MARKETING RESEARCH

DYNAMICS
MODULE 1

Prepared by Dr.Lakshmi.H
 MBA – III SEMESTER
MARKETING SPECIALIZATION
Module-1 Marketing Research Dynamics
Meaning of Marketing research; when marketing research is unnecessary; Nature and Scope of
Marketing Research; Marketing Research in the 21st Century (Indian Scenario); limitations of
Marketing Research; threats to marketing research; Introduction to marketing intelligence: concept
of marketing intelligence (MI), components, need for MI, Domains of MI. Ethics in marketing
research. Design of consumer experiments using Conjoint Analysis. Case Study on Marketing
Research Dynamics
Practical Component: Comprehend the objectives of Market research & its application in solving
marketing problems
Subject Faculty Name: Dr. Lakshmi.H
Designation: Assistant Professor Email Id: lakshmih_mba@sirmvit.edu
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 MEANING OF RESEARCH

• Naresh K Malhotra pg 6
• In a common term, Research refers to a search for knowledge.
• Research can be defined as a scientific and systematic search for relevant information on
a specific topic.

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 DEFINITION OF MARKETING RESEARCH
• The American Marketing Association defines marketing research as follows:
• Marketing research is a key element within the total field of marketing information.
• It links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information which is
used to identify and define
• marketing opportunities and problems;
• to generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions;
• and to improve understanding of marketing as a process and
• of the ways in which specific marketing activities can be made more effective.

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 IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING RESEARCH
• The role of Marketing research in several areas, whether related to product, pricing, promotion or
distribution, has greatly increased in modern times.
• Marketing Research provides:
• the basis for understanding the Demand & Supply factors.
• the basis for nearly all government policies pertaining to the marketing functionalities.
• It has its special significance in identifying the specific marketing problem.
• It plays a vital role in understanding the changes in Business Trends.

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 Identifying problem and opportunities in the market:
New market opportunities for existing and new products.
Information on market share, nature of competition, customer
satisfaction levels, sales performances and channel of
distribution.
Helps the firms is solving problems
When Marketing
Research is
necessary
Determining consumer needs and wants:
Marketing has become customer-centric. But large-scale
production needs intermediaries for mass distribution.
prevalence of multi channels of distribution- there is an
information gap.
Marketing research helps in collecting information on
consumers from structured distribution research and helps in
making marketing customer oriented
Formulating market strategies:
Markets are no more local. They have become global.
Manufactures find it difficult to contact customers and control
distribution channels. Competition is equally severe.
The consumer needs are difficult to predict.
Market segmentation is a complicated task in such wide markets.
The marketing intelligence provided through marketing research not
only helps in framing but also in implementing the market strategies.
For effective communication mix:
Communication plays a vital role for mass and micro
marketing.
Marketing research uses promotional research to study
media mix, advertising effectiveness and integrated
communication tools.
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Research on such aspects will help in promoting
effectively a company’s product in the market
 Improving selling activities:
Marketing research is used to analyze
and evaluate performances of a
company within a market.
It also studies effectiveness of a sales
force. It helps in identifying sales
territories.
Such information helps the companies
in identifying areas of shortcoming in
sales.
It also examines alternative methods
for distribution of goods.
For sales forecasting:
Scientific forecast of sales is
required.
Marketing research helps in sales
forecasting by using market share
method, sales force estimate
method and jury method.
This can also help in fixing sales
quotas and marketing plans.
To revitalize brands:
Marketing research is used to study
and find out the existing brand
position.
It finds out the recall value of brands
and explores the possibilities of brand
extension or prospects of changing
existing brand names.
The main purpose of marketing is to
create brand loyalty.
Marketing research helps in developing
techniques to popularize and retain
brand loyalty.
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 To facilitate smooth introduction
of new products:
Marketing research helps in testing
the new products in one or two
markets on a small scale.
This helps in finding out consumer
response to new product and
develop a suitable marketing mix.
It reveals the problems of the
customers regarding new products.
Thus, it controls the risk involved in
introducing a new product.
Determine export potentials:
The development in transport and
communication has helped in
globalization and digitalization of world
trade.
This has helped in boosting the growth
of international markets.
Marketing research helps in conducting
market survey for export.
It. collects information on marketing
environment prevailing in a country.
By collecting data on consumers from
different countries, it indicates export
potentials.
Managerial decision-making:
Marketing research plays a vital role
in the decision-making processes by
supplying relevant, up-to-date and
accurate data to the decision-
makers.
Managers need up-to-date
information to access customer
needs and wants, market situation,
technological change and extent of
competition
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 NATURE OF MARKETING RESEARCH
1. Systematic process: - Marketing Research is a systematic process to identify and to
solve problems. The process of marketing research involves the following
steps: 1. Identify the marketing problems. 2. Create the research design. 3. Collection
of data through primary and secondary sources. 4. Processing of data. 5. Analysis of
data. 6. Implementation of data. 7. Finally, review or follow up of action taken.

