1.2 Spotting a business opportunity

Factors that affect customer needs?

Price

Quality

Choice

Convinience

Why is it important to identify and understand customers?

To generate sales

Business survival

What is the purpose of market research?

Identify and understand customer needs.

Identify and understand competitions

Identify gaps in the market.

Reduce risk.

What are types of market research?

Primary research

Secondary research

Define primary research?

Collecting information that didn’t exist before.

Define secondary research?

Gathering information that already exists.

Types of primary research?

Survey

Questionnaire

Focus group

Observation

Types of secondary research?

Internet

Market reports

Government reports

Advantages of primary research?

Up to date

Specific to needs

Advantages of secondary research?

More general

Less time-consuming

What is qualitative data?

Information about people’s opinions.

What is quantitative data?

Data that can be expressed as number and statistically analysed.

Role of social media in market research?

A cheap way to collect information on market trends, customer opinions and competitions actions.

How to make research reliable?

Come from a representative sample and questions should enable people to give accurate and relevant answers.

Define market segment?

A group of buyers with similar characteristics and buying habits.