market research

define market research

the process of gathering, interpreting and analyzing information about the market

define product-oriented business

a business whose main focus of activity is the product itself

define market-oriented business

a business who carries out market research to find out customer wants before producing or developing the product

define primary research

collection and collation of original firsthand data via direct contact with potential or existing customers

define secondary market research

uses info that has already been collected and is available to others

benefits of primary market research

up to date and relevant

first hand data

isn’t available to other businesses

useful when targeting a specific problem

limitations of primary market research

expensive

takes time to collect

methods of primary research

postal questionnaires

online surveys

interviews

focus groups

advantages of postal questionnaires

detailed qualitative info about info about product

customer’s opinions can be known

can be done online

to ensure answers, coupons can be issued along with it.

disadvantages of postal questionnaires

bad questions = false answers which can be misleading

carrying it out takes time+money

collating and analyzing is time consuming

advantages of online surveys

fast/quick response time

cheaper than interviews and questionnaires

data can be analyzed quickly wd IT tools

easy to fill out for participant

disadvantages of online surveys

cannot reach participants without internet

no interviewer to ask explain questions so not detailed/accurate info

fraud as answers can be careless/random to gain incentives

advantages of interviews

interviewer can explain unclear questions

detailed info can be gathered

disadvantages of interviews

conscious/unconscious interviewer bias

time consuming and expensive

advantages of focus groups

detailed info about consumer taste and preferences

reasons for opinions can be discovered

quicker and cheaper than individual interviews

disadvantages of focus groups

time consuming and expensive if done by specialist agencies

biased due to people being influenced by other’s opinions

only a couple of people may dominate

define sample

a group of people who have been selected to respond in a market research exercise

what is the need for sampling

too time consuming and expensive to include all relevant population

define random sampling

when people are selected at random as a source of info for market research

define quota sampling

when a group of people are selected based on certain characteristics like age, gender etc to act as a source of info for market research

advantages of secondary research

cheaper than primary

quicker to collect than primary

helps assess total size of market

newspapers have vital economic forecasts

disadvantages of secondary research

can be outdated

available to all business

may not be relevant to business’s specific needs

what are the internal sources for secondary research

finance department

customer service department

previous sales reports, customer records, pricing data etc

what are the external sources for secondary research

gov statistics

newspapers

trade associations

online sources

market research agency

factors influencing accuracy of market research data

how carefully the sample was drawn up

what method (secondary/primary) sec not as accurate

how the questions were worded

any biases present

age of info

size and relevance of sample