TITLE: AN INVESTIGATION ON HOW MARKETING STRATEGIES AFFECTED

SALES AT A&R SUPER MINI MART

SUBJECT: PRINCIPLE OF BUSINESS

CANDIDATES NAMES: SHANIA SINGH, ALIAH HOSEIN

CANDIDATE NUMBERS:

CENTRE NUMBER: 160014

TERRITORY: TRINIDAD

YEAR OF EXAM: 2024

TEACHER’S NAME: MS L. NAGASSAR

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC

OBJECTIVES

BACKGROUND

METHODOLOGY

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

CONCLUSION

RECOMMENDATION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES
 TOPIC

An investigation to determine how marketing strategies affect sales at A&R Super Mini Mart in
Freeport.

1
 OBJECTIVES

1. Discuss the marketing strategies used at A&R Super Mini Mart.

2. Identify the level of sales within the past three years.

2
 BACKGROUND/ OVERVIEW

A&R Super Mini Mart has been in existence for seven years, opened since 2016. It is located in
Freeport, West Central of Trinidad and has an approximated population is 11,850. The mart sells
snacks, soft drinks, customized cakes, fruits and more. However, the business has faced many
difficulties over the years due to competition from a near-by shop. These difficulties occurred
since the other business is well known due to it being opened before A&R Super Mini Mart.
Additionally the shop attracts more customers as it is not only a mini mart but also a liquor shop
that opens for longer hours as compared to A&R Super Mini Mart.

This topic benefits us, the students, as it helps us get a better understanding on how marketing
affects sales.
The topic also explains to society if sales levels drop, the economy gets less money and therefore
less taxes would be paid.

3
 METHODOLOGY

The instruments used to collect data are Questionnaires and textbooks.

Questionnaire: (primary source)
One questionnaire was issued to the business owner of A&R Super Mini Mart on September
27th 2023 and was collected on October 11th 2023. All eight questions were open ended.
Another questionnaire was given to 20 customers at A&R Super Mini Mart. Customers were
randomly selected and asked three close ended questions and five open ended questions. The
customer questionnaire was carried out on October 7th & 8th and answers were received on the
same days. This method was chosen because it is more effective for the respondent to provide
more details and accurate responses. The data will be analyzed using percentages as well as
information gathered will be presented on graphs, etc.

A copy of each questionnaire can be seen in the Appendix (Appendix 1 and Appendix 2)
Textbook (CSEC Principles of Business second Edition by Robert Dransfield Sandrea Butcher,
This method was chosen because it provided good background information and data

Limitation of data collection methods:

During the process of gathering the necessary information, very little limitations were
encountered. The respondent took long to answer the questionnaire due to a busy schedule and it
takes longer to do research using a textbook. Time was also taken during the day to interview
customers.

4
 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

Diagram 1: A Pie chart showing the percentage of revenue spent on Marketing by A&R
Super Mini Mart

%
Personal use Marketing Raw materials

20%

15%

65%

Diagram 1 is based on question six in the business questionnaire, “What percentage of revenue is
spent on Marketing by A&R Super Mini Mart”. This graph showed that 15% of the revenue was
spent on Personal use, 20% was spent on Marketing and the remaining 65% was spent on Raw
material. Therefore, it can be determined that most of the revenue is spent on Raw materials
compared to Marketing being the least at A&R Super Mini Mart.

5
 Diagram 2: A Line graph showing the levels of sales every three years

Chart Title
3500

3000 2900
2500
2500 2300
SALES LEVEL

2000 1700
1400
1500

1000900

500

0
2020 2021 2022
YEARS

level of sales before Marketing strategies were implemented

Sales level after marketing strategies were implemented

Diagram 2 is based on questions three and four in the Business questionnaire, “How were sales
level before marketing strategies were implemented?” and “How are sales level now?”. This
graph shows the level of sales before marketing as it slowly increased throughout 2020, 2021 and
2022. Whereas, it also shows the sales level after marketing strategies were implemented which
had a significant increase throughout the three years. Therefore, the use of marketing strategies
improved the level of sales at A&R Super Mini Mart.

