Mark Fredo Aakansha Lund

Lisa Maola Sahil Navalakha

Dominic Provenzano

MKT 601: Marketing Research Seminar Spring 2017

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Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary (p. 3)

II. Client Organization (p. 4)

III. Decision Problem (p. 5)

IV. Research Problem (p. 5)

V. Research Design and Data Collection (p. 6)

VI. Results (p. 6)

a. Qn. 1: Do You Live On-Campus or Off-Campus? (p. 7)

b. Qn. 2: Do you consider yourself a regular Dunkin Donuts consumer? (p. 8)

c. Qn. 3: What type of products do you purchase at Dunkin Donuts? (p. 9)

d. Qn. 4: For each of the following on-campus dining services, how likely are you

to visit for coffee and snacks? (p. 10)

e. Qn. 5: How important are the following attributes when visiting a Dunkin

Donuts? (p. 11)

f. Qn. 6: How would you describe your experience at the on-campus and off-

campus Dunkin Donuts? (p. 12)

g. Qn. 7: What method of payment do you most often use at Dunkin Donuts

restaurants? (p. 13)

h. Qn. 8: Under what circumstances would you visit the off-campus Dunkin Donuts

instead of the on-campus Dunkin Donuts? (p. 14)

i. Qn. 9: What is your marital status? (p. 15)

j. Qn. 10: What is your gender? (p. 16)

k. Qn. 11: What is your ethnicity? (p. 17)

l. Qn. 12: What is your age? (p. 18)

m. Cross Tabulation: Gender-Attributes (p. 19)

n. Cross Tabulation: On & Off Campus Location-Satisfaction (p. 21)

o. Cross Tabulation: Race-Attributes (p. 22)

p. Cross Tabulation: Race-Product (p. 24)

VII. Conclusions and Recommendations (p. 25)

VIII. Limitations (p. 27)

IX. Appendix (p. 28)

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I. Executive Summary

Dunkin Donuts is one of the largest coffee chains in the world. With over 11,300

restaurants all over the globe, the company has become ubiquitous; and the company can be found

within college campuses, workplaces, online, and department stores. This is true for St. John’s

University’s Queens campus, which houses a full-fledged Dunkin Donuts location for both

resident and commuter students. This location has become the focus of this research project.

The decision problem chosen for the Dunkin Donuts location on the St. John’s University

Queens campus is that the franchise is concerned that many students might be leaving campus to

visit a different Dunkin Donuts location rather than staying on-campus. As the research problem

was approached, the question of “other” Dunkin Donuts locations was narrowed down to the

franchise location on Union Turnpike and 168th Street, which is in close proximity to the St. John’s

University Campus.

The research design, conducted during the Spring 2016 semester, was an exploratory and

descriptive study that focused on a sample size of 100 St. John’s students through fixed

randomized sampling. Students were given surveys with twelve questions that aimed to collect

demographical, conational, and behavioral data about St. John’s students and their purchasing

habits.

The results, which were calculated at the end of the survey, displayed that, although

students are more satisfied with their experiences on off-campus Dunkin Donuts locations, they are

more likely to visit the on-campus location because of its ease of access. Additionally, the results

display that most of the products important to St. John’s students, which include coffee and

pastries, are present within the on-campus location. However, some problems within the on-

campus Dunkin Donuts, including the restaurant’s inability to process the company’s mobile app

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and rewards program, may become larger as many younger consumers are increasingly relying on

technology to make food purchases. Also, the students surveyed indicated that quality of service is

the second most important attribute (after accessibility) considered when making a purchasing

decision. The results indicated that the students received a higher quality of care when off-campus,

which can be a swaying factor when students are choosing between Dunkin Donuts and other on-

campus options.

After weighing the results, our recommendations are that the on-campus Dunkin Donuts

should a) allow the use of the DD Perks app as a form of payment and b) place a larger emphasis

on the quality of product and service. The installation of the DD Perks app would introduce a

faster and more convenient way to pay for tech-savvy students while simultaneously shortening

lines and increasing customer service.

II. Client Organization

Dunkin Donuts is a global coffee and doughnut chain based in Canton, Massachusetts.

