Report+by+Vicky,+Lynn+and+Joshua


 * Report on Performance of H&F MP3 Players **

**1. ****Introduction ** Since entering the Hong Kong market in 2007, H&F MP3 players have been facing strong local competitions. Demand for MP3 players has also dropped considerably in the recent years, when new mobile phone models embedded with music players are well accepted by customers. Based on a latest market survey for the sales performance in a year starting from September 2009, our products far lacked behind the major competitor iGADGET and showed a decreasing trend.

Given the unsatisfactory market performance, this report examines the customer feedback on our products with a focus on three aspects including design, functions and headphone quality. Following the discussion of the findings, several recommendations are provided to address the current problems and improve the performance.

**2. ****Procedure ** The findings for this analysis are based upon market survey conducted by M&D Market Research Company. A total of 200 consumers of H&F MP3 and 200 users of iGADGET MP3 were interviewed about on  the design, functions, sound quality, battery life, headphone quality and overall satisfaction of the two brand players.

**3. ****Findings ** The attached table shows customers’ level of satisfaction with H&F’s MP3 players comparing to those produced by iGADGET. Out of the mentioned six aspects, three appear to be the major cause for concern and hence will be discussed in more detail below.

3.1.Design The findings indicate that less than half of the H&F MP3 users expressed satisfaction with the product design, in contrast to nearly 90 percent of iGADGET users who are happy with the players. One possible reason could be that the appearance of H&F’s product is less fashionable and thus cannot effectively attract young customers. In addition, only 3 color choices are available to H&F’s users while iGADGET provides a range of 10 colors.

3.2.Functions Regarding the functions of MP3 players, just over one-third of H&F’s users were satisfied, whereas the number for iGADGET was considerably higher. This was probably because customers have to install special software before using our players for music file transfer. Since many of the players nowadays adopt the more convenient drag-and-drop fashion, the result here may imply H&F’s lack of consideration on customer experience and low sensitivity to market change.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">3.3.Headphone quality <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Headphone quality seemed to be the aspect receiving most criticism, as disgruntled customers amounted to approximately 70%. This may be attributed to the low manufacturing standard of our Malaysian suppliers and the deficiencies in our quality control.

**<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. ****<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Conclusion ** <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The findings clearly indicate that the dissatisfaction of H&F MP3 player users are primarily concerning product design, functions and headphone quality. In order to enhance our competitiveness and expand market share, concrete efforts should be made in the following aspects.

**<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5. ****<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Recommendations ** <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">5.1.Design <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">In the light of the low satisfaction with product design, it is recommended that H&F invite cutting-edge designers to redesign the player and enrich the color selection to appeal to young people. In addition, a marketing campaign may be launched with celebrities popular among the youth to reinforce the player’s new image.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">5.2.Functions <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">To deal with the great inconvenience in file transfer, H&F may upgrade the MP3 player into a drag-and-drop model and eliminate the software installation procedure. The company is also suggested to constantly review customer feedback in future and make timely improvement.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;">5.3.Headphone quality <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The inferior quality of headphone that the findings have indicated, could be improved by setting higher standards to suppliers in Malaysia as well as inspecting the items more prudently by ourselves to control quality. Both the monitoring policy and the control system should be introduced to prevent the re-occurrence of such quality failure.

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Overall very good.

You might want to make the market share data part of the Findings. Then one additional reason for the declining market share can be the celebrity spokesman. Then in the Recommendations you can suggest changing to a younger more attractive person.