An Assignment On

Consumer Research is an Applied Research

Submitted By

Subham Gupta

Second Semester

Nepal Business College

Author Note

This assignment was prepared for Consumer Behaviour, MBA (CBH501)

Department of Management, taught by Mrs. Sima Karn.
Acknowledgement
I’m grateful towards the Nepal Business College who involve students to present their views
in the assignment. First of all I want to thank our Founder Chairman Dr. Bhesha Prasad
Dhamala sir and all the management team whose inspiration and opportunities has help us
to prepare this assignment. Also I am thankful to all the faculty members.

I would also like to thanks to our supervisor Mrs Sima Karn sir who has inspired us and
helped us to prepare this assignment. He has also encouraged us for the preparation of this
assignment. So once again I want to thanks our honorable sir.

I am grateful towards my parents who helped me in each and every sector for the
preparation of this assignment despite their busy schedules. I would also like to thanks my
friends who have supported me a lot in making this assignment.

I haven’t prepared this assignment just for getting good marks but also have prepared this
assignment for gaining more knowledge. Lastly, I would like to thank all those who have
helped me in preparing this assignment.

With Regards

Subham Gupta
 Contents
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………ii

Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………..……….4

Chapter 2: Conceptual Analysis…………………………………………..…5-8

2.1 Applied Research……………………………………………………………………………..5

2.2 Consumer research is an "applied research"………………………..……..…..5

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………9

Bibliography………………………………………………………..…………...……10

Chapter 1: Introduction
Consumer research is the practice of identifying the preferences, attitudes, motivations, and
buying behaviour of the targeted customer. Using a variety of customer research methods
to gather this information, shared traits among the different customer groups are identified
and categorized into customer segments and buyer personas, which are then used to create
marketing campaigns targeting a specific segment

Consumer research, sometimes known as market research, is a valuable business tool that
can help you understand your customers and what makes them tick. Looking at the driving
forces behind customer behaviour, consumer psychology and purchase patterns, it uses
research techniques to provide objective information that you can use to craft products,
marketing programs and advertising campaigns that increase sales and profitability.
Customer research is conducted so as to identify customer segments, needs, and behaviors.
It can be carried out as part of market research, user research, or design research. Even so,
it always focuses on researching current or potential customers of a specific brand or
product in order to identify unmet customer needs and/or opportunities for business
growth.

CR is part of market research in which the preferences, motivations, and buying behavior of
the targeted consumers are identified through different methodologies & tools. Specifically,
CR is an applied research that proceeds with a certain consumer related problem &
specifies alternative solutions & possible outcomes of each alternative solutions. Such as
understanding the preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers in a market based
economy, determining consumer characteristics, measurement of market potential,
consumer motivation etc. The CR focuses more on the data collection on consumer, building
& strengthening relationship between consumer and the company. The Importance of CR
are:

 Helps marketers to predict consumer reaction to promotional massages & purchase

decision.
 Helps in formulating marketing strategies, analyzing marketing mix – 4 Ps & taking
marketing decisions.
 Offers a set of diverse methods & techniques to identify consumer’s need in effective
manner.
 Provides basis for new product development & service concept to meet target
consumer needs.

Chapter 2: Conceptual Analysis

2.1 Applied Research
Applied Marketing Research, Inc. is the place to come for information and actionable results
that will insure customer satisfaction and help your business succeed. A full-service market
research firm, Applied was established in 1993. Applier’s staff excels in the process of global
marketing research and customer marketing. Applied researchers respond quickly to client
needs for information and are totally committed to high quality research and systems.
Combined with practical hands-on experience in marketing and sales management, Applied
offers a unique blend of theoretical and real-world expertise.

Applied research “aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society, or
an industrial/business organization. Applied research is considered to be non-systematic
inquiry and it is usually launched by a company, agency or an individual in order to address a
specific problem.

Examples of Applied Research

The following are examples for applied research.

 A study into the ways of improving the levels of customer retention for Wall-Mart in
China
 An investigation into the ways of improving employee motivation in Marriot Hotel,
Hyde Park
 Development of strategies to introduce change in Starbucks global supply-chain
management with the view on cost reduction
 A study into the ways of fostering creative deviance amongst employees without
compromising respect for authority.

2.2 Consumer research is an "applied research"

Applied research is a methodology used to solve a specific, practical issue affecting an
individual or group. This scientific method of study and research is used in business, medicine,
and education in order to find solutions that may improve health, solve scientific problems
or develop new technology. Applied research refers to scientific study and research that
seeks to solve practical problems. Applied research is used to find solutions to everyday
problems, cure illness, and develop innovative technologies . It uses research techniques to
provide systematic information about what customers need. Using this information brands
can make changes in their products and services, making them more customer-centric
thereby increasing customer satisfaction. This will in turn help to boost business. Here is
where consumer research plays a pivotal role. Following points summarizes the importance
of consumer research in marketing research:

 To understand market readiness: However good a product or service may be,

consumers have to be ready to accept it. Creating a product requires investments
which in return expect ROI from product or service purchases. However, if a market
is mature enough to accept this utility; it has a low chance of succeeding by tapping
 into market potential. Therefore, before launching a product or service,
organizations need to conduct consumer research, to understand if people are ready
to spend on the utility it provides.
 Identify target consumers: By conducting consumer research, brands and
organizations can understand their target market based on geographic segmentation
and know who exactly is interested in buying their products. According to the data or
feedback received from the consumer, research brands can even customize their
marketing and branding approach to better appeal to the specific consumer
segment.
 Product/Service updates through feedback: Conducting consumer research,
provides valuable feedback from consumers about the attributes and features of
products and services. This feedback enables organizations to understand consumer
perception and provide a more suitable solution based on actual market needs
which helps them tweak their offering to perfection.

