Avery Sporting Goods

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Quantitative Research Methods

Study case

Avery sporting goods

Koudjo Debham Johnson

PhD student

No: 99907445916

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Objective of the study ..3

Data description .4

I. comparing the level of customer confidence by product.......5

1. Analysis of the level of confidence in the Athletics clothing quality ..5

2. Analysis of the level of confidence in the Athletic shoes quality............................................6

3. Analysis of the level of confidence in the fishing equipment quality ...7

4. Analysis of the level of confidence in the balls quality 8

5. Analysis of the level of confidence in the Skiing equipment quality...................................9

II. Determinant of customer choice to purchase by catalog10

1. Statistical analysis of the variables and test prior to the PCA..............................................10

a. Descriptive analysis of variables..................................................................................10

b. Correlation Table Analysis...........................................................................................11

c. KMO and Bartlett's Test...............................................................................................11

2. Analysis of the total variance Explained table and choice of main components.................12

3. Results and interpretation of principal component analysis.................................................13

Conclusion...............................................................................................................................1

Annex

3

The objective of this work is the study of customer perceptions of buying merchandise, in

Particular sporting equipment, through catalogue. More precisely, and stress the directive, it is

for us to focus on two major problems namely:

1- Do customers-have the same level of general confidence in the quality of sporting goods

you purchased through a catalogue or either a retail store?

2- What are the determinants of customers choice to purchase by catalogue?

The resolution of each of these two problematic facts involves a different method. Thus the

resolution of the first issue needs to use a comparative study of frequencies using a graphic

analysis and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Basing on these assumptions;

-H0: 1 - 2 = 0 (there is no difference between the level of customers confidence in the quality of goods purchased by catalogue and quality of goods purchased in in a retail store.

-H1: 1 - 2 0 (there is a difference between the levels of trust in the quality of goods purchased by catalogue and the quality of goods purchased in a retail store.

The choice of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test is not accidental. This test allows comparing two

measures of a qualitative ordinal variable performed on the same subjects. Indeed, our goal

here is to compare the confidence of individuals in the quality of products sold by catalogue

and the confidence that these same individuals have in the quality of goods purchased in a retail

store. We are therefore in the presence of hypothesis testing for a sample in which respondents

were assessed twice from the same measure. Traditionally, the hypothesis test used to this kind

of case is the t test for paired samples. However, the t-test is a parametric test that requires that

certain conditions be required, including a normal distribution of quantitative variables. Our

variables being qualitative ordinal and therefore not respecting the normal condition, the use

of a nonparametric test is required. Hence the use of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test that is the

nonparametric alternative to the t test for paired samples.

The second problematic clinging to the identification of variables that influence the choice of

catalogue shopping, the PCA (Principal Component Analysis) will be the multivariate

statistical approach on which we will build. The fundamental reason for the choice of the PCA

is that it is the most appropriate method that gives us the necessary tools that will allow us to

know how it will combine variables to make them orthogonal that is to say independent to each

other. This independence is important because it provides a unique solution not shared by some

other factor, and so removes the redundancy of information in the results.

Moreover, apart from the fact that it is a technique used to lessen a high number of indicators

without losing much information, it's also the most suitable technique for our data.

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1. Description of data

The data refers to information collected from Avery Sporting Goods customers. It is collected

from old people, new or potential customers that the company has already sent a catalogue in

the past. From the survey, out of 225 individuals that were covered, 125 valid questionnaires

were retained and formed the basis of our analysis. The variables consist of information about

customers and divided into two categories:

Variables on the level of customers confidence:

Confidence in buying athletics clothing through a catalogue

Confidence in buying athletics shoes through a catalogue

Confidence in buying fishing equipment through a catalogue

Confidence in buying balls through a catalogue

Confidence in buying skiing equipment through a catalogue

Confidence in buying athletics clothing through a real store

Confidence in buying athletics shoes through a real store

Confidence in buying fishing equipment through a real store

Confidence in buying balls through a real store

Confidence in buying skiing equipment through a real store.

Variables on the determinants of customers decision to buy through catalogue

Availability of a toll-free number for placing orders

Availability of discounts

Shipping time

The company's policy on returning merchandise

The provision of a trial period

Number of years the company has been in business

Reputation of the company

Guarantees

Company endorsements by celebrities, sports teams, etc.

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I. comparing the level of customer confidence by product

Do customers have the same level of general confidence in the quality of sporting goods

purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store?

Analysis comparing the level of confidence in the quality of sporting goods purchased either

through a catalogue or a retail store was done from the various customers on five products:

Athletic clothing, Athletic shoes, Fishing equipment, Balls and Skiing equipment.

