An Analysis of the Impact of Advertising on Perceived Quality: A Case of Tesco UK

Research Proposal

By
[Your official name]

[Degree Title], [University], 20XX

[Name of program]

[Name of University]
[Last month of quarter you plan to graduate] 20XX

Perceived Quality

Table of Contents
Contextual Background--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1
Research Aims and Objectives------------------------------------------------------------------------------1
Research Questions-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2
Problem Statement--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2
Significance of the Study------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3
Rationale of the Study----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
Literature Review---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
Advertising--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
Perceived Quality-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
Relationship between Advertising and Perceived Quality--------------------------------------------7
Methodology---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7
Research Design and Data Collection Method---------------------------------------------------------8
Research Approach-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8
Data Analysis-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8
Sampling Technique and Sampling Size----------------------------------------------------------------9
Ethical Considerations-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9
References----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

Perceived Quality

Proposal B: An Analysis of the Impact of Advertising on Perceived Quality: A Case of Tesco UK

Contextual Background
Perceived quality is an intangible feeling about a specific brand. This is depended on the
characteristics of the product associated with brand image such as reliability and its performance
(Aaker & Biel, 2013, p. 15). Therefore, perceived quality is depended on the individual
evaluation of customers about the quality of considered product. Researchers explain the
relationship of perceived quality with brand awareness, loyalty and other aspects of brand equity.
Perception of the customer about the services of a product is related with their prior experience
and expectations of the consumers and their experiences with the competitors and substitutes.
Therefore, it is essential to study the role of advertising in developing a brand perception among
customers about a specific product. In retail industry, advertising helps to create an improvised
perceived quality of a product. Better advertisement strategies help in improving the perceived
quality of a brand and therefore add to the overall brand value (OGuinn, et.al, 2014, p. 22).
Advertisement enhances the chances of attracting new selling points and customers, based on the
improved perception about the quality.

Research Aims and Objectives

The main aim and focus of the study is to analyse the impact of advertising on perceived
quality, by considering the case of Tesco in UK. Research aims and objectives are mentioned as
follows:

To analyse advertising in Tesco

To analyse the perceived quality relating to Tesco brand

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To analyse the impact of advertising on perceived quality

To provide recommendations to Tesco to improve advertising to ensure positive influence

on perceived quality

Research Questions
Mentioned are the research questions for this paper:

What is the relationship between advertising and perceived quality?

How do advertising strategies of Tesco affect the perceived quality of its products and
services?

Which are the most effective advertising strategies used by Tesco?

Problem Statement
In recent years, a lot has been spent on advertising of the products. Companies have
understood the value of investing in advertising, for the purpose of encouraging more customers
to opt their brands. However, from customer perspective, choosing a brand is dependent on two
main phenomena first is their personal preference about the product. Second is general
perception of people about the brands quality and its preference among its competitor. Similarly,
it is necessary to understand the impact of advertising on these two conditions. Researchers have
highlighted the importance of advertising on promoting a brand, but the core issues of branding
have not been assessed. Therefore, it is essential to understand the impact of advertising on
perceived quality (Severi & Ling, 2013, p125). It has also been identified that companies are
unware about the concept of perceived quality and its impact on companies revenue. The
importance of advertising and its impact on perceived quality is still unidentified, which

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eventually results in the loss of potential clients. Moreover, perceived quality is important in
retaining existing customers as well as targeting new customer. Considering the direct impact of
advertising on perceived quality, it is important for companies to analyse its effects on the
growth of company. Tesco is involved in bulk buying with extended inventory that might lead to
issues maintaining quality. Tesco advertised miss-spelt signage, misleading advertisement for
horse and porks meat to be used in beef burgers (Sweney, 2013). It influenced the perception of
consumers against perceived quality. Therefore, there is need to identify effective strategies for
advertisement by Tesco to be used in UK so as to improve the perceived quality of the
products/brand.

Significance of the Study

This study is aimed to highlight the impact of advertising on perceived quality, which
will guide the supermarket industry about consumer behaviour. It will also enable them to utilize
these findings to design an effective marketing strategy to increase the perceived quality of their
products. Some of the key benefits of this research are identification of consumer behaviour and
how they perceive quality, this will provide an insight to the companies for planning their
advertising strategies. This study articulates different factors related to advertising and provide
potential information to advertiser and marketers to gain a competitive edge in the market by
better planning of advertising strategies and realizing its impact on perceived quality.

