Academic team projectUBC Sauder · COMM 365
Body
Energy Club
A student-focused market research project connecting pricing, product awareness and promotion to concrete recommendations.
Findings are from an academic research project; confidential sales and revenue figures were not disclosed by the business.
Project snapshot
Team-project outputs are presented as collaborative work; the page summarizes the project rather than claiming sole authorship.
Research question
How could Body Energy Club become more relevant to students beyond smoothies?
The project examined product awareness, willingness to pay and promotions for the UBC location. The team combined survey, focus-group, interview and secondary research, then used statistical testing to compare active and non-active students.
18/33respondents in one question had never heard of BEC
4research lenses
3/4tested product categories showed significant WTP differences by activity level
UBClocation-specific recommendations
Mixed methods
Combined survey, focus-group, interview and secondary research rather than relying on one data source.
Segment the evidence
Compared active and non-active students and used statistical testing to identify where willingness to pay actually differed.
Make the findings usable
Translated the research into recommendations for visibility, trial, loyalty and student-facing communication.
Recommendations
Turn evidence into decisions students can actually notice.
The recommendations moved supplements into higher-traffic areas, used sampling around campus, strengthened loyalty and CRM, and made the brand more approachable through ambassadors and clearer student-facing communication.
AwarenessMake more of the assortment visible
Bring supplements and less-recognized categories into higher-traffic areas so the store is not mentally coded as “smoothies only.”
TrialReduce the first-try barrier
Use campus sampling and ambassadors to create a lower-friction introduction to unfamiliar products.
RetentionBuild a student relationship
Use loyalty and CRM to turn one-off visits into repeat behavior instead of relying only on point-of-sale promotion.
Takeaway
Good research changes who you target, what you emphasize and where you show up.
The project connected qualitative insight, competitor analysis and statistical testing to concrete marketing decisions.