1. Analysis of the level of confidence in the Athletic clothing s quality.

Analysis of the results for customer perception

on the quality of Athletic clothing purchased by

catalogue reveals a divided position on the

subject. Indeed, the study reveals that 16, 1% of

customers are not confident, 24% of clients are

slightly and 10.5% slightly confident, a total of

50.8% of customers less or not satisfied. This

brings to 49.1% the percentage of confident

customers (16.9%) and 27.4% very confident.

When purchasing the same product is

envisaged in a retail store, only 4.8% of these

customers report being "not at all satisfied",

21.8% responded being slightly confident and 16,1% "somehow confident". Conversely

customers who are "confident" (14,5%) and

"very confident" (37,9%) represent 52.4% of

the total.

The Wilcoxon signed-rank was used to

ascertain whether the level of confidence was

the same.

The Wilcoxon signed-rank

Reading the table, we notice that the p-value of the test is greater than the significance level

(0.703> 0.05), and Z=-1,793. We do not reject the null hypothesis H0 and conclude that there

is no statistically significant difference between the level of confidence customers have in the

quality of clothing purchased through catalogue and clothing purchased through retail stores.

Test Statistics

rqclothing cqclothing

Z -1,793b

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) ,073

Ranks

N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks

Rq clothing cq clothing

Negative Ranks 45a 47,52 2138,50

Positive Ranks 58b 55,47 3217,50

Ties 21c

Total 124

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2. Analysis of the level of confidence in the Athletic shoes quality.

On the question of what is their perception of

the quality of shoes purchased by catalog,

17.7% of respondents were reported being

"not at all confident", 20.2% answered "less

confident" and 12 9% said they were

"somehow confident", a total of 50.8%. The

category of respondents more confident in

turn consists of 24.2% of clients "confident"

and 25% of clients who claim to have perfect

confidence in the quality of this article. A total

of 49.2%.

These proportions change radically when

buying the same property is envisaged in a

store. Indeed, 4.8% said not confident at all,

8.1were slightly confident and 13.7 have

declared to be less confident. Customers who

are confident (29.8) and very confident (43.5),

their part represents a total of 73.3.

The Wilcoxon signed-rank was used to ascertain whether the level of confidence was the same

in the quality of shoes purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store

Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test

Ranks

N Mean

Rank

Sum of

Ranks

rqshoes cqshoes

Negative

Ranks 35a 42,66 1493,00

Positive

Ranks 70b 58,17 4072,00

Ties 19c

Total 124

The Wilcoxon signed-Ranks Test indicate that the mean rank of confidence in the quality of

shoes purchased through retail store is statistically significantly higher than the mean rank of

confidence in the quality of shoes purchased through catalogue. (Z = -4,190, p = 0.00).

We can conclude that customers do not have the same level of confidence in the quality of

sporting goods purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store. They have more

confidence in the quality of retail stores shoes

Test Statisticsa

rqshoes cqshoes

Z -4,170b


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3. Analysis of the level of confidence in the Balls quality

In terms of quality of balls purchased by

catalog, collected results show that customers

have a poor perception of these products.

Thus, 1/4 of respondents claim to be "not to

be confident at all" in the quality of these balls

purchased by catalogue, 23% report being "

slightly confident" and 8.1% said to be

"somehow confident" a total 57.3% of

customers who are little or not at all confident.

Only 16.1% said to be "confident" while 26%

said they were "highly confident".

These results are in contrast to the perception

of these same clients on the quality of store-

bought balls.

While it is true that less than 4% of

customers surveyed manifested their doubt,

the fact remains that 21% said they were

confident, and 47.6% respondents have

complete confidence, a total of 69.4% of

respondents had a good perception in the

quality of balls from retail stores.

The Wilcoxon signed-rank was used to ascertain whether the level of confidence was the

same in the quality of balls purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store


Test Statistics

rqballs - cqballs

Z -4,890b Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) ,000

The Wilcoxon signed-Ranks Test shows that there is a statistically significant increase from

the mean rank of confidence in the quality of balls purchased through catalogue to the mean

rank of confidence in the quality of shoes purchased via catalogue (Z = -4,890, p = 0.00).

We reject null hypothesis and conclude that customers do not have the same level of

confidence in the quality of balls purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store. They

have more confidence in the quality of retail stores balls.

Ranks


rqballs - cqballs



Ties 30c

Total 124

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4- Analysis of the level of confidence in the Fishing equipment quality

Confidence in the quality of fishing

equipment purchased by catalog remains

relatively low among customers since only

25% of respondents are "very confident" and

20% "confident" a total of 45%.

For the major part of them, the fishing

equipment purchased by catalog inspires

very less confidence (6.9%), less confident

(17.7%) or not confident at all (19.4%).

