S.S.

D Women’s Institution of Technology

Subject – Marketing Research

Topic: Questions on Marketing Research

Submitted to: Dr. Shaveta Submitted by: Jenia

(Asst. Prof. in Mgmt.) Class: M.B.A. Flagship
Roll no: 2
Ques. Explain the Nature, Scope, objectives and Concept of
Marketing Research.
Ans. Marketing Research is defined as the systematic design,
collection, analysis and reporting of data and findings that are
relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the organisation.
Larger companies like Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble have
their own marketing research departments, while small companies
can hire the service of a marketing research firm like 1MRB and
others.
According to American Marketing Association, “Marketing Research
is the function that links the consumer, customer and public to the
marketer through information-information used to identify and
define marketing opportunities and problems, generate, refine and
evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and
improve understanding of marketing as a process.”
Marketing Research is systematic problem analysis, model building
and fact finding for the purpose of important decision making and
control in the marketing of goods and services.
Marketing Research is a well-planned, systematic process which
implies that it needs planning at all the stages. It uses scientific
method. It is an objective process as it attempts to provide accurate
authentic information.

Nature of Marketing Research:

Following are points which explains Nature of Marketing research:
1) Function of Marketing.
A market consists of many components like Customers, Suppliers,
Competitors, Distributors etc. Marketing research collects data about
all these components and interprets them which help managers in
effective decision making. Which leads to achieve Marketing
objectives. So, Marketing research is a vital function of Marketing.
2) Interdisciplinary Concept.
Marketing research involves collection of data from different
disciplines like Psychology (consumers perception, behaviour etc.),
Sociology (Consumer's income, culture, society etc.), Economics
(Demand, Supply, competition, economy etc.).
It also uses Statistical & Mathematical techniques to analyze Market
data. Therefore, Marketing research is an Interdisciplinary concept.
3) Vital for new product development.
Marketing research helps management to keep an eye on
consumer's needs & wants. These valuable information aids
management to develop new products according to the need.
Therefore, for new product development, Marketing research is vital.
4) Market orientation.
Marketing research is also very important for market orientation.
When we launch any new product in the marker, it is called market
orientation. For that, Marketing research provides valuable
information like consumer perception, supply system in market,
competitors data etc. 
5) Continuous process.
Today's business environment has a feature that it changes rapidly.
Consumer thinking, style, perception, wants, technologies are
changing and marketers need to be quick in observing the change
and evolving their business. 
Regular Marketing research helps management to know about the
changes and to make strategies to cope up with those changes. So,
it's a Continuous process.
6) Integrated effort.
For fulfilling the objectives of Marketing research, there has to be
integrated efforts from the organization. To decide the research
problem, sample design, types of information required, contribution
from all departments is required.
7) Systems approach.
Each activity in Marketing research like Data gathering, organising,
interpretation, analysis is performed by some experts in those areas.
Therefore, it constitutes systems approach.

Objectives of Marketing research

1) Identify new markets.
Marketing research helps marketers to find new markets. Through
Marketing research, management get to know about consumers,
their unfulfilled needs & wants, which leads to new creative ideas. 
2) Hold market share.
This is another vital objective of Marketing research. When company
will continuously monitor customer's perception, expectations,
attitude then they will be able to cope up with the changes. This will
hold the market share because customers will get value from the
company continuously.
3) To decrease overall cost.
Marketing research helps the company to estimate the cost, where
to focus, ways to reduce wastages. All these information will aid
management to decrease overall marketing cost of organization.
4) Future sales estimation.
Companies can also conduct Marketing research to analyse the
product performance, product demand, feasibility of product,
customers satisfaction, competition in that industry. This can help to
anticipate the future demand & sale of product, which will lead to
better budgeting, production strategies, performance etc.
5) Study self-strengths and weaknesses. (Internal environment
analysis).
Marketing research provides analysed data about market
requirements, product performance, customer perception, market
positioning, customer expectations. According to this data,
companies can analyse self-strengths and weaknesses. Marketing
research also helps to find solutions of weaknesses.
6) External environment analysis
Just like self-strengths and weaknesses, Marketing research also aids
in analysing external opportunities and threats. Companies can make
strategies to utilize those opportunities and to counter all kind of
threats in the external environment.
7) To make price policy.
Marketing research provides information about customer attitude,
price elasticity, price prevailing, economic conditions in the market,
laws of government etc. Data about customer background, culture,
income level, standard of living, are necessary for effective pricing
policy.
8) To have competitive advantage.
Marketing research helps organization to find new markets, hold
market share, to reduce cost, to anticipate future demand, to
analyse internal and external environment. All these benefits of
Marketing research led to better performance than competitors,
which is a competitive advantage to the company.
9) To improve quality.
If company gets competitive advantage with the help of Marketing
research, that doesn't mean to sit down and enjoy. Companies have
kept an eye on environmental changes, technological changes and
improve themselves according to the situation.

