Company Scenario: The following scenario will be used throughout the course for your Key Assignment.

You have been hired by Acme Wholesaling, Inc. to provide research to determine the likely success of a new product that it plans to market. Acme Wholesaling, Inc. wholesales various garments and accessories through street vendors in New York City. These items include umbrellas (for when it rains) and hats, gloves, and scarves (for when it is cold). The street vendors are small-time retailers that resell these items to the public. Many of these vendors establish their carts in Central Park and other park grounds in Manhattan.

An employee of Acme Wholesaling, Inc. has come up with an idea involving the sale of picnic blankets through these vendors for when the weather is nice and people want to sit out in the park. Acme Wholesaling, Inc. has a manufacturer lined up who will make these blankets in wool and cotton blend in various sizes, depending upon the order from Acme Wholesaling, Inc. The company would then resell these to the vendors. Although the ultimate consumer of these blankets is the individuals in the park, Acme Wholesaling, Inc. does not deal with them directly. They work solely through the street vendors.

Your job is to provide enough validation for the idea that Acme Wholesaling, Inc. can convince the street vendors to carry this new product on their carts.

Throughout this course, you will be working on various aspects of a research plan for the scenario company: Acme Wholesaling, Inc. This is the Key Assignment that you will be contributing to every week. The final assignment will be submitted in the form of a PowerPoint presentation at the end of the course. The following sections will be part of the final key assignment:

• Primary Research: Week 3
• Research Design: Week 3
• Sampling Method: Week 3

In this assignment, you will develop a sample for your marketing research study for Acme Wholesaling, Inc. Review the details of the scenario company again, and complete following:

• Specify the target market population that Acme Wholesaling, Inc. should be aiming at, using demographic and psychographic variables to define who is in this market. Justify why this is the proper target population for Acme Wholesaling, Inc.
• From that target population, decide and describe the sampling method and the size of the sample you would recruit to participate in your research study.
• Choose a design for your research project that you feel will best answer the remaining research questions that are unanswered by the secondary research. Why would this design be best? The actual questions or discussion guide is not necessary at this point.
• Include a time line of activities and a duration for data collection.
• How long will it take to gather the required data?
• How long will each participant be required to devote to fully participate in your project?
• Will you compensate participants for their time? Why?