It must be said that direct contact with the

product before purchasing it is very

important for consumers. Indeed, 68.5% of

them reported being very confident or confident against only 7.3% who reported being not at all confident in the quality

fishing equipment purchased through retail

stores. Finally, 3.2% of respondents claim

to be somehow confident and 21% say they

are "somehow confident".

The Wilcoxon signed-rank was used to ascertain whether the level of confidence was the same.

In the quality of fishing equipment purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store

Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test Rank

The Wilcoxon signed-Ranks Test indicate that the mean rank of confidence in the quality of

Fishing equipment purchased through retail store is statistically significantly higher than the

mean rank of confidence in the quality of Fishing equipment purchased through catalog. (Z =

-1,793, p = 0.00).We can conclude that customers do not have the same level of confidence in

the quality of Fishing equipment purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store.

Test Statisticsa

rqclothing cqclothing

Z -1,793b



rqclothing - cqclothing



Ties 21c

Total 124

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5- Analysis of the level of confidence in the Skiing equipment quality

Analysis of the survey results on the level of

confidence in the skiing equipment

purchased through catalog reveals that

24.2% of customers are not at all confident,

16.9% of clients are slightly and 14.5%

somehow confident, a total of 55.6% of

customers little or not confident at all. This

brings to 44.4% the percentage of confident

customers (16.9%) or very confident

(27.4%).

These proportions change radically when

buying the same property envisaged in a

retail store. When asked about their degree

of confidence in the quality of the skiing

equipment purchased in a retail store, 8.1%

of the surveyed have responded not

confident at all, 3.2% have responded be

slightly confident, and 16 1% have

responded somehow confident. The vast

majority, 72.6% have declared themselves

confident or very confident.

The Wilcoxon signed-rank was used to ascertain whether the level of confidence was the same.

in the quality of skiing equipment purchased either through a catalogue or a retail store


Ranks


rqshoes - cqshoes



Ties 19c

Total 124

The Wilcoxon signed-Ranks Test indicate that the median rank of confidence in the quality of

skiing equipment purchased through catalog is statistically significantly different from the

median rank of confidence in the quality of skiing equipment purchased through retail store.

(Z = -4,170, p = 0.00). We can conclude that customers have more confidence in the quality of

skiing equipment purchased through retail store than those purchased through catalog.

Test Statisticsa

rqshoes - cqshoes

Z -4,170b


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Part II: Study of the determinants of customers decision to buy through catalogue

- What are the determinants of customers choice for purchase through catalogue?

The goal through this issue is to highlight the determinants of consumer decision to purchase

by catalogue. To do so, we will initially has a descriptive study of variables, then first of all

study the correlations between variables to achieve the study of individuals in the first factorial

designs from the principal component analysis. As such we will restrict the study to the

variables concerned by this problem.

1. Statistical analysis of the variables and test prior to the PCA

a. Descriptive Study of variables

Table A shows descriptive statistics. The highest average (4.06) goes to the variable "The

Companys policy is returning Goods" and the lowest average goes to the "Company endorsements" variable. The standard deviations of the variables "reputation of the company,"

"The provision of a trial period" and "Shipping time" is relatively high, which can be interpreted

as a strong dispersion of individuals within each of these variables. There is also a high number

of missing data.

Table A: Descriptive Statistics

Mean Std. Deviation Analysis N Missing N

Availability of a toll-free number for

placing orders 3,52 ,999 119 3

Availability of quantity discounts 3,83 ,893 111 11

Shipping time 3,61 1,021 118 4

The company's policy on returning

merchandise 4,06 ,797 109 13

The provision of a trial period 3,95 1,076 120 2

Number of years the company has been

in business 3,91 ,916 112 10

Reputation of the company 3,50 1,171 119 3

Guarantees 3,90 ,904 111 11

Company endorsements 1,96 ,931 115 7

b. Analysis of correlation and

The correlation matrix gives us an idea about the strength of relationships between variables.

The overall variables are weakly correlated thus noted that the variables Availability of a toll-

free number for Placing orders and Reputation of the company, and the variables Shipping time

and Reputation of the company are correlated respectively with correlation coefficients of 0.641

and 0.604. It should be noted there is the presence of many negative correlation, although very

few.

On the other hand, we see that the determinant of the correlation matrix is small without being

equal to 0 (0.072) .The factorial structure presented in Table 3 thus passes the first test.

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,

c. KMO and Bartlett's Test

We note in passing that the test Kayser-Meyer-Olkin is equal to 0.873, which indicates a high

validity. Finally, Bartlett's test indicates that the hypothesis Ho must be dismissed since the test

result lowered to 0.05. The research component is therefore justified.

