PPT created by Kulin Marketing founder Elizabeth Kulin and her graduate school classmates.

1. EcoJoe
Marketing Research
Alem, Matthias, Tatiana, Elsa & Elizabeth Kulin
www.kulinmarketing.com

2. Our client
Founded
– February 19, 2009
– By Cindy Lin
• In real estate business since 2005 with
numerous recognitions and awards with her
Staging business Staged4moreHome Staging and Redesigns;
including the MakeMine A $Million Business Award and the
Sam Walton Emerging Entrepreneur Award
• Sell eco-friendly Saint Joseph products to the following
segments:
•real estate sellers
•Eco-friendly lovers
•Fun and unique present

3. Our client
•A centuries-old practice: By burying a St Joseph statue in the
yard of a house for sale “is supposed to enlist the Saint’s aid in
finding a buyer”
•Today: thousands of home seller and real estate agents pursue
the tradition.
•EcoJoe’s goal: provide a green
alternative to existing plastic St Joseph
statues to avoid pollution when buried.

4. Management Problem
How Can EcoJoe increase sales and brand awareness of
eco-friendly St. Joseph product?
• Sales: Limited Channel distribution (Amazon, Facebook,
website, and 9 physical locations)
•Price point: EcoJoe $14.99 Vs. standard St. Joseph ( as low
as $3.49)
•Brand awareness: Very little Brand awareness (product &
website) as a recent company
•Share of mind: Possible confusion with EcoJoes.com

5. Marketing Research Issues
1. Who is most likely to buy the EcoJoe statue ?
•Real Estate Agents
•Real Estate Stagers
•Women ( 25-34)
•Environmental conscious and pro-sustainable living buyers
•Premium quality buyers
•Trend-setters/trend followers
2. EcoJoe’s Unique value Proposition
100% Green Alternative to current St. Joseph products
What attributes do customers value the most?
3. How to expand the EcoJoe brand?

6. Methodology
Secondary research
• Alexis website- for quantitative outlook on EcoJoe’s
online business
• Competitive analysis
• Mintel report on Green Living - 2009
Primary research:
• Quantitative Research
•Facebook online survey & Amazon.com: obtain in-
depth understanding of EcoJoe’s existing customers
• Qualitative research N/A
• New business with unique product in niche market

7. Online presence
Site Share of Voice Engagement
ecojoekits.com 42.73% 1.74X
Ecojoes.com 25.96 0.26X
Facebook.com 10.06% No Data
Flickr.com 4.21% No Data
Source: Alexa.com
http://www.alexa.com/search?q=ecojoe&p=rkey&r=site_site#

8. Industry Price Comparison
•www.stjosephhomesalekit.com $3.49
•www.GoodFortuneOnline.net $3.99
•www.Burystjoseph.com $4.75
•Source:
http://www.consumersearch.com/search/reviews/st.+joseph+

9. Secondary Research Findings
Green Living Market:
•The green market has shown remarkable growth in recent
years, up approximately by 41% in current dollars from 2004-
2009.
•During the recession, the market has outperformed the
economy as a whole growing more than 6% in 2008 and held
steady in 2009.
• Green living market expects rapid growth as the economy
recovers and as younger consumers with a stronger allegiance
to natural and organic products come to dominate market
spending.
•Green consumer services are beginning to emerge from niche
status to become a significant factor in the green marketplace.

10. Secondary Research Findings
Consumer behavior:
•Young consumers (18-34) have a stronger tendency to buy
natural and organic products.
•They are likely to research and compare products to see if they
are really green, either in person or through the internet.
•Interest in green service providers shows no clear trend by
household income, except that consumers from the highest
income group are more likely to think about providers’
environmental credentials, while the lowest income group are
less likely to worry about these issues.
• Household cleaners and paper products are the most
frequently purchased green product categories.

11. Secondary Research findings
Real estate market:
•In 2006-2010 the real estate
Industry revenue dropped from
$142,851.9 to 72,682.5.
•The majority of industry income is
associated with residential sales.
•Real estate agents are generally paid solely on a
commission basis.
•Many homeowners and real estate agents keep boxes of
such statues on hand to help them in their business.

12. Quantitative research plan
We used an online survey and posted it on EcoJoe’s
Facebook fan page as well as sent it to the Amazon buyers
to obtain in-depth information about of EcoJoe’s existing
customers:
•overall knowledge of green products
•perception of EcoJoe
•wiliness to buy EcoJoe’s products
•price expectations
•customers motivations
•Incentive: In order to increase response rate, respondents
were offered an incentive to win an EcoJoe Tee-shirt.