2. Wide range of problems: Marketing Research attempts to solve problems in a wide

range of areas. The problem relates to various areas of marketing such as:
Product Research, Promotion Research, Pricing Research, Place Research

3.Continuous in Nature: Marketing research is continuous in nature. As long as the

firm exists, there is a need for marketing research; to overcome certain marketing
problems arise during existence of the firm

4.Applied Research: Marketing Research is conducted to solve specific problems of 9

commercial importance
 5.Bridges Company-customer Gap:
Marketing Research bridges the gap
between the producers and the
consumers.
The company comes to know more
about its consumers-their likes and
dislikes, tastes, preferences and buying
patterns
7. Marketing mix decisions:
It provides necessary information to
arrive at appropriate solutions to
marketing problems.
Effective marketing mix like packaging,
pricing, promotion, distribution enables
the firm to achieve marketing objectives.
6.Company Objectives:
marketing research helps the company is
a position to achieve its objectives.
It enables a firm to solve marketing
problems helping the company to
achieve its objectives in a profitable
manner.
8.Various data collection methods:
Marketing research data can be
conducted with the help of various
methods such as;
Survey/interview method
Observation Method
Experimentation method. (R&D, product
trials). 10
9.Certain Limitations: time and money
 SCOPE OF MARKETING RESEARCH
1. Research on Products:
Study of products’ qualities and
performance
Study of physical and psychological
characteristics of product
Determining uses of the existing
products
Comparative study of competitive
products
Detecting consumers’ problems related
to the products
Determining need for developing new
products
Assessing success of a new product in
market, including market testing
Product life cycle and consumer
adoption study
Study of branding, packaging, labeling,
after-sales services, and remarking
3. Research on Business
2. Research on Market
Corporate Responsibility
Defining and selecting target market
Studying needs and wants of target market
Study of size and location of current market
Assessing the current market trends and
projecting the future trend
Analysis of territorial sales
opportunities and potential
Setting sales territories and sales
quotas
Market share analysis
Studies on relative profitability of
different markets
Estimating demand of a new product
Environment and
Business analysis including demand,
national income, per capita income,
trade and industry, economic growth
rate, fiscal monetary policies, and
export-import policy.
Study on consumerism and the
consumer rights.
Impacts of legal provisions and Acts.
Social and cultural values affecting
business policy.
Pollution and ecological imbalance,
and social responsibility of business.
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Research on Sales Methods and Policies
Study and analysis of sales records
Analysis of sales territories in terms of
products, size of orders, times, terms and
conditions and methods
Study on effectiveness of salesmen
Evaluating existing selling methods
Sales force management including size,
compensation, training, control, etc.
effect of various promotional tools such as
advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion, and publicity tools on sales
organisation structure of sales department
Research on Pricing
Pricing objectives
Effectiveness of pricing policies and
strategies
Various methods for setting price
Quality V/S value analysis
New product and pricing policies
Effect of discount, allowance, and
seasonal variables
Pricing strategies on different stages of
product life cycle
Research on Advertising
Comparative study of various elements of
promotion
advertising objectives, media and media
selection, advertising message, theme, copy,
and advertising agency
Social aspects of advertising – negative and
positive effects of advertising on society at
large
Advertising role in different stages of product
life cycle
Government role on advertising
Study on costs and contribution of advertising
or evaluating advertising effectiveness
Study of competitors’ advertising practices and
strategy
Research on Distribution
Comparative study of between direct and
indirect distribution
Physical distribution and ancillary services
Study on various types of channels of
distribution
Study on relevant factors affecting channel
decision/selection
Comparing company’s distribution
strategies with competitors
Relevance of online marketing
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Legal issues related to distributions
CLASSIFICATION OF MARKETING RESEARCH
Marketing Research
Problem Identification
Research
•Marketing Potential Research
• Market Share Research
• Image Research
• Market Characteristics Research
• Sales Analysis Research
• Forecasting Research
• Business Trends Research
Problem Solving
Research
•Marketing Potential Research
• Segmentation Research
• Product Research
• Pricing Research
• Promotion Research
• Distribution Research
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• Problem identification research:
• Research that is undertaken to identify
problems that are necessarily not apparent
on the surface and yet exist or likely to
arise in future
• Eg: declining market potential indicates
firms are likely to have problems in
achieving the growth targets
• Problem solving research:
• Research undertaken to solve specific
marketing problems
• Eg: Market Research can help a company
to segment the market and design
advertisements to attract those specific
groups of customers
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Own v/s Agency Marketing Research

