each stage should be implemented to generate      the information needed to eventually make the best remedial strategic      decision to solve the declining revenue problem.
Define the target market that you are striving to      attract to your organization. What demographics, lifestyle      (psychographics) and behavior do your various customer types and potential      customer types share and describe the method of research that you      could use to further refine your target market definition.  
Define product differentiation. Provide an example that      illustrates how your enterprise can use differentiation to help increase      the target market’s interest.
Explain how this differentiation can help re-position      the Upper Peninsula Supply Co. as perceived by your target market and      generate incrimental revenue.
Note: This      assignment requires the student research and understand the      Upper Peninsula Supply Company business model based on the information      presented at its website, the Marquette, Michigan marketplace, and the      competition.
Note: Please      use the bullet-point assignment requirements as subheads within your      paper.
Note:  The      auto-rubric will not be used for this assignment.  A grading guide      has been provided.