Rationale of the Study

It has been identified that there is an utmost requirement to measure the impact of
advertisement on perceived quality. Teixeira (2014) explained the fundamentals of advertising,

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i.e. persuasion, information and complementarity. Persuasion explains the changes in brand
image and its value, information is necessary for customers to gain an insight about the value of
product and complementarity adds value to the product and service. Measuring the effectiveness
of advertisements is one of the most difficult issues that advertising agencies face (Makasi,
Govender and Rukweza, 2014, p.2614). By studying these factors, one can understand the impact
of advertising on customer perception about the quality of a product.
Properly marketed product that fulfils these three criteria will attract more customers,
while poorly executed advertisement strategies will fail to persuade, inform and add value to the
product. This will eventually fail the company in achieving its desired targets, i.e. to attract more
customers by creating a good brand quality. Therefore, this research will identify the issues of
advertising in creating a sense of brand equity and how advertising can be effectively utilized to
influence better perceived quality of the product and service. Findings of this research will lead
to better understanding of consumer purchasing pattern.

Literature Review
This study is focused on theory provided by Kotler (1997, p. 185), perception depends
not only on the physical stimuli but also on the stimulis relation to the surrounding field and on
conditions within the individual. Most of the previous researches are focused on extrinsic factor,
price, brand name and store name. However, in todays competitive market it is necessary for
firms to focus on analysing the impact of advertising. As business expand huge sum of money
and their resources on advertising the product, it is necessary to assess its return on business
performance. Advertising strategies should not only be intended to create brand awareness about
the product, but to achieve its desired target of capturing and engaging attention of new

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customers. Similarly, it is also necessary to understand the impact of advertising on brand equity,
image, perceived quality and brand loyalty (Sweney, 2013).

Advertising
Advertisement is an attempt to creativity, which motivates the consumers to buy a
particular product. Advertisement creates a positive perception of a product in the customers
mind. Advertisement is dependent on rational and emotional appeals, as emotional appeal is
designed to meet consumers psychological and emotional requirement, while rational appeal is
focused on describing the benefits of the product. Researcher explains that advertisement is way
to communicate with its target audience. Advertisement can be considered as a magic, because it
will changes the perception of the consumer and sometime create needs among people.
People are highly affected by marketing concepts of companies introducing new products
and services. In present era, marketers are focused on customer rule that is customers are their
first preference. This provides a motivation for companies to gain the knowledge about customer
needs and demands (Huang & Sarigll, 2012, pp.92-99). Keeping these things in mind,
advertising strategies should be designed to understand customer rational decisions, so that they
can provide the best product in market. Similarly, irrational factors should be considered as well,
that includes promotional activities, ensuring the customer about the quality of the product.
Emotional association of customer with a brand is also an important aspect of advertising,
therefore, marketer should promote such brands that consumers are likely to relate with their
needs and problems.

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Perceived Quality
Perceived quality is one of the five dimensions of brand equity as identified by Aaker
(1991), including brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty and other proprietary assets.
According to Zeithaml (1988), perceived quality is the products overall excellence or
superiority and involves the experiences and perceptions of a customer. Perceived quality is the
consumer perception about the quality of a particular product or service. This perception is based
on their expectation and comparison of the product with its competitor brand. In more simple
words, perceive quality is an assessment of customer beliefs. According to Aaker, buyers
perception about the quality of a particular product is based on seven elements. By evaluating
these seven elements consumer will develop a thought, whether the product or services is aligned
with their desired quality or not. People usually buy the product when they believe in the value
of what they are getting in return of their investment, and also assess it on factors like perceived
quality (Majeed & Razzak, 2011).
Financial performance of company is deemed to be associated with brands perceived
quality. Perceived quality is an intangible feeling, about a product or service and can be
objectively determined. It is essential to understand that customers vary according to their
personalities, needs and preference, which influences their judgements about a product.
Therefore, it can be concluded that perceive quality of a product or service is dependent on few
essential factors that includes characteristics of the product, its reliability, performance and
association with a brand.

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Relationship between Advertising and Perceived Quality

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between perceived quality and
advertising, which is the most common issue faced by advertising agencies. As advertisement
helps the company improving the perceive quality of a product with passage of time. Investing in
advertisement will improve the perceived quality of the product in market. Similarly, perceive
quality of a brand is improved when better advertisement strategies are developed keeping in
mind the current requirement of customers. It will also improve the overall perception of a brand,
and address its unique selling points. But there are limited researches available on the studied
topic in context of UK.
Customers while shopping at supermarkets, often face difficulty in choosing a particular
product that have identical characteristics and assures same level of quality. Yet, customers are
more inclined to pay higher prices for products that are affiliated with particular brands that are
well known for its perfect quality. Popularity and perceived high quality of a product is referred
as brand equity and desirability of the product of a particular brand. Considering all these
reasons, it is very critical for a company to understand the relationship of advertising and
perceived quality that will directly impact its revenue and profitability.

