Market research uses and limitations The purpose of market reasearch is to find out how far a business reach

their cu stomers,Changes in economic conditions, Changes in the product ranges of competi tors,Changes in consumer tastes, Changes in technology etc. it also allows firm s to highligt their weakpoints and plan on how to imporve. Marketing research c an help firms to discover consumers opinions on a huge range of issues, e.g. vie ws on products prices, packaging, recent advertising campaigns, indentify competi tion, indentify oppourtunities/gaps in the market and reduce the loss of the bus iness. Marketing research can not only provide information regarding the current state of the market but it can also be used to anticipate future customer needs . Firms can then make the necessary adjustments to their product portfolios and levels of output in order to remain successful. Accurate, up-to-date informatio n obtained by marketing research can be of enormous value to an organisation in gaining and/or maintaining its competitive edge, gaining a detailed understandin g of customer needs, helps in forecasting the future trends and help a business make informed decisions, hopefully leading to products that consumers want in su fficient numbers to achieve commercial success. However, there are a number of r easons why, in reality, these potential benefits may not be realised: Time and expenses constraints: Research such as primary and qualitative research consume a lot of time and expenses. organisation are given limited time and bud get for their research,. Reliability of the data the value of any research findings depend critically on the accuracy of the data collected. Desk research cannot always be accurate or u p to date. 12 Jan 2010 15:11:41