Since its creation in 1950, Dunkin Donuts has expanded to 11,300 restaurants in 36 countries1 and

has become one of the largest coffee and baked goods chains in the world. Although the chain

initially focused on coffee and doughnuts, Dunkin Donuts has expanded its offerings to include

many other baked goods and both iced and hot beverages, including bagels, muffins, sandwiches,

smoothies, and iced teas. Home products, including ground coffee beans, Keurig pods, and

drinkware supplies are also available at many of their stores.

The chain’s popularity has led to its presence in workplaces, shopping malls, and college

campuses. The specific location of interest for this research project is located within the St. Louise

de Marillac Hall food court complex on the St. John’s University Queens campus, which also

1 "Company Snapshot." Dunkin Donuts Company Snapshot. Dunkin Donuts, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

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houses other popular fast-food franchises. This location offers St. John’s University students most

of the same products available at all other Dunkin Donuts retailers.

III. Decision Problem

The main problem facing the on-campus Dunkin Donuts location is maintaining that the

campus location is held to the same standards as the off-campus locations, preventing potential on-

campus consumers from leaving campus to visit an off-campus franchise. This problem is

compounded by the presence of a Dunkin Donuts location on Union Turnpike and 169th street,

which is within walking distance from the University exit. The Dunkin Donuts on campus should

decide whether or not to implement promotional pricing and use of the DD Perks App that

traditional locations will offer to their consumers.

IV. Research Problem

The research idea was developed when the client said that they would like to try to increase

sales in their operations. Since there are many diverse locations offered by the client, we narrowed

it down to one location that had an exact competitor that consumers could easily go to. The

information we generate through survey to students will help to allow the marketer to analyze how

their consumers are buying, and the reasoning for why they would go to the outside location. The

information gathered also helps to see what consumer prefer from other coffee locations on

campus, and what attributes of these locations influences them to buy from there.

This research study can also help to give beneficial information to the client about the

differences in the types of consumers that they have buying their products. The differences could

be in gender, race, age and even marital status, which we broke down into cross-tabulation to see

their effect on consumer behavior. The in-depth analysis with this research problem will allow the

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client to better understand their consumers and give insight on better methods in marketing to and

attracting these consumers.

V. Research Design and Data Collection

Research was conducted throughout the Spring 2016 semester (January 2016- May 2016).

● Target Population: St. John’s University (Queens Campus) students

● Research Design: Exploratory and Descriptive

● Sampling Method: Fixed Randomized Sampling

● Sample Size: 100 students

● Sample Plan: In order to select our sample units, we went to Marillac dining hall

separately at various times and days and approached students who were in the dining area.

The students could either be consuming and Dunkin Donuts products or not, which could

make for a more balanced sample. When approaching the sample unit, we made sure to

ask that they were students, so that our information was not skewed by faculty or other

visiting guests. Some of our sample units were also taken by approaching students that we

are in classes with to get their insight through the survey as well. We also tried to survey

and even amount of male and female students to see how their buying patterns and opinions

differ.

Data Collection was conducted through the distribution of digital surveys, consisting of 12

questions that aim to collect demographical, conational, and behavioral data about St. John’s

students and their purchasing habits.

VI. Results

In this section, the responses to each of the twelve questions within the survey are analyzed and

results are given. A brief summary is provided after the data is given.

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Question 1: Do you live on-campus or off-campus?

# Answer Response %

1 On-campus 32 32%

2 Off-Campus 69 68%

Total 101 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 2Mean 1.68Variance 0.22Standard Deviation 0.47Total Responses 101

Summary: a large majority of the students surveyed live off-campus.

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Question 2. Do you consider yourself a regular Dunkin Donuts consumer?

# Answer Response %

1 Yes 60 59%

2 No 41 41%

Total 101 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 2Mean 1.41Variance 0.24Standard Deviation 0.49Total Responses 101

Summary: Almost 60% of respondents are regular Dunkin Donuts consumers. A regular Dunkin Consumer is someone who visits Dunkin Donuts at least once a week.

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Question 3. What type of products do you purchase at Dunkin Donuts? (Choose all that apply)

# Answer Response %

1 Hot or Iced Coffees (including espresso, cappuccino, latte, macchiato and hot chocolate)

75 77%

2 Hot or Iced Tea 33 34%

3 Pastries (Including donuts, muffins, cookies and croissants)

48 49%

4 Bagels 31 32%

5 Sandwiches and Wraps 25 26%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 5Total Responses 98

Summary: 77% of respondents go to Dunkin Donuts for primarily coffee; and almost 50% of respondents go for their pastries. Only 26% of respondents buy sandwiches from Dunkin Donuts, which reflects that Dunkin Donuts is not people’s preference for snack offerings.

