PRACTICAL PROJECT IN COOPERATION WITH GEROLSTEINER BRUNNEN GMBH & CO. KG ON ONLINE BEVERAGE SALES
Starting point and objectives
The project aimed to help develop Gerolsteiner's e-commerce strategy. Mr. Marcus Macioszek (CMO at Gerolsteiner) introduced us to the company and its online and offline branding. Ms. Melanie Dijkstra (Head of Marketing Strategy and Planning) explained previous findings on e-commerce in the beverage sector. At an excursion to the rheingold institute in Cologne, we also learned findings from a large-scale qualitative study on online shopping for beverages, which served as a starting point for our own empirical research.
Questions and content
Besides finding information on relevant players in online food and drink retail, we aimed to identify drivers and obstacles for consumers. Our study focused on the particular features of mineral water and beverages. First, we evaluated existing studies on online sales of food and drinks and then used a list of criteria to systematically analyse the major German online shops and platforms in the food and drink sector. The study's core are 150 personal interviews with households in the Cologne, Bonn and Rhein-Sieg area. All students specialising in marketing took part as interviewers. Both "digital natives" and "digital immigrants" were interviewed in detail about their attitudes towards grocery shopping, buying mineral water, online shopping in general, buying mineral water on the Internet and their awareness, use and expectations of online platforms. The data was evaluated using SPSS and under the professional supervision of Prof. Dr. Christine Buchholz.
A summary report of the results was created and presented to Gerolsteiner's management. Ms. Antje Röbbert helped by coaching the students on holding presentations.
The project will continue this semester.