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 TOP 5 MARKET RESEARCH AGENCIES IN INDIA

1. IMRB International 4. Majestic MRSS

Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra- Corporate office – Mumbai, Maharashtra
Established – 1970 Established – 1992

2. TNS India pvt Ltd. 5. Market Xcel Data Matrix Pvt. Ltd.
Corporate office – London, England, UK, Corporate office – New Delhi, India
Established – 1997 Establishment – 2000

3. RNB Research
Corporate office – New Delhi, India-
Established – 1995

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• In case of marketing research, it is not necessary to handle in in-house all the time. It could be
easily out-sourced. There are many reasons for this.
• First, it is an intermittent activity, based on an identified information gap or information need.
• Second, a large number of professional research firms are available to do the needful. They have
branches all over the country ( in case of India) and some have global associates if research
needs to go beyond Indian boundaries.
• Some of these firms specialize in consumer research, some in industrial research, some in
qualitative research and some in quality of service audits.
• ORG, a major Indian research firm (it is now A.C. Nielsen ORG MARG, after a merger between the
two companies) is a specialist in retail audits.
• it is usually economical for most companies to get their marketing research done from one of the
many research firms – IMRB, ORG – MARG, TN Sofres MODE, Gallup-MBA being some of the
prominent ones.
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• But in certain large consumer goods companies which have multiple brands, it may be w0rth
while having an in-house department consisting of a few qualified researchers.
• Other reasons for doing research through in-house staff could be to protect confidential
information such as new product designs or pricing.
• But it is generally not viable to do marketing research internally alone, as the cost of hiring and
retaining qualified staff may be high,
• Conclusion: There could be a mix of internal and out-sourced research.

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 MARKETING RESEARCH IN THE 21ST CENTURY
INDIAN SCENARIO
1. Emergence of Big Data:
• Companies and customers are producing
large amounts of data from various
touchpoints.
• On the customer side data is captured
through heavily promoted omnichannel
experiences.
• Eg: Amazon’s prime membership and
associated sales and shipping relationships,
• FedEx’s use of blockchain methodology for
managing customer dispute data and as an
efficient method for tracking packages
2. Transformative Marketing
• As the amount, type (structured and
unstructured), and complexity of data
changes, so do the methods of research
necessary to support these developments.).
• Examples of drivers of data creation include
evolving customer purchase behavior, the
internet of things, digital wearables, the rise
of artificial intelligence, enhanced supply
chain technology, and the ability to embed
analytics into sales, distribution, and
production systems
• 95 million photos and videos are shared on
Instagram per day. 19
3. Predictive Analytics
• Advanced technology combined with
complex algorithms facilitates predictive
analytics approaches.
• It applies modeling tools to data to predict
future market developments and trends.
• Predictive analytics has two categories:
regression techniques and machine
learning techniques , both of which are
increasingly core elements of marketing
research programs.
• While predictive analytics typically requires
some level of human intervention, there is
often flexibility in the level of involvement
(e.g., selecting target variables, developing
theoretically derived models, permitting the
data to tell a story).
4. Prescriptive Analytics
• Prescriptive analytics is an advanced level of
analytics that examines what should be done or what
can be done to make something happen.
• Prescriptive analytics enables marketing
researchers to determine optimal behaviors and
evaluate the eventual business impact
5. Communication Technologies :
• Mobile phones, computers, data availability and
usage
• Covid 19
• Easy availability of data on internet
6. Global Marketing Research:
• Companies that conduct business in foreign
countries must understand the nature of those
particular markets and judge whether they require
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customized marketing strategies.
 LIMITATIONS OF MARKETING RESEARCH
1. Effect of extraneous factors
2. Time gap makes research irrelevant
3. Cost consideration
4. Problem of rapid change
5. Problem of trust and accuracy
6. It is not problem solving technique but an aid to solve the problem
7. Subjective or biased result
8. It cannot eliminate risks inherent in decision-making
9. Applicability or use
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10. Difference between filed officers, data analysts, and decision- makers
 THREATS TO MARKETING RESEARCH
• More ways of answering questions of big data
• Being replaced by AI(along with automation, data mining etc.,)
• MR not being able to keep with the changes required.
• Budget cuts.
• Decline in standards, reducing quality of the product, driven by cost and speed concerns, and
lack of knowledge and training.
• Lack of training and talent in MR.
• Rapid chasing of the new, expense of the quality of the old.
• Reduced pool of people willing to take part in MR.
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 MARKETING INTELLIGENCE V KUMAR PG 3