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Question 4: For each of the following on-campus dining services, how likely are you to visit for coffee and snacks?

# Question 1 (Least Likely)

2 3 4 5 (Very likely)

Total Responses

1 Dunkin Donuts (Marillac)

11 10 24 28 28 101

2 Starbucks (D'Angelo Center)

6 11 21 25 35 98

3 Red Mango (Library) 24 11 37 18 9 994 Starbucks Sidebar

(Law School)35 26 19 13 6 99

5 Montgoris Dining Hall

65 14 10 5 5 99

Statistic Dunkin Donuts

(Marillac)

Starbucks (D'Angelo

Center)

Red Mango (Library)

Starbucks Sidebar (Law

School)

Montgoris Dining Hall

Min Value 1 1 1 1 1Max Value 5 5 5 5 5Total Responses

101 98 99 98 98

Summary: 66% of respondents are least likely to eat at Montgoris – this is in direct co-relation with 68% of respondents living off-campus, and hence not being enrolled in a meal-exchange plan and hence not having access to Montgoris.

Starbucks is the clear favorite amongst respondents because only 6% of all respondents claim that they’re least likely to visit Starbucks.

62% of respondents are likely to go to Starbucks, and 56% of respondents would likely go to Dunkin Donuts – making DD the second most preferred coffee restaurant on campus.

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Question 5. How important are the following attributes for you when visiting a Dunkin Donuts? (Rate each attribute on a scale of 1-5)

# Question 1 (Least Important)

2 3 4 5 (Very Important)

Total Responses

1 Accessibility 2 5 17 44 31 992 Low Price 3 6 37 26 28 1003 Redeeming

Coupons/ Accept DD Perks

13 13 35 21 14 96

4 Availability of all flavors

5 7 23 32 29 96

5 Refills 26 10 20 30 11 976 Quality of

Customer Service

3 7 18 35 34 97

Statistic Accessibility Low Price Redeeming Coupons/

Accept DD Perks

Availability of all

flavors

Refills Quality of Customer Service

Min Value 1 1 1 1 1 1Max Value 5 5 5 5 5 5Total Responses

99 99 96 96 95 97

Summary: 75% of respondents say that Accessibility is the most important factor when visiting a Dunkin Donuts, close second is with 71% of respondents rating Customer Service as the next important factor while making their Dunkin Donuts purchase.Redeeming Coupons & DD Perks is the least important of all attributes with only 37% of respondents claiming it was important.From a macro-perspective, 38% of respondents find refills to be not important enough whereas 44% of

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them find it to be definitely important – depicting respondents have no clear dominant preference about Refills as an attribute.

Question 6: How would you describe your experience at the on-campus and off-campus Dunkin Donuts? (Choose the most relevant)

# Question Very Satisfied

Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied

Never Visited

Total Responses

1 On-Campus

13 48 23 9 2 5 100

2 Off-Campus

14 53 18 3 1 3 92

Statistic On-Campus Off-CampusMin Value 1 1Max Value 6 6Total Responses 100 92

Summary: 61% of respondents were satisfied from their experience at the On-Campus Dunkin Donuts. Only 11% of all respondents had a dissatisfactory experience at the On-Campus Dunkin Donuts, implying that as high as 84% of these respondents were either satisfied or neutral about the experience.

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Question 7: What method of payment do you most often use at Dunkin Donuts restaurants? (Choose the most relevant)

# Answer Response %

1 Cash 32 33%

2 Credit 61 62%

3 Gift Cards 2 2%

4 Coupons 0 0%

5 DD Perks App 3 3%

Total 98 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 5Mean 1.79Variance 0.58Standard Deviation 0.76Total Responses 98

Summary: 95% of all respondents pay with Cash and Credit while making a purchase at Dunkin Donuts. A meager 5% of all respondent’s purchases’ happen through DD Perks App, Coupons or Gift Cards, this is also seen earlier in Question 5, wherein 64% of respondents do not prefer or are neutral about being able to redeem coupons or using the DD Perks app.