13. Primary research: Who?
To get valuable results the survey is targeted at
customers and fans of the product and can give valuable
feedback
•Facebook fans
•Amazon customers
36 respondents

14. Primary research: What?
•Respondents completed an online survey
•Surveyed on:
If working in real-estate business
Buying behavior for decorative household items and
green products
Information about EcoJoe
Attributes of the product
Demographics (age, gender, zip code, income)

15. Primary research: When and
Where?
•The survey was online between March 19, 2010 and
April 6, 2010
•The survey was created on surveymonkey.com and a
link was posted to the EcoJoe Facebook page and e-
mailed to Amazon customers.
•The survey took about 7 minutes to complete

16. EcoJoe’s Fan Page

17. Primary research: Why?
•Client’s objective: understand EcoJoe’s customers
•The product is a highly targeted niche product and
valuable results can only be achieved by contacting
current customers and fans of the product, who know
about the product.
•The online survey is inexpensive and easy to operate.

18. Timetable
Time
• Critical Chose EcoJoe’s project
Feb 3rd
dates
Development
– Pre-test
Feb 13th Contacted Cindy Lin
–
Feb 20th
Fielding of final survey draft
Complete 1 EcoJoe survey
st
Feb 27th Complete 2nd EcoJoe survey draft with Jason’s comments
Mar 3rd Complete EcoJoe survey final vision with pre-test
Mar 11th Ask Cindy about offering an incentive for the survey
Mar 19th Start fielding the survey
Mar 23rd Start developing EcoJoe presentation slides
Apr 1st Group meeting and assign tasks to each member
Apr 7th Group meeting and collect all of the survey data
Apr 14th Final presentation in class to our client

19. Question 1
What is your profession?
The majority of respondents to this survey were neither a
Real Estate agent or Stager.
36 Total Respondents

20. Question 2
In the past year, how many homes have you helped a client
buy/sell?
61%
The average number of homes sold in the past year was 0-2 homes.
Therefore, the most respondents of this survey have either not bought or sold
a home in the past year, or bought/sold 1-2 homes.
36 Total Respondents

21. Question 3
In the past year, how many homes have you staged?
The most frequent response was 0-2 homes staged with 77.8% of
responses. Therefore, most respondents to this survey have either not
staged a home in the past year, or have staged 1-2 homes.
36 Total Respondents

22. Question 4
Which of the following places do you most typically shop at for
decorative household items?
Most of these respondents shop for their household items at
retail chains, such as target and bed bath & beyond. The
remaining 42% of respondents buy predominately from
independently owned stores.
36 Total Respondents

23. Question 5
When you are shopping, what percentage of green products do
you purchase vs. standard products? The total has to amount to
100%.
Most respondents purchase 10% or However, on average they
more green products. purchase more standard products.
36 Total Respondents

24. Question 6
Please rate the extent to which you agree with the following
statements. 1 means Strongly disagree and 5 means Strongly
agree.
Most respondents are favorable for green products over standard, but believe that
green products are more expensive than standard.
36 Total Respondents

25. Question 7
Please rate the extent to which you agree with the following
statements. 1 means Strongly disagree and 5 means strongly
agree.
Respondents are predominately interested in purchasing green products, believe
that green products are in line with their environmental goals, and are willing to
pay above standard prices for green products.
36 Total Respondents

26. Question 8
How did you first learn about EcoJoe?
85.7%
Although word of mouth was a popular way for respondents to learn about
EcoJoe, most respondents learned about EcoJoe through Amazon.
36 Total Respondents

27. Question 9
Have you ever bought an EcoJoe statue?
The majority of respondents have bought an EcoJoe statue.
36 Total Respondents

28. Question 10
If you did buy a statue, please rate how important the following
were in your decision to purchase; 1 means not important at all
and 5 means extremely important.
Most respondents claim that they purchased EcoJoe because they thought it
was fun. Additionally, its eco-friendly positioning is a large reason for which
respondents decided to purchase EcoJoe.
36 Total Respondents

29. Question 11
How did you acquire the EcoJoe statue?
There was a fairly high number of no responses to this question, however
out of the respondents that did answer, amazon.com was the source that
most acquired EcoJoe through.
36 Total Respondents

30. Question 12
Based on what you know about the EcoJoe statue, please rate
the extent to which you agree with the following statements. 1
means Strongly disagree and 5 means Strongly agree.
Eco-Friendly
Respondents are predominately happy with the statue attributes and pricing,
and favors it over alternative statue options (non eco-friendly statues). At the
same time, they are not likely to purchase another statue in the near future.
36 Total Respondents

31. Question 13
If you have purchased an EcoJoe statue, how many months after
buying it did you use it/bury it?
There was a fairly high number of no responses to this question, however out of the
respondents that did answer, most used the statue within 1 month of purchase.
36 Total Respondents

32. Question 14
Please rate your interest in the following types of EcoJoe
products, using a five-point scale; 1 meaning not interested at all
and 5 meaning extremely interested.
On average, respondents are most interested in EcoJoe gift packages, but do not
express significant interest in any of these listed products.
37 Total Respondents

