Making Marketing Decisions (AQA A Level Business): Exam Questions

Exam code: 7132

14 mins3 questions
1
9 marks

Analyse why a large business might choose to introduce a product into a niche market.

2
1 mark

Which one of the following is least likely to be an advantage of operating in a niche market for a small business?

  • Economies of scope

  • Focused marketing

  • Less competition

  • Opportunity for tailor-made products

3
4 marks

Case Study

The UK tea market

Tea drinking in the UK is declining as younger customers choose alternatives such as coffee. Extrapolation of the annual sales suggests that coffee will outsell tea in the UK by 2025.

Within the overall tea market traditional black tea still dominates sales. However, a ‘health tea’ niche made up of fruit, herbal and green teas is growing. This niche has benefitted from its association with wellbeing.

Appendix A Annual sales volume of black tea and coffee (million kg), UK (actual sales 2012–2020; estimated sales 2021–2025)

Line graph comparing tea and coffee consumption from 2012 to 2025; tea decreases while coffee rises, intersecting in 2024. Tea is solid, coffee is dashed.

Appendix B UK tea brands 2019

Rank

Brand

Annual Sales (£m)

% change

Type of tea in range

1

Twinings

108

+3.8

Black and health tea

2

PG Tips

99

−7.2

Mainly black, with small new health tea range

3

Taylors (including Yorkshire Tea)

98

+5.0

Black and health tea

4

Tetley

90

+0.4

Mainly black but some health tea

5

Pukka

23

+15.4

Organic and ethical black and health teas

Other tea brands

144

Appendix C Price elasticity of demand data

Type of tea

Price elasticity of demand

Black tea

−1.2

Health teas

−0.5

Appendix D Selected data from recent market research survey

How often do you drink black tea? (% of respondents)

Overall

Age 18–24

Age over 65

Several times a day

42

25

56

Once a day

15

16

16

2–3 times per week

10

14

5

Occasionally

12

17

7

Never

21

28

16

Do you drink health tea? (% of respondents)

Yes

Female

32

Male

19

How important is it that the tea you buy is ethically sourced, eg fair trade? (% of respondents)

Important

62

Not very important

26

Not at all important

12

Using the data in Appendix D, explain one benefit of the use of market segmentation to a business selling tea.