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Question 8: Under what circumstances would you visit the off-campus Dunkin Donuts instead of on-campus Dunkin Donuts? (Choose all that apply) 

# Answer Response %

1 On-campus is closed 61 62%

2 On-campus does not accept DD Perks App

15 15%

3 Shorter wait lines 25 26%

4 Coupon Acceptance 26 27%

5 Off-campus is closer to home 41 42%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 5Total Responses 98

Summary: As high as 62% of respondents preferred visiting the off-campus Dunkin Donuts – only when the On-campus store was closed. This reinforces why accessibility was rated higher by respondents in earlier questions about visiting Dunkin Donuts.

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Question 9: What is your marital status? (Choose the most relevant)

# Answer Response %

1 Single (never married)

79 90%

2 Married 8 9%

3 Separated 1 1%

4 Widowed 0 0%

5 Divorced 0 0%

Total 88 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 3Mean 1.11Variance 0.12Standard Deviation 0.35Total Responses 88

Summary: 90% of all respondents are unmarried.

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10. What is your gender? (Choose the most relevant)

# Answer Response %

1 Male 44 49%

2 Female 45 51%

Total 89 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 2Mean 1.51Variance 0.25Standard Deviation 0.50Total Responses 89

Gender distribution of respondents for this survey is a near even-split with 49% and 51%.

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Question 11: What is your ethnicity? (Choose the most relevant)

# Answer Response %

1 White 33 38%

2 Black or African American

13 15%

3 American Indian or Alaska Native

2 2%

4 Asian 32 36%

5 Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

0 0%

6 Other 8 9%

Total 88 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 6Mean 2.74Variance 2.79Standard Deviation 1.67Total Responses 88

74% of respondents were either Asian or White. These two races were dominant out of others.

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Question 12: What is your age? (Choose the most relevant)

# Answer Response %

1 Under 18 years 2 2%

2 18-24 years 59 67%

3 25-34 years 22 25%

4 35-44 years 3 3%

5 Age 45 or older 2 2%

Total 88 100%

Statistic ValueMin Value 1Max Value 5Mean 2.36Variance 0.49Standard Deviation 0.70Total Responses 88

Summary: 92% of all respondents fall under age group of 18-34 years.

Disclaimer: All non-responses were ignored while calculations through Qualtrics software.

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Questions for further study: Are people aware about various loyalty rewards DD Perks App has? Are people aware about DD store around campus?

Cross Tabulation: Gender-Attributes

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• We wanted to examine the relationship between Gender and important attributes for respondents while visiting a Dunkin Donuts.

• For Accessibility, out of respondents who rated it as extremely important – about 60% of them are Males.

• For Low Price, it can be observed that Males are more price-sensitive than Females.• Every other attribute is pretty similar between both sexes.

Cross Tabulation: On & Off Campus Location-Satisfaction

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• We wanted to compare favorability between on-and-off campus Dunkin Donuts for on-and-off campus residents.

• The Satisfaction rates of respondents who live On-Campus with On-Campus Dunkin Donuts are at 56% - a much lower number thanwhat their satisfaction rates with Off-Campus Dunkin Donuts are i.e. 71%.

• This is also directly proportional with their dissatisfaction rates. On-Campus resident respondents have 0% dissatisfaction rates with off-campus Dunkin Donuts, but they have a 16% dissatisfaction rate with the on-campus Dunkin Donuts.

• This shows that On-campus resident respondents are clearly dissatisfied with On-campus Dunkin stores relative to the Off-Campus ones.

Cross Tabulation: Race-Attributes

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We wanted to see which attributes are more favorable to which races through this cross-tabulation:

• Low Prices are not as important for respondents with African American ethnicity (23%) as they are for the White (54%) and Asian (59%) respondents.

• Redeeming Coupons/ Accept DD Perks is more important to Asians (48%) compared to other ethnicities.

• About 77% of African American respondent’s favor Availability of Flavors, a much higher percentage than other groups.

• About 60% of Asians value Refills a more important attribute than others.

• In terms of Customer Service, Whites and Asians equally regard it as important with respondents voting in favor of it with 75%.

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Cross Tabulation: Race-Product

We wanted to see the relationship between Ethnicity and their Product preference:

•Across all races, highest preference was for Hot/Iced coffees.

•Respondents with White ethnicity have a high preference for Pastries i.e. 65% which is considerably higher than other races.

