Sectors > Tourism & Retail / Market Positioning and Location Analyzer tm Studies

Tourism and the retail sectors are key segments where MVA BMSR group has been focusing vigorously in devoting our consulting expertise.

Tourism

MVA BMSR group has wide exposure in conducting tourism research for tourist attraction operators ¡V from the pre-opening planning and forecasting stages to the post-opening service tracking, customer profiling, as well as competitive monitoring.

• Ngong Ping 360 ¡V Service Prioritization Research

MVA is currently undertaking specialized research over a 9-month period into existing and potential visitors to NP360 to better understand their perceptions and key-visiting drivers of this major cable car and cultural village development in Lantau.

• Ngong Ping 360 ¡V Initial Experience

MVA was commissioned to gauge the initial experience of visitors to the newly opened Ngong Ping 360 attraction.

• Market Research in Support of Marketing Plan in the Lead-up to the Opening of a Major Tourism Development in Lantau

MVA embarked on a major primary market research assignment over a 12-month timeframe to provide critical inputs and advice in support of the preparation of a tactical marketing plan in the lead up to the opening of a major cable car and cultural village development at Ngong Ping ¡V NP360. The research involved extensive in-depth interviews of major stakeholders in the tourism industry as well as a series of quantitative face-to-face interview surveys (- total sample size 4,000) of both existing and potential visitors by key market segments.

• Review of Transport Demand & Infrastructure Facilities for Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

MVA completed a study to examine possible changes in travel demand in the light of recent policy and growth trends of Mainland and other overseas visitors, and their implications on transport modes to the HK Disneyland Resort, including the development of a detailed traffic and transport contingency plan. The study included an extensive survey of Hong Kong residents and overseas visitors (sample size 2,300) as well as a patronage/vehicular survey at Ocean Park.

• Hong Kong Disneyland Resort ¡V Travel Demand Research

MVA was commissioned by the Walt Disney Imagineering Company during the planning stage of the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort to estimate the likely travel demands by mode to/from the park and hotel covering various market segments for both visitors and employees.

• Tourism Study on the Improvement and Further Development of the Peak

MVA completed an in-depth face-to-face interview survey with visitors to the Peak in an effort to ascertain visitor attitudes and preferences about the Peak as a tourist attraction. The survey included rating exercises and open-ended questions to collect opinions and comments on experiences.

• Tourism Influence and Economic Impact Study of the 27th Hong Kong International Film Festival

MVA embarked on a major study, commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, to gauge the economic and tourism impact of holding the 27th Hong Kong International Film Festival. The study involved over 20 in-depth interviews of key stakeholders in the industry as well as over 1,200 intercept interviews of both attendees and non-attendees.

• Macau Tourist Rail Link ¡V Preliminary Market Study

MVA provided specialist market, demand and transport planning advisory support in a pre-feasibility study, commissioned by the Macau government, to establish the attractiveness of implementing a rail link connecting the major tourist and local attractions in Macau Peninsula and Taipa.

• Market Research on Proposed Cable Car Service between Tung Chung and Ngong Ping

MVA completed a market research study to examine the attractiveness of the planned cable car and associated products from a customer perspective as well as the packaging required for the services to be sufficiently attractive to both customers and the tourist trade. This research involved extensive in-depth face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders in the tourism and travel industry, and some 2,000 face-to-face interviews of existing and potential visitors to Ngong Ping.

• Tung Chung ¡V Ngong Ping Cable Car Project: Market Assessment

MVA undertook a demand forecasting exercise as input to a private consortium bidding for a 30-year BOT franchise for a cable car service between Tung Chung and Ngong Ping in Lantau Island. The research involved conducting in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the tourism and travel industry, screenline counts, and some 5,500 intercept interviews of existing and potential visitors to Ngong Ping.

• Market Study to Enhance Tram Patronage

MVA was commissioned by Hong Kong Tramways Ltd to undertake a market study to assess the patronage impacts of an enhanced tram service provision in conjunction with higher fares amongst tourists and local commuters.

Retail / Market Positioning Studies

In recent years, particularly since the re-bounce of local economy, MVA BMSR group has been undertaking several major market positioning studies for the retail sector, vis-ˆj-vis local shopping malls.

Adopting a proactive strategy for
shopping centres is a common feature in HK¡K

¡E Conducive ambience via physical modernisation/ design
¡E Customer choices via use of distinctive area-based themes/features
¡E Customer support via Customer Service Centres
¡E Periodic events and promotions

In the retail environment, patron traffic flow is crucial. Timely and accurate tracking + forecast of patron profiles helps the retail owners better understand the business and market status quo and potentials, vis-ˆj-vis

• Demographic
• Geographic
• Socio-economic
• Behavior and attitudes
• Psychographics

In large-scale, expansive shopping complex, such research findings not only help itself to plan, but also its tenants.

• Tenants could better compete and sustain their business in the marketplace
• Tenants could be in a stronger position to tap and serve the mall¡¦s customer base
• Customers are in turn potentially accorded with wider choices and enhanced service deliveries
• The Owner is in a better position to realize future earnings from enhanced rental income 

Periodic dissemination of appropriate market intelligence to its tenants of its mall-specific customer base and surrounding catchments is mutually beneficial.

Turning the shopping complex / mall into a MAGNET

As the customer base of a particular tenant is likely to constitute only a portion of the much larger customer base of the mall in which the tenant is located, providing useful and focused information on the latter may instil the tenants to create new products and services to tap the mall¡¦s wider customer base and at the same time enhancing their own income base.