• Definition:
• Market intelligence (MI) is “the process of acquiring and analyzing information in order to
understand the market (both existing and potential customers); to determine the current and
future needs and preferences, attitudes and behavior of the market; and to assess changes in
the business environment that may affect the size and nature of the market in future.”

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 COMPONENTS OF MI
• Marketing intelligence primarily focuses on creation and management of profitable long-term
relationships with customers with an emphasis on the use of information and communication
technologies in researching, selecting, entering, and competing in global markets.
• Various components of marketing intelligence can be included under two main areas—
1. Marketing Research and
2. Customer Relationship Marketing/Database Marketing.

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 NEED FOR MARKETING INTELLIGENCE
• Producers have little direct contact with consumers (geographical distance and channel
layers).
• Channels have little knowledge about customer attitudes, preference, and changing tastes.
• Need to understand competition without spying on them.
• Management goals involve sales targets and market share achievement.
• Need to identify successful new product developments early in the process to ensure growth
and revenue maximization by finding a balance between costs and prices of products.
• The future is uncertain, yet, businesses do need to anticipate the future. The need is to look at
least up to 5–10 years in advance.
• Pharmaceutical companies do it on a regular basis because they have to plan for what happens
when a particular patent expires. 26
 DOMAINS OF MARKETING INTELLIGENCE
1. Product decisions:
• Marketing intelligence helps in making decisions
on investing in new products and also in
optimizing product specifications or offering to
target customer groups.
2. Customer segmentation decisions:
• Marketing intelligence gives an opportunity for
companies to study the impact of advertisements
— before and after advertisements.
• Based on research and audience composition,
marketing intelligence gives companies the
flexibility to choose advertising media and 27

selection of target segments.

3. Brand and pricing decisions:
• Marketing intelligence helps decision makers in
building brand equity and consciousness among the
targeted customer segments.
• Gathering marketing intelligence also helps capture
popular perceptions and changing trends, tastes, and
lifestyle
4. Keeping stakeholders happy
• Understanding stakeholder needs and responding to
them keeps all stakeholders—customers, channels, and
suppliers—satisfied. A satisfied customer is a
profitable customer.

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5. Market estimation, competitive benchmarking, and distribution:
• Marketing intelligence also helps in quantitative analysis of market forces—
estimating size of the market, quantitative and behavioral analysis of the market, and
forecasting future trends/needs.
• Marketing intelligence also helps in market share analyses.
• Domains of marketing intelligence application appear vast and include identifying
marketing opportunities to build profitable businesses; developing and using
marketing intelligence; designing the marketing mix; acquiring and retaining
customers; and planning, organizing, evaluating, and controlling market performance.
• Gathering of marketing intelligence helps companies to grasp and outperform
consumer value migration and hence to make more money by adding more value to
existing brands.
• Outcome is simply more consumer oriented businesses 29
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 ETHICS IN MARKETING RESEARCH
• Ethics refers to moral principles or
values that generally govern the
conduct of an individual or group.
• Researchers have responsibilities to
their profession, clients, and
respondents, and must adhere to high
ethical standards to ensure that both
the function and the information are not
brought into disrepute.