•Asian respondents also prefer Bagels over other ethnicities as if reflected in data.

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VII. Conclusions and Recommendations

A large majority of the students surveyed live off campus and enjoy the accessibility of on-

campus Dunkin Donuts locations while they are at the University. They may not necessarily think

that the on-campus location offers them the best quality, service and product, but it is easy for

them to get to, and do not have to make extra stops while en-route to the campus. Although our

focus was on Dunkin Donuts, 35 of the respondents say that they are very likely to visit Starbucks

for their needs. Starbucks on campus does allow consumers to pay for their orders through the

Starbucks mobile app. This is going to be an important strength of Starbucks because 67% of

respondents are in the age range of 18-24 years old and this group is highly reliant on technology.

Through the research we also analyzed that most people are paying for their products at

Dunkin Donuts using a credit card. A mobile application, such as DD Perks, is already linked the

consumer’s credit card and makes it easier and more convenient to pay then waiting for the card to

process. If the on-campus Dunkin Donuts allowed the DD Perks app to be used, it could help to

increase service speed and quality and could be a greater attraction to the consumers as well.

Accessibility of the on-campus Dunkin Donuts will definitely be a selling point and a main reason

to why the students are buying products here and not off-campus. One of the most popular reasons

students even decide to visit an off-campus location is because the convenient one at the

University is closed.

One of the second most important attributes of a location that the students look for when

shopping is the quality of service that is being offered to them. From the survey, we can see that

when the students had visited the off-campus location, they had a higher satisfaction of their

experience than they had on-campus. The experience for the consumer is very important from the

moment they step foot into the location. When not completely satisfied with their experience, most

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times consumers will not return. However, since accessibility holds a greater importance for

students, they continue to return to on-campus Dunkin Donuts and sacrifice some of their

experience satisfaction. Since quality of product and service are important attributes for a

consumer, they should be monitored and improved, so that Dunkin Donuts does not start to lose

more consumers to the other possible locations on campus. Students can go to many other

locations for their coffee, which 75% of respondents are going to Dunkin Donuts for. Since all the

other places will also provide accessibility to the students while on campus, they need to be sure to

constantly meeting the consumer needs.

Based on the survey responses, the Dunkin Donuts on campus is operating pretty

successfully compared to off-campus for students. Students are choosing to shop here over the off-

campus locations because of these ease of getting to the location. However, there are still a number

of recommendations that can be made to increase Dunkin Donuts on-campus efficiency, consumer

experience, and sales volume as well.

Since there are other coffee locations on campus, Dunkin Donuts has competition, although

the client will benefit from any location that is on-campus. To increase sales volume at the Dunkin

location, quality of the products and service provided to the students should be monitored. When

the quality is higher at one place over the other, students may be more inclined to go. As of now

they are more likely to visit the Starbucks location, and their experience at Dunkin Donuts can

definitely be improved according to our results.

Since accessibility and convenience is a big trend among students and Millennials as a

whole, another recommendation would be to offer the DD Perks app as a form of payment. People

in this age group are constantly using their phones and technology in every aspect of their lives. A

similar app offered by Starbucks is accepted as a form of payment at their on-campus location. It

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allows students to pay easily and quickly, without having to fidget with their wallets for their

payment. In turn, the use of this app for student payments will make the wait in line faster and

offer more efficient service. This alone could help greatly improve the experience that the

consumer has.

In conclusion, the on-campus Dunkin Donuts location is doing well and bringing in

students. Some small changes should be made that are seen in our recommendations to attract

more people to Dunkin Donuts over the other on-campus locations for coffee. These little changes

can have a big impact on how the consumer is viewing the location and the experience that they

know they will be receiving. Launching the use of the DD Perks app can also have a big impact on

the marketing effort to attract more people to visit Dunkin Donuts on campus.

VII. Limitations

The first and main limitation of this research project is a lack of a budget, which

constrained the project to a very small scale. A budget may have been able to increase our sample

size and conduct more research. The second limitation was that we were working within the

confines of a semester, which did not allow us to pursue the topic full time and set time limitations

upon it. With more time and a budget, we may have been able to get more in-depth responses

regarding specific attributes.

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IX. Appendix

"Company Snapshot." Dunkin Donuts Company Snapshot. Dunkin Donuts, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

"Menu." DunkinDonuts.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2016.

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