This in turn could accord even more consumer choices for patrons to the mall.

MVA¡¦s Approach For Retail Market Tracking

Focuses on compiling periodic web-based market intelligence data that could only be accessed by tenants of a specific shopping mall. The data are to be compiled from 3 main sources:

• Primary research by MVA
• Existing people flow data and any other appropriate data from MegaBox
• Socio-economic data from the Government

Conventionally, 2 types of periodic reports are envisaged:

• Quarterly report
• Monthly report

Quarterly report

• Customer profile (i.e. who are the regular patrons of the mall?): socio-economic background, visit frequency, consumption/purchasing/shopping trends, and their wider purchasing/ consumption/shopping behaviour
• Patron flow data
• Satisfaction ratings of the mall (by key attributes)
• Service priority ratings of the mall (i.e. satisfaction ratings with due consideration to the importance of the attributes)
• Service quality ratings of the mall (i.e. experience versus expectation, taking into account importance)
• Relative satisfaction index of alternative main mall choices (as perceived by existing patrons)
• Competitor tracking - summary of major events and promotions in major neighbouring alternative mall choices (to be defined)
• Qualitative tracking of mall satisfaction by major product/service area (- primarily via focus groups)
• Socio-economic profile of residents in the mall¡¦s primary/extended primary catchment area (to be defined and agreed) ¡V primarily via desk research vis-ˆj-vis government¡¦s data

Monthly report

• Patron flow data
• Tracking of reactions to mall¡¦s events and promotions
• Competitor tracking - summary of major events and promotions in major neighbouring alternative mall choices (to be defined)
• Mystery shopping evaluations ¡V feedbacks to be provided to tenants on a rolling basis. For example, smaller tenants could be assessed 1-2 times a year, whilst larger tenants could be evaluated on a quarterly, or more often, basis
• Other ad hoc tracking/research

For details of MVA¡¦s customized solutions to your retail positioning and tracking tasks, please contact us at bmsr@mva.com.hk

Retail / Location Analyzer tm

This tool helps identify the most ideal and feasible location(s) for retail branch extension or removal within a certain catchment.

Companies that manage and operate a network of retail branches/ shops would find this tool particularly useful in offering guideline to location selection for their expanding or revamping business geography.

With MVA¡¦s Location Analyzer tm, two stages of work are envisaged:

Stage 1 ¡V Catchment Situation Analysis
Stage 2 ¡V Detailed Market Assessment

Stage 1 ¡V Catchment Situation Analysis

• Population base
• Residents
• Workers
• Students
• Age and demographic profiles
• Household profiles (size, composition, and income)
• Competitive profiles (key competing stores, locations within the catchment, product range/ inventory and indicative volumes)
• Planning and connectivity (accessibility) issues
• Land-use restriction/ zoning
• Building specifications
• Accessibility (physical and visual)

• Background pedestrian flow

• Market Gap

Stage 2 ¡V Detailed Market Assessment

This stage involves extensive surveys on existing and potential customers.

• Customer profile
• Location before/ after purchase
• Satisfaction level
• Perceived relative service qualities between competitors
• Trade-off analysis
• Market segmentation by service/ customer attributes
• Demand modeling

• Location Screening and market analysis

Relevant projects conducted by MVA BMSR in the Retail sector:

• International Fast-food Chain ¡V Store Profiling Research

MVA is currently undertaking a major store customer profiling exercise for an international fast-food chain covering over 30 selected outlets in the SAR. This is the first stage of a positioning and location analyzer project.

• MegaBox ¡V Research on Shoppers

MVA is presently undertaking a tracking research exercise into existing shoppers¡¦ priorities and experience of this 1.1 million GFA retail/entertainment complex in one of Hong Kong¡¦s up-coming commercial districts.

• Initial Competitive Positioning Research for New Mega Shopping Mall

MVA undertook a research exercise to gauge the competitive positioning of a new mega shopping complex in Kowloon 12 months prior to its opening. This research provided critical inputs to enhance and refine the branding and tactical marketing positioning of this new large¡Vscale shopping mall development.

• Retail Study of Planned Shopping Mall

MVA completed an initial retail study for a private investor for a planned retailed development at Ngau Chi Wan, catering to both local residents and tourists. The assignment focused on estimating the market potential of the development, taking into account assessments of competitors and catchment opportunities.

• Planned New Central Business District - Preliminary Market Overview

MVA, working in association with an international firm of architects acting on behalf of a major property developer, undertook an initial desktop market assessment of the potential development mix and phasing options of a planned new central business district in a major city in the Pearl River Delta Region.

• Market Study of a Large-scale Themed Entertainment Complex

MVA undertook a detailed study for private investors of the market potential of a planned large-scale themed entertainment facility, the first of its kind in Hong Kong. As part of this study, extensive primary research was undertaken to gauge the responses and expectations of local residents and overseas visitors, as well as stakeholders in the tourist industry.

• Formative Evaluation of Health Related TV Commercial Storyboards and Printed Materials

MVA has been engaged by the Department of Health (DOH) to develop and implement an evaluation framework to gauge the effectiveness of DOH's planned TV commercials and printed health materials (including posters) as critical inputs during the design stage of the various commercials/printed publications. The research encompasses two annual contracts and covers the period from April 2006 to March 2008.