Marketing Analysis
Market Information and Analysis

You are a market analysts working for Lost Heart Winery. Your boss, Mr. Skinner, needs your help to make some strategic decisions about a) the retail market in Australia, b) the competition with other wineries; c) the wines consumers prefer the most.
Your assignment consists of answering three questions based on the analyses you are provided (see Excel file named ‘Assignment_Data’ on the course website).
Present your answers as concisely as possible in the form of a Mini-Report (i.e. no need for an executive summary, introduction or conclusion, etc). The report should be written in 12-point font with 1.5 line spacing. The maximum length (including tables and appendices) is 12 pages OR 3,500 words, whichever is reached first. Front cover page and back reference page are not included within this limitation. Reports exceeding these criteria may incur a mark deduction up to 15%.

Q1. Mr. Skinner believes that a) the formats, b) the regions, and c) the grape varieties with higher market shares sell at lower than average price points compared to the others. Data set 1 provides information on wine sales in Australia over a period of time. Do these data support Mr. Skinner’s proposition? Apply the principles of data reduction to the data for Q1 to build a reasonable argument to convince Mr. Skinner about the correctness of your judgment.
Support your answer with relevant literature.

Q2. Data set 2 provides transactional data. It is the purchases by consumers of some brands in the Australian wine market over a period of time. Is there any evidence of niche or change-of-pace brands? Explain. What market implications can you think about by observing these data? Explain. Remember to apply the principles of data reduction to the tables and/or graph displayed.
Support your answer with relevant literature.

Q3. Data set 3 gives the results of a discrete choice experiment about wine choices of a sample of 1,400 consumers using the same design as discussed in lectures. There are three attributes – grape variety (A=Shiraz; B=Sangiovese), Location (A=Barossa Valley; B=Adelaide Hills), and Price (A=$15.99; B=$19.99) – and two levels per attribute are given. Analyse the data. Estimate the partworths. Mr. Skinner decided that the Sangiovese vineyards in Barossa Valley are going to be sold because production costs became too expensive. Mr. Skinner is therefore interested to know what the most preferable wine once the vineyards are sold. What will you report to the Mr. Skinner? Give your reasons.
Remember! You do not have information on costs and so cannot develop final recommendations. Remember to apply the principles of data reduction to the tables and/or graph displayed.
Support your answer with relevant literature.