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. ,729

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square 257,802

Df 36

Sig. ,000

4. Analysis of the total variance explained table and choice of principal components

According to the table of the total variance explained we can identify two main components

restoring the details. These are the components 1 and 2. These two factors help to restore 58%

of the total information of the variables analyzed, the first factor giving 30.9% of information,

and the second provided 25.15%, which is deemed sufficient enough for our study to draw

explanations.

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Table: Total Variance Explained

We also note that these two factors are the

factors that have a total inertia greater than

1, the first presenting inertia 2.78 and the

second 2.58. The inertia shown by the others

being lower than 1, with a rate which is a

very limited amount of information, there is

no risk if we consider only the first two

factors. Examination of the graph of

eigenvalues confirms the result of the table

that shows that the first two factors exceed

more than 1 of total inertia. All these facts

confirm that the choice of these two factors

is correct and they allow reliable conclusions

5. Results and interpretation of principal component analysis

Table 4: Correlation between baseline variables and the main components

Component

1 2

Reputation of the company ,883 ,036

Availability of a toll-free number for placing orders ,774 ,046

The provision of a trial period ,750 -,038

Shipping time ,715 ,206

Company endorsements -,563 ,295

Guarantees ,056 ,804

Availability of quantity discounts -,040 ,773

The company's policy on returning merchandise ,059 ,720

Number of years the company has been in business -,035 ,607

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 3 iterations.

Component Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared

Loadings

1 2,784 30,937 30,937 2,784 30,937 30,937

2 2,258 25,094 56,030 2,258 25,094 56,030

3 ,829 9,210 65,240

4 ,759 8,437 73,677

5 ,695 7,719 81,395

6 ,542 6,018 87,414

7 ,512 5,692 93,105

8 ,348 3,864 96,969

9 ,273 3,031 100,000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

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The component matrix gives an overview of the share of each variable in a factor. This

approach allows us to identify which are the most represented variables in each component or

factor. Based on these data we can identify a nomination for each factor. In our case we

observe that the variables Reputation of the company, Availability of a toll-free number for, The provision of a trial period and Shipping time are highly correlated with the first component. The first axis seems to be interpreted as a factor representing the reputation and delivery policy or the company. The more a company has a high score on the first component, the more customers will opt for catalogue shopping.

As for the second component, it is positively correlated with Guarantees, Availability of

quantity discounts, and The Companys policy on returning merchandise variables. We note here that the most correlated variables with the second component are those that were the least

correlated with the first component. We can also note that the correlations are lower in the

case of the second component. This is partly explained by the fact that the corresponding

eigenvalue is significantly lower than one associated to the first component. So the second

factor can be considered as customer benefit For better visualization of correlations between variables and the principal components, it

is useful to present these variables in the first main plane as a map. (Chart 2).

The map below summarizes what has been already mentioned by the matrix components.

It is indeed observed that there are two main events on the map groups: a group positively

correlated with the first axis which is surrounded by red, and a group positively correlated with

the second axis, and surrounded by green.

Chart 2: Variable Map

The principal components analysis of the determinants of customers' decision to purchase by

catalogue suggests that there is a hierarchy between components and another between the

variables of the same component. In order of importance, the variables Reputation of the

company, Availability of a toll-free number for, the provision of a trial period and Shipping

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time correlated with the first component are the most important for customers.

We can see that the second component is less important for customers. We may think

Guarantees variables Availability of quantity discounts, The company's policy is returning

merchandise are necessary conditions, but not decisive in the decision to opt for customers to

buy by catalogue

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Conclusion

The resolution of both issues has helped to highlight some of the major characteristics of clients.

The analysis of the first issue has highlighted that customers do not perceive all items the same

way. We learn that they do not differentiate between sports clothing purchased by catalogue

and sports clothes bought in a shop, because their confidence is no different from one product

to another. However, with regard to other sporting products, customers are more sensitive. The

study showed that on average, customers have more confidence in the quality of shoes, fishing

equipment, balloons and skiing equipment purchased in retail stores than those bought by

catalogue. This is probably explained by the need of customers to finger these products before

buying them.

The analysis of the second problem highlighted the variables that most influence customers in

their decision to buy by catalogue. It is thus apparent that the variables Reputation of the

company, Availability of a toll-free number for, the provision of a trial period and Shipping

time are the variables that most influence customers. Followed, to a lesser extent the variables

Guarantees, availability of quantity discounts, the Companys policy in returning merchandise. It will therefore be good if every sporting society improves the level of these conditions in the

daily management and to use, if necessary, in the promotion and advertising

As earlier advised above, Avery sporting Goods has to reconsider its commitment to investing

in catalogue sales. It would be better, and smarter, to view the results, to develop the retail

segment.

Documents

Avery Sporting Goods