33. Question 15
Please comment on other eco-friendly products or services that
you would like to see sold for homes?
Open ended question
3 answers:
1.Bags for food composting
2.Candles/fragrances
3.Insect Control
3 Total Respondents

34. Question 16
What is your age bracket?
27.7% 30.6%
Most respondents (58.3%) were between the ages of 25-44
36 Total Respondents

35. Question 17
What is your zip code?
4%
25%
7% 10% 7%
36%
3%
7%
HI = 4%
The majority of respondents are from California, followed by the Midwest region of
the United States.
28 Total Respondents

36. Question 18
What is your gender?
Most of the respondents were female.
32 Total Respondents

37. Question 19
For statistical purposes only, please estimate your total yearly
household income before taxes
The majority of respondents have an annual income of over $30,000. Most of them
make between $75,000 and $99,000.
19 Total Respondents

38. Errors
•36 respondents
•With a margin or error of 5%, a 90%
confidence interval, population of
600, sample size needed of 187
•Limited accuracy of the results due to a
low response rate
•Necessity to expand initial sample to Amazon
Buyers and to include an incentive

39. Executive Summary
•Client base: since most respondents weren’t realtors, we can expect
the product to have a strong appeal among people outside the real
estate industry. EcoJoe could attract an even wider market thanks to
its unique attributes.
•Respondents seem to be still wary of online shopping or favor
shopping for household items in chain stores. EcoJoe could start
distributing its products in larger retail chains who offer green
products.
•Our research found that respondents still purchase more “standard”
products than green products. However, they are mostly favorable to
green products, but seem to consider them too expensive. This is a
huge opportunity as there is positive attitude towards green products.
•Despite their belief that green products are too expensive, they are
mostly willing to spend more on green products and consider it on of
their goals to help protect the environment.

40. Executive Summary cont.
•Awareness: Respondents have mostly already bought a statue, and
have either heard about EcoJoe through word of mouth and
Amazon.com. Because of the low awareness for the product, EcoJoe
should enhance word-of-mouth by launching a series of special
events for realtors or the general public.
•Respondents are satisfied with the current attributes of the statue,
and value particularly its green aspect. They favor EcoJoe over other
non-green St Joseph statues. This could be an opportunity for EcoJoe
to develop more green products under its brand.
•The higher price point doesn’t seem to bother respondents, which
could be linked to the fact that they mostly would spend more on eco-
friendly products. Besides, the survey revealed that respondents had
a higher than average income which might also explain the limited
price-consciousness.

41. Executive Summary cont.
•Despite the overall satisfaction from the product,
respondents are not likely to purchase another statue in the
near future. This is an opportunity for EcoJoe, who could
either find news ways to use the statue, or find a way
encourage repeat and bulk purchases.
•Respondents expressed low interest for other products
already offered, such as tee-shirts, buttons or gift
packages. There is an opportunity for EcoJoe to offer
products who respond to customer expressed needs such
as fragrances or insect control products, as suggested by
some of the answers.

42. Recommendations
•Awareness: Raise awareness by organizing events that
would appeal to the general public, in order to make EcoJoe
appealing to everyone who values green products. The
statue could become a trendy object, that could be used
beyond the sale of the house as a decorative item for
instance.
•Distribution: EcoJoe should definitely keep focusing on
Amazon.com sales. Since a lot of people have become
“fans” of EcoJoe on Facebook, it seems like a great fit to sell
the product directly on there. However, this should be
coupled with physical retailers, since most respondents still
prefer to shop in actual stores. The statue could be sold to
gardening stores or green household stores.

43. Recommendations
•Real estate market: Because of the slow real estate market,
more houses are likely to be vacant, while people will
become more and more superstitious and want all the the
help they can get to sell their house, which means more
potential customers for EcoJoe.
Price: the higher price point should be maintained: Cindy
faces important expenses and making green products costs
more than standard products. Besides, respondents find it
normal to pay a higher price for green products, especially
when it is 100% certified green from the packaging to the
statue. However, offering products at a lower price point
could be a way to attract younger and more price-conscious
consumers, who feel strongly about the environment.

44. Conclusion
•Expansion: The products currently offered by EcoJoe don’t seem
to resonate that much among respondents, maybe Cindy could do
a focus group with some of her clients in order to determine more
precisely what they would want EcoJoe to offer. This might be
services, such as tips on how to maintain a green household or
products such as green fragrances, candles or insect and bug
repellant or even different colors of statues – or even if we follow
the industry best-sellers, paper products or household cleaners.
•EcoJoe is more than a one-product company, it has managed to
become a brand. As such, EcoJoe could definitely use that
goodwill to branch out to other green areas, such as services,
especially since industry trends confirm that green services are
becoming more and more mainstream.

45. Thank you!
Questions or comments