Market Research

Consumer panels : Groups of customers are asked for feed

back about the products over a period of time

Database : an organised collection of data stored electronically

Focus groups : a number of customer are invited to attend a

discussion about a product run by market researchers

Primary research (field research) : gathering new info that doesn’t

already exist

Qualitative research : collection of data about attitudes and beliefs

Quantitate research : collection of data that can be quantified

Quota sampling : respondents are selected in a non-random way in

the same proportion as they exist in the whole population

Random sampling : respondents are chosen randomly in an interview

Respondents : people or organisations that answer a question in a

survey

Sample : a small group of people that must represent a proportion of a

total market when carrying out market research

Secondly (desk) research : collection of data that already exist

Stratified sampling : method of quota sampling in which respondents

are chosen at random

Target population : the total number of consumers in a given group

Market research :
Process of gathering data about costumers and competitors within a
firm’s target market

Market research is carried out to :

Help firms make marketing decisions

Reduce risk

Data is gathered for :

Identify future needs of the costumer

The price that customers will pay for

The success of the product

Describing he market :
Explore the trends

Establish market share

Find out who the customers are

Explain the market :

Why market share has fallen

Why customers prefer competitors products

Predict changes :
What customers will do if prices rises

Impact of increased competition

Explore future reactions :

Customer reaction to new ideas

Find target price

Establish most appropriate retail outlets

Observation : observing customer behaviour and watching shoppers in

action

Test marketing :
Trailing ideas and testing out products with a particular group

Focus groups :

small number of people brought together to focus on a particular
product

Consumer panels : consumer in a specific sector answer specific

questions

Sales figures :
Provides accurate results from previous time periods

Annual report and accurate :

Provides accurate results from specific years

Customer data :
Firms gather info about customers (by loyalty cards)

Govrement statistics :
useful data about population change, local and national trends and
industries

Competitors :
Accounts and sales brochures

Trade publications:

specific to industries

Quantitative research Qualitative research

Finding numerical data Finding opinions, attitudes and
feelings
Collected from large samples More useful than quantative
Easy to analyse Difficult to analyse
Method : written and online Method : focus groups in depth
questionings interviews
Primary research methods :
Questionaries
Focus on consumer panels
Face to face or telephone interviews
Products trials/test marketing
Adv and DisAdv
Adv DisAdv
Data canbe collectedthat dirwctly expensive

applies to the issue being researched
The business that collects the data will
be the only one with access .it gains
marketing advantages over rivals
Secondary data maybe unavailable in
some areas
Takes longer than desk research
Sample taken may not represent the
views of a population
If the method is flawed, the finding will
also be flawed
Methods of secondary research :
websites (analysing websites of competitors)

Social media (getting info of firm’s customers, market and brand

appearance ) ( searching latest posts and popular terms)

Newspapers and magazines

TV/radio

Reports

Advantages of using social media for market research :

Broad research : reaches millions al around the world

Ability to target : social media allows specific groups to be targeted

Free or low cost

Personal
Fast
easy

SECONDARY RESEARCH :
Adv DisAdv
Easy
Data is not always in a form hat a
Quick
business wants bcs it has been used
Cheap to collect
for another purpose

Useful for small businesses

Several sources maybe used so data is
checked and verified
Historical data maybe used which can
show a trend over time
Used before carrying out primary
Data may be out of date
Researches must be aware of bias
Problems with research

research which helps useful question to

be asked during questionaries

Random sampling Quota sampling stratified sampling

Gives each member of Population divided into Random

the group and equal
chance to be chosen
groups that share Sample is divided into
characteristics segments based on the
knowledge of how
population is divided
However, results from this
method are not statically
representative of the
population and are not
chosen randomly
Using database for market research :
Collecting names, age, address, and occupation