Methodology
Research methodology highlights the action plan of the researcher to achieve the main
aims and objective. For the purpose of this research, descriptive research method is used to
determine the frequency of something occurring in relationship of two variables.

Perceived Quality

Research Design and Data Collection Method

For the purpose of this research, the author has used primary data collection method by
using quantitative research method or design. This research will also utilize survey analysis
method, to gain the knowledge about the impact of advertising on brands perceived quality.
Survey analysis will provide an insight of consumer perception about shopping at Tesco and its
retail outlets.

Research Approach
Research approach identifies the method of the plan or layout of data collection. There
are two basic types of research approaches that is deductive approach or inductive approach. This
research uses deductive research approach or top-to-bottom approach that is based hypothesis
testing. Data will be collected from secondary research to formulated hypothesis and then will be
accepted or rejected.

Data Analysis
By using survey analysis, researcher will be able to collect quantitative data from
respondents and understand the relationship between independent and dependent variables.
Survey analysis, will provide a self-administered questionnaire for data collection, in which
respondents will answer the questions regarding the course of study. Research methodology also
describes the data analysis plan of the researcher. In this study, researcher will collect
quantitative data from survey analysis of Tesco UK. The data will be analysed using statistical
software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Hypothesis will be developed to test the
relationship between two variables therefore, deductive approach will be used. Statistical test

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applied using SPSS, will include frequency distribution and correlation among the studied
variables. Analysis will identify the impact of advertising on perceived quality of a particular
product.

Sampling Technique and Sampling Size

Researcher will opt for non-probability sampling technique method, in which
convenience sampling is more preferred (Majeed & Razzak, 2011). For the purpose of this study,
customers of Tesco will act as respondents and provide valuable information about the concept
of perceive quality in relation to advertising. Customers of Tesco UK that are willing to
participate in this research and are easily available will be considered for survey. This research
will be conducted at different retail outlets of Tesco in UK. This method will reduce overall cost,
and minimize the time required to conduct this research. For this research, 80 participants for
survey analysis will be selected from Tesco retail store.

Ethical Considerations
There are several budget constraints involved while conducting this research. To
minimize the cost of this study, researcher will utilize past researches, peer reviewed articles and
publications. Researches that require subscription and membership fees will not be considered, to
avoid additional cost. Similarly, steps will be taken to minimize geographical and time related
constraints, as this study is limited to UK only with limited time allocation.
As this research, will utilize primary data collection method that involves respondents
therefore, it will keep the identities confidential. Similarly personal information of the
respondents will only be used for research purpose. Ethical issues will also be taken under

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consideration from the researcher, to enhance the credibility of the data collection. Before
conducting this research, respondents will be informed about the aims and objectives of this
research to avoid any ethical issue.

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References
Aaker, D. A. (1991) Managing Brand Equity: Capitalising on the value of a brand name. New
York: The Free Press.
Aaker, D. A. and Jacobson, R. (1994) The financial information content of perceived quality.
Journal of marketing research, pp.191-201.
Aaker, D. A., & Biel, A. (2013). Brand equity & advertising: advertising's role in building
strong brands. Psychology Press.
Huang, R., & Sarigll, E. (2012). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. Journal of Business Research, 65(1), 92-99.
Kotler, P., & Scheff, J. (1997). Standing Room Only: Strategies for Marketing the Performing
Arts. Harvard Business Press.
Li, L. (2011). A Study of the Relationship among Perceived Quality, Country-of-origin, Brand
Loyalty, and Brand Equity at a Footwear Company in Nanjing, China. AU-GSB eJournal, 4(1).
Majeed, S., & Razzak, S. (2011). The Impact of Television Advertisement Repetition, Celebrity
Endorsement and Perceived Quality on Consumer Purchase Decision. Australian Journal
Of Basic And Applied Sciences, 5(12), 3044-3051.
Makasi, A., Govender, K. and Rukweza, C. (2014) Building Brand Equity through
Advertising. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(20), pp.2613-2624.
Severi, E., & Ling, K. C. (2013). The mediating effects of brand association, brand loyalty, brand
image and perceived quality on brand equity. Asian Social Science, 9(3), p125.

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Sweney, M., (2013), Tesco criticised over 'misleading' horsemeat ad, The Guardian, data
retrieved from, http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/sep/04/tesco-horsemeat-ad,
[accessed on 13/11/2015]
Teixeira, T. S. (2014) The Rising Cost of Consumer Attention: Why You Should Care, and What
You Can Do about It. [Working Paper] Harvard Business School. Available from:
http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/14-055_2ef21e7e-7529-4864-b0f0c64e4169e17f.pdf [Accessed 7th November, 2015]
Zeithaml, V. A. (1988) Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality, and Value: A Means end Model
and Synthesis of Evidence. Journal of Marketing, 52, pp.2-22.