Industry Sector
Service Required
Method Used
What They Needed
Plymouth City Centre Company (PCCC) was formed in 2005 to head the Plymouth City Centre Business Improvement District (BID).
PCCC approached Marketing Means to help assess the effectiveness of its work in the eyes of local businesses to inform the annual report detailing the progress of the BID area and its development.
What We Did
In 2005 we conducted a postal survey of 150 businesses operating within the city centre, covering topics such as priorities for improvements to the city centre and the impact of the BID’s work on their sales.
In 2008, we conducted a further project to assess the impact of the BID. This required us to complete telephone interviews with 100 Plymouth city centre businesses. This directly updated the results gained from the 2005 survey, gathered business priorities for the future, and allowed comparison with the views of local consumers which were gathered simultaneously using a telephone survey.
In 2010, during a period of major works to improve part of the city centre, Marketing Means conducted a further telephone survey with 50 local businesses. This assessed the impact of the works on the immediate retail area, and the way in which businesses had been affected not only by tihs but by the economic downturn. Again, this was supported by a survey of consumers.
Outcome
All of this work has enabled Plymouth City Centre Company (PCCC) and the BID to target its work most effectively on behalf of local businesses. We have worked closely with PCCC to identify the most suitable samples to use in the research, and to develop questionnaires that will capture the most meaningful information whilst not placing too great a burden on businesses.