CR is an applied research that proceeds with a certain consumer related problem &
specifies alternative solutions & possible outcomes of each alternative solutions. Such as
understanding the preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers in a market based
economy, determining consumer, characteristics, measurement of market potential,
consumer motivation etc. The field of consumer marketing research as a statistical science
was pioneered by Arthur Nielsen with founding of the A.C Neilson company in 1923. The CR
focuses more on the data collection on consumer, building & strengthening relationship
between consumer and the company.

Characteristic of a CR

 Scientific method- applying all the steps & principles of scientific research.
 Research creativity- innovative ways of solving consumer related problem.
 Multiple methods- various methods for gathering information & solving problem.
 Value & cost of information- comparing value of research with the cost involved in it
i.e. choosing the in budget design, method, data collection tool & so on.
 Ethical marketing- benefiting both the company as well as the consumers.

Consumer market research is based on two types of applied research method:

 Quantitative research and

 Qualitative research

Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is all about numbers and statistics. Online surveys, questionnaires, and
polls are the preferred data collection tools. Data that is obtained from consumers is then
statistically, mathematically and numerically evaluated to understand consumer preference.

 It is descriptive in nature
 It consists of experiments, surveys techniques, and observations.
 The findings are empirical and if collected randomly this can be generalized to large
populations
 The data are quantitative, they lend to sophisticated statistical analysis.

Designs used in Quantitative Research:

• Data collection methods

• Data collection instruments
• Sampling

 Data collection methods: Three methods are used-

a) Observation Research- in this method the people or customers are observed when
they are purchasing the product or using the product. Mechanical observation Uses a
mechanical or electronic device to record customer behavior or responses to a
particular marketing stimulus.

b) Experimentation- It is possible to test the relative sales appeal of many types of

variables, such as package designs, prices promotional offers, or copy themes
through experiments designed to identify cause and effect.

c) Surveys- collecting data by questioning people in personal, by mail or by telephone

about their purchase preferences & their likings.

 Data collection instruments-The primary instrument is Questionnaire. Other

type of instruments are inventories & attitude scales such as Likert scales,
Semantic differential scales & Rank order scales.

 Sampling- consists of sampling units (whom to survey), sample size (how

many to survey), sampling procedures ( how to select them) There are
various survey methods -personal interview survey, telephone survey, mail
surveys, online surveys.

Qualitative research
Qualitative research is descriptive in nature; it’s a method that uses open-ended questions, to gain
meaningful insights from respondents and heavily relies . These techniques are regularly used the
early stages of attitude research to pinpoint relevant product related beliefs and to develop an initial
picture of consumer attitude.
  Focus Groups: Focus groups as the name suggests is a small group of highly validated
subject experts who come together to analyze a product or service. Focus group
comprises of 6-10 respondents. A moderator is assigned to the focus group, which
helps facilitate discussions among the members to draw meaningful insights

 One-to-one Interview: This is a more conversational method, where the researcher

asks open-ended questions to collect data from the respondents. This method
heavily depends on the expertise of the researcher. How much the researcher is able
to probe with relevant questions to get maximum insights? This is a time-consuming
method and can take more than one attempt to gain the desired insights.

 Projective techniques: Consists of disguised test such as incomplete sentences. Untitled

pictures, word association tests etc. which are designed to see the underlying motive of
consumer rather than their shown behavior.

Marketers often use a combination of quantitative and qualitative research to help make strategic
marketing decisions. They use qualitative research findings to discover new ideas and to develop
promotional strategy, and quantitative research findings to predict consumer reactions to various
promotional inputs. The combined findings enable marketers to design more meaningful and
effective marketing strategies

Conclusion
Consumer marketing research is a form of applied sociology that concentrates on
understanding the preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers in a market-based
economy, and it aims to understand the effects and comparative success of marketing
campaigns. Consumer is market research in which the preferences, motivations, and buying
behavior of the targeted customer are identified through direct observation, mail surveys,
telephone or face to face interviews, and from published sources. Consumer research is
conducted to improve brand equity. A brand needs to know what consumers think when
buying a product or service offered by a brand. Every good business idea needs efficient
consumer research for it to be successful. Consumer insights are essential to determine
brand positioning among consumers. Consumer research is conducted to boost sales. The
objective of consumer research is to look into various territories of consumer psychology
and understand their buying pattern, what kind of packaging they like and other similar
attributes that help brands to sell their products and services better. Consumer research is
the foundation of many marketing departments. The information it provides gives you
feedback on products, marketing campaigns and future products or services, for example.
Marketing executives rely on the results of timely and effective consumer research to
make both day-to-day and long-term strategy decisions. The results of consumer research
also help to determine the most effective use of advertising and marketing dollars in a
budget.

Bibliography
https://research-methodology.net/research-methodology/research-types/applied-research/

https://www.lightercapital.com/blog/what-is-consumer-research-why-is-it-important/

https://bizfluent.com/about-5057780-consumer-research.html