6
Diagram 3: A Bar graph of factors that influence customers to purchase an item
 Random

Quality
factors

Brand

Price

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Number of customers

In Diagram 3, based on question three in the customers’ questionnaire, “What more influences
your purchase decisions?”. We see that two persons randomly select items in which they are
purchasing, seven persons choose the item with the better quality, five persons and prefer the
brand of the item and six persons pay most attention to the price. We can now determine that
most customers at A&R Super Mini Mart prefer the better quality of the item in which they are
purchasing and less customers randomly select items.

7
Diagram 4: A Bar graph of Marketing strategies customers are interested in.
 8

6
Number of customers

0
Coupons Trading stamps Bundles
Marketing strategies

Diagram 4 is based on Question 8 in the customers’ questionnaire, “Which type of marketing

strategy are you, the customer, most interested in?”. In the graph we noticed 35% of customers
voted for coupons, 20% of customers voted for trading stamps and 25% of customers voted for
bundles. We can now predict that most customers are interested in coupons as a form of
marketing strategy used by A&R Super Mini Mart.

8
Diagram 5: A Pie chart showing the actual marketing strategies used over the 3 years.
 Marketing strategies

Pricing
20%
Advertising Advertising
15%
Pricing
Discounts
30% Discounts
Bundles

Bundles
35%

Diagram 5 illustrates the marketing strategies that were used by A&R Super Mini Mart over the
three- year period. In the chart, we noticed advertising was effective to 15% of customers, then
20% were attracted by pricing, 30% were persuade by discounts and finally most customers
(35%) were interested with the bundles. We can now say that bundles and discounts were the
most used marketing strategies over the three- year period.

9
 CONCLUSION

Based on the topic of this investigation, it can be concluded that Marketing strategies had an
impact on marketing and sales at A&R Super Mini Mart in Freeport as it improved competition
from nearby business and sales level.
According to the data collected, majority of customers are interested in the quality of products
and Coupons as a form of marketing strategy used by A&R Super Mini Mart.

10
 RECOMMENDATION

After carrying out the investigation to determine how marketing affects sales at A&R Super Mini
Mart, we can now positively say that marketing strategies can lead to an increase in sales levels
over time.
Majority of customers voted for coupons as a form of marketing strategy, thus if the business
were to use coupons, they would attract more customers and sales levels would be raised.
In addition, majority of the business’ customers prefer items of the best quality. Therefore A&R
Super Mini Mart must have good quality vegetables, fruits and other grocery items. This would
also increase sales levels at the mart.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dransfield, R, Butcher,S, Peters-Richardson, J, and Valentine, C.

CSEC Principle of Business second Edition. Oxford, U.K: Oxford Press.
Research questions for the Customer questionnaire:
https://qualaroo.com/blog/market-research-questions/ retrieved on 18/09/23 by Sean Ellis,
Eugene Mandel, Alex Sherstinsky, and Jason Meresman.

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 APPENDICES
.
BUSINESS QUESTIONNAIRE

We are form 5 business students attending Couva East Secondary. We are conducting a
questionnaire to determine the factors affecting marketing and sales at A&R Super Mini Mart.
Please answer each question below.

1. Has the business used any type of marketing strategies within the past years? If yes identify
which type(s).

2. Explain how effective they were.

3. How were sales level before marketing strategies were implemented?

4. How are sales levels now?

5. Is the business open to trying other marketing strategies to enhance sales?

6. What percentage of revenue is spent on marketing?

7. What goals have the business achieved within the past 3 years?

8. Why did you choose to open your business in Freeport despite it not being more populated?

13
CUSTOMER QUESTIONNAIRE
We are form 5 business students tending Couva East Secondary. We are conducting a
questionnaire to you, the customer at A&R Super Mini Mart, to determine factors influencing
you to make a purchase. Please answer each question honestly.

1. Why did you choose to shop at A&R Super Mini Mart instead of another nearby grocery?

2. Compared to other groceries how are the products quality (fruits/vegetable/regular groceries)
at A&R Super Mini Mart?
a. Better
b. Worse
c. About the same

3. What more influences your purchase decision?

a. Price of the item
b. Quality of the item
c. The brand of the item
d. Random

4. How do you, the customer, find the pricing at A&R Super Mini Mart is as compared to other
grocers?

5. How did you become aware of A&R Super Mini Mart?

6. How long have you been purchasing items from A&R Super Mini Mart?

7. How likely are you to make another purchase from A&R Super Mini Mart?

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8. Which type of marketing strategy are you, the customer, most interested in?
a. Coupons
b. Trading stamps
c. Bundles

15