Market research

Market research: carefully gathering, making a record of and analyzing the data about the market for goods and services.

Marketing research is used to find out:

• What feature of my product do people like or dislike?
• How much will they pay?
• Where would they most likely to buy product?
• Who are our customers?
• What type of promotion would be effective with these types of customers?
• What is the competition like?
• When do they buy/use our products?
• Can we improve it for them?

Objectives of marketing:

• to increase sales revenue and profitability
  
• to develop new products or improve existing products
• to maintain or improve the image of products or a business
• to target a new market or market segment
  

Accuracy of market research
It all depends on how carefully the sample was selected. It's unlikely to be able to collect the total population within a country, however, it has to be as near as possible. Quota samples contain more accurate data compared to random samples. Also, the larger the sample, the more accurate the results are likely to be.

And this information can be gathered by carrying out two types of research:

Primary research -
The collection of new data obtained by the company or by researchers acting on its behalf. It involves direct contact with potential or existing customers. Also known as field research.

Types of primary research:

• Questionnaires - ostal, face - to - face or by telephone
• Interviews - individual face-to-face or by telephone, group interviews
• Consumer panels
• Observation – recording, watching or audits
• Experiments

Secondary research:
The use of information that has already been collected and is available for use by others. This is either from internal sources or external sources. Also known as desk research.

Internal sources of information:
A lot of information may be readily and cheaply available from the firm’s own records. The type of qualitative information available will be from the sales department, which will hold detailed data on which brands of products have been selling well and in which area.

Examples:

• Pricing data
• Finance department
• Customer records
• Customer service department
• Sales department
• Sales records
• Public relations personnel

External Sources of information:

These are sources of information which are obtained from outside the company. These sources are many and varied and tent to depend on the type of product that is being researched.

Examples:

• Trade and employers’ associations
• Internet
• Research reports
• Newspaper
• Specialist trade journals
• Market research agencies’ reports
• Government reports and statistics

Diagram summarizing everything about marketing: