Paddy

Report on the performance of H&F MP3 Player on the market //Is a title for the report necessary? (not necessary but ok to have)

1.Introduction This report was requested by Gary Cheung, marketing manager of H&F Electronics. It concerns the current unsatisfactory performance of H&F MP3 Player on the market. The main aims of this report are to identify the problems associated with the MP3 Player and to give recommendations on how to tackle them. In the report, I present the key findings from a market survey and attempt to explain the reasons behind them and their implications. Following the findings, brief conclusions will be drawn and corresponding recommendations will be made in at the end of the report.

2.Methodology Data for this report was collected through a market survey conducted by M&D Market Research Company. The survey was distributed to 200 H&F MP3 users and 200 iGADGET MP3 users respectively and mainly compared these two products with respect to different aspects. (Market share data?)

3.Findings This section presents key findings on four major different aspects, namely headphone quality, functions, design and market share.

3.1 Headphone Quality Less than a third of the H&F MP3 users are satisfied with the headphone quality. This is certainly due to the fact that the headphone, despite low quality, is basically free of charge and our company wants to offer convenience to customers as they can immediately listen to music after purchasing the MP3 player. However, it may lead to customers' perception that the quality of our MP3 player instead of headphone is inferior to other products.

3.2 Functions With respect to functions, the percentage of satisfaction is around two-fifths. One possible explanation is that our product requires a software to transfer music files from computers to the MP3 player while users can simply drag-and-drop music to iGADGET MP3 player. Therefore, it is expected that customers are not willing to go through the troublesome process of installing software and some of them may even not be able to use the software to transfer files. (compare to iGADGET figures)

3.3 Design In terms of H&F MP3 player, almost half of the respondents are disappointed with its design while the vast majority of users are content with iGADGET's appearance. The bulky size of our product may be attribut ed to users' discontent with the design. As a result, it may negatively affect the portability of the MP3 player. (more detail needed)

3.4 Market Share Over the last year, the market share of H&F player experienced a continuous decline from 23% to only 13% in August 2010 while iGARGET dominated the market by occupying around 60% market share throughout the year. One reason for this may be that the celebrity spokesperson for our product, Felix Chan, is not able to attract the young generation, who is are believed to be the main use rs of MP3 players. An implication is that youngsters may think of H&F player as old-fashioned, which and so it does not suit them.

4. Conclusion The findings clearly indicate that digital music player users are disgruntled with H&F's headphone quality, functions and design. These three factors largely explain the declining market share of the product compared with iGARGET. We should take some immediate measures to improve the quality of MP3 player and to gain more market share.

5. Recommendations After considering the findings, the following recommendations are made:

5.1 Headphone Quality As mentioned in section 3.1, the free headphone that we gave away did not achieve the desired outcome. To cope with the situation, it is recommended that we give the customers several choices to upgrade their headphone with extra charges fees. In that way, users are entitled to choose their suitable headphones on their own and the flexibility in purchasing may be appreciated by them.

5.2 Functions Regarding functions, the software installation process brings inconvenience to customers and it is suggested that the Research and Development Department in our company should provide innovative technology to avoid that process and even provide better compatibility for our product to play music in different formats.

5.3 Design Due to the larger-than-expected size of H&F player, customers find it uncomfortable to carry the player around with them. Therefore, it is suggested that we reduce the size of the product so that it can perfectly fit into one's pocket. Thus, the portability of the our music player can be considerably improved.

5.4 Market Share As can be seen from the graph of market share trend, the market share of our digital player shrank during last year. I propose that we seek for another endorsement deal with a much younger and energetic celebrity to match with the identity of our product. By doing that, a rebound in market share is highly expected in the future. (be more specific- which younger celebrity?)

Overall good.

Some more detail needed in parts.