Sponsor (July-Dec 1951)

Mr. P. C. Beatty Maxon Incorporated Detroit 7. Michigan Dear J'. (..: Hit takes more n jest lisseners ter make a good market. Effen th' lisseners ain't got no money they cain't bay no thin . Now P. C, thet's why Charleston, West Virginny — th' hometown uv W CHS — stands out so! Hit's jest fulla folks wlthlotsa money, an' jar an away th' biggest part uv 'em lissens ter WCHSl Th' latest jiggers on jambly income in th' USA shows thet folks 'round here has got lots more, ter live on then pecjail in most other JfSSfc part s u v t h ' I** country. Then when yuh 'members thet WCHS gives yuh more uv these lisseners then all th' other four stations in town put t'gether y'knows viih got sumpthin'! Yrs. Algy WCHS Charleston, W Va. First step in a "store audit" is a complete inventory of the test product and its competitors. This is the starting point. Then, as the test proceeds, each new delivery of the product and its rivals is marked down. On completion of the test campaign a final inventory is checked off, making it a simple matter to total up sales made during the test run. Agencies frequently find it more economical to turn this pavement-pounding detail work over to market research specialists. A. C. Nielsen, S-D Surveys, and several other firms have large staffs of trained men who cover an extensive sample of retail stores in the test market areas and provide complete sales figures. The advantages to using professional outfits include: 1. Agency researchers are freed from time-consuming details of supervising leg-work, can handle more "productive" problems. 2. Identity of test time is more likely to remain a secret, since many products are inventoried at the same time by the professional researcher. 3. Full-time market specialists know from experience how to anticipate problems; for example, they'll oversample the market so that individual stores can be safely dropped from the original sample if they prove unsuitable. Research firms and agencies commonly back-stop sales figures with a consumer survey. Tnterviews with a selected group of housewives, for instance, can turn up such valuable indications as: 1. Percentage of people who bought your product. 2. Percentage who intend re-purchasing. 3. What influenced them to buy? 4. Of those who haven't yet bought the product, what percentage intend to do so in the future? 5. Interpreting results. Despite all the pre-test precautions and back-stopping techniques, a multitude of distractions can muddy up interpretation of test results. A stretch of poor weather, a strike, the attitude of storekeepers toward the product and manufacturer in audited stores, missing invoices which confuse sales figures, change of ownership or bankruptcy among audited stores— just to mention a few possibilities. All these potential destroyers of test accuracy must be allowed for in inter preting results. Chances are there has never been a market test that didn't have at least one minor catastrophy to contend with. Even with a skillful test run under ideal market conditions, the sales results may not mean what they seem to. One of the shortest routes to an erroneous conclusion is an analysis of test product sales alone. How meaningful is a sales figure for the test product, when a rival's sales in the same city may have doubled during the same period? In other words, a test product's showing in relation to its competitors is at the crux of gauging results. Conceivably, an established product whose appeal was being tested anew might actually drop in sales during a test. This might not indicate failure, however, if the entire product category took a sharp dive, with the test item holding up best. Despite the many pitfalls that dog the steps of market researchers, there's an air of cautious but very real optimism when you talk about testing to researchers. Carl H. Henrikson, Jr., S-D Surveys general manager, probably voices the feeling of most market researchers in saying: "Sales tests won't shed a brilliant light on a dark room, but they will provide enough of a glow to prevent stumbling over a chair and breaking your neck." • * * NETS INVADE SPOT RADIO? {Continued from page 35) mate spot business." Since the initial outcry, NBC, pulling in its horns, has put the idea on the shelf. NBC stations and station reps have pointed out that the plan, which would involve 24 six-second breaks a day, would conflict heavily with normal national spot schedules, regardless of product. NBC claims the project was dropped because of the difficulty in finding a formula which all clients could use. Among station reps, the chimes plan and other network sales schemes that appear, when examined, to be potential lures for spot radio dollars are generally disliked. Reps have been quick to pounce on them, and to alert stations to their meaning. Eugene Katz of the rep firm of Katz Agency Inc. told sponsor: "More and more station managers are realizing that they are picking their own pocket by co-operat 86 SPONSOR