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 The Code of Professional Ethics and Practices
1. To maintain high standards of competence and integrity in marketing and survey
research.
2. To maintain the highest level of business and professional conduct and to comply
with Federal, State and local laws, regulations and ordinances applicable to my
business practice and those of my company.
3. To exercise all reasonable care and to observe the best standards of objectivity
and accuracy in the development, collection, processing and reporting of
marketing and survey research information.
4. To protect the anonymity of respondents and hold all information concerning an
individual respondent privileged, such that this information is used only within the
context of the particular study.
5. To thoroughly instruct and supervise all persons for whose work I am responsible
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in accordance with study specifications and general research techniques.

6. To observe the rights of ownership of all materials received from and/or developed
for clients, and to keep in confidence all research techniques, data and other
information considered confidential by their owners.
7. To make available to clients such details on the research methods and techniques of
an assignment as may be reasonably required for proper interpretation of the data,
providing this reporting does not violate the confidence of respondents or clients.
8. To promote the trust of the public for marketing and survey research activities and to
avoid any procedure which misrepresents the activities of a respondent, the rewards
of cooperation or the uses of data.
9. To refrain from referring to membership in this organization as proof of competence,
since the organization does not so certify any person or organization.
10. To encourage the observance of principles of this code among all people engaged
in marketing and survey research 33
 CONJOINT ANALYSIS
• Conjoint analysis is a popular method of product and pricing research that
uncovers consumers' preferences and uses that information to help select
product features, assess sensitivity to price, forecast market shares, and
predict adoption of new products or services.
• Conjoint analysis is frequently used across different industries for all types of
products, such as consumer goods, electrical goods, life insurance plans,
retirement housing, luxury goods, and air travel.
• It is applicable in various instances that centre around discovering what type
of product consumers are likely to buy and what consumers value the most
(and least) about a product
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 HOW DOES CONJOINT ANALYSIS WORK?
• Conjoint analysis works by breaking a product or service down into its
components (referred to as attributes and levels) and then testing different
combinations of these components to identify consumer preferences.

• For example, consider a conjoint study on smartphones.

• The smartphone is sorted into four attributes which are further broken down
into different variations to create levels:

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• Conjoint analysis employs a more realistic approach:
• Asking each respondent to choose between potential product concepts (or
alternatives) formed through the combination of attributes and levels.
• These combinations are carefully assembled into choice sets (or questions).
Each respondent is usually presented with 8 to 12 questions.
• The process of assembling attributes and levels into product concepts and then
into choice sets is called experimental design and requires extensive statistical
and mathematical analysis

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 STEPS IN CONJOINT ANALYSIS
Choose the product
attributes (Eg: Size, • Step 1
Color, model)

Choose the values or • Step 2

options for attributes

Define products as a
combination of • Step 3
attribute options

A value of relative
utility is assigned to • Step 4
each level of an
attribute called
pathworth utilities

The combination of • Step 5

highest utilities should
be the one that is most
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preferred
 EXAMPLES OF CONJOINT ANALYSIS
• Eg: 1 Consider two smartphones • Eg: 2 Diners picking a restaurant.

• Silver grey color - instant delivery, • Restaurant A - offers excellent food, budget-
friendly, but has poor service.
• Rose gold color - a week for delivery.
• Restaurant B has meager-tasting food, expensive,
• When you put forth the two options to your
but has excellent service.
customers, their choice will reveal a lot about
their preference. • With conjoint analysis, the options picked by
diners will help restaurant owners to know the
• People who pick silver grey value delivery
factors which patrons give preference to.
time more while the customers who choose rose
gold value the color more. • This will help them to design the restaurant
properly, find suitable locations and fix the
• This is a simple example that compares two
appropriate price.
attributes of a product- the color and delivery
time.

• Conjoint analysis can take up multiple attributes, builds various permutations & combinations of a product,
and presents it as choices to the audience. 39

• The responses are then analyzed, and insights are drawn.