 Scope of Marketing Research:

The scope of marketing research stretches from the identification of
consumer wants and needs to the evaluation of consumer
satisfaction. It comprises of research relating to consumers,
products, sales, distribution, advertising, pricing and sales
forecasting.
A clear view of the scope marketing research may be obtained by
the following classification of marketing research activity.
The whole approach of marketing pivots around the tenet of meeting
the consumer wants. It is essential to understand what the consumer
wants, how he/she perceives the product (service), what exactly
(ideally) does he/she wants to derive out of the product (service),
how does he/she make the brand choice decision, what are the
sources of information and influence processes, etc.
In order to take decisions any marketer would constantly monitor
such information and obtain continuous feedback of the trends in
the market. As such, marketing research is an effective tool for
measuring the consumers’ aspirations, trade channel behaviour,
competitive actions etc.
It provides a linkage between the corporate environment and the
marketing organization. Marketing research, thus, may be viewed as
an important tool used as an aid for tackling problems in marketing.

Ques. Explain the primary and secondary sources of information

used for marketing research.
Ans. There are more data sources than ever. Just googling a search
term may not be sufficient, as the googled data may be inaccurate
and/or biased. You want to avoid making important business
decisions based on unreliable data. So which data sources should you
use?
We’re here to help you navigate them all. Read on for a quick
breakdown of secondary and primary data and tips for finding
valuable insights for your market research needs.
At the highest level, market research data can be categorized into
secondary and primary types.
What Is Secondary Data?
Secondary data is public information that has been collected by
others. It is typically free or inexpensive to obtain and can act as a
strong foundation to any research project — provided you know
where to find it and how to judge its worth and relevance.
Secondary Data Examples
Sources of secondary data include (but are not limited to):
Government statistics are widely available and easily accessed
online, and can provide insights related to product shipments, trade
activity, business formation, patents, pricing and economic trends,
among other topics. However, data is often not presented explicitly
for the subject you are interested in, so it can take some
manipulation and cross-checking of the data to get it as narrowly
focused as you’d like.
Industry associations typically have websites full of useful
information — an overview of the industry and its history, a list of
participating companies, press releases about product and company
news, technical resources, and reports about industry trends. Some
information may be accessible to members only (such as member
directories or market research), but industry associations are a great
place to look when starting to learn about a new industry or when
looking for information an industry insider would have.
Trade publications, such as periodicals and news articles, most of
which make their content available online, are an excellent source of
in-depth product, industry and competitor data related to specific
industries. Oftentimes, news articles include insights obtained
directly from executives at leading companies about new
technologies, industry trends and future plans.
Company websites can be virtual goldmines of information. Public
companies will have investor relations sections full of annual reports,
regulatory findings and investor presentations that can provide
insights into both the individual company’s performance and that of
the industry at large. Public and private companies’ websites will
typically provide detail around product offerings, industries served,
geographic presence, organizational structure, sales methods
(distribution or direct), customer relationships and innovations.
Published market research reports are another possible resource, as
anyone who’s ever googled the name of the industry they’re
interested in and “market research” can tell you. For a fee, they can
provide a great overview of an industry, including quantitative data
you might not find elsewhere related to market size, growth rates
and industry participant market share. The downside is that you
might not be interested in an overview — you might be interested in
a niche, and that niche is only discussed on three of the report’s 300
pages. 
With all these sources of secondary data, you should be all set, right?
Well, maybe not. If you are interested in a niche product or a new
technology, there may not be a lot out there in the public sphere.
The most current information you can find might be a few years old.
You might not be sure if the material you found online reflects an
accurate portrayal of the whole industry. You might be asking a
question no one’s ever asked before, let alone answered. Now what?
What Is Primary Data?
Now it’s time for primary data, new information collected specifically
for your purposes, directly from people in the know. Methods of
primary data collection vary based upon the goals of the research, as
well as the type and depth of information being sought.
Primary Data Examples
In-depth interviews present the opportunity to gather detailed
insights from leading industry participants about their business,
competitors and the greater industry. When you approach a
company contact from a position of knowledge — thanks to all that
secondary data you’ve already collected — you can have a free-
flowing conversation about the topics of interest. You can guide the
conversation toward your research objectives, but also allow yourself
to be led down unexpected paths by interviewees — some of the
most valuable insights are the ones you didn’t know you should be
looking for.
If you’re seeking data you can quantify, surveys are an excellent way
to collect a large amount of information from a given population.
Surveys can be used to describe a population in terms of who they
are, what they do, what they like and if they’re happy. You can then
forecast the population’s future behaviour in light of these identified
characteristics, behaviour, preferences and satisfaction. Surveys yield
the most meaningful data when they ask the right questions of the
right people in the right way, so care should be taken both to
develop survey questions respondents will find relevant and
interesting, and to determine which method of conducting the
survey (online, telephone or in-person) is most appropriate.
Looking to get consumers’ thoughts on a new product or service
offering idea when you’re in the early stages of the development
process?
A focus group can get a small group of people that fit your target
demographic in a room to discuss what they like, dislike, are
confused by, would do differently — whatever. The group’s leader
encourages honest, open discussion among participants, collecting
opinions that can further direct your development efforts.
Prefer to eavesdrop rather than ask questions outright? 
Social media monitoring can help you keeps tabs on candid
conversations about your industry, your company and your
competitors. How much are people talking about your brand
compared to competitive brands?
Is what they’re saying positive or negative?
Is the public clamouring for something the industry currently doesn’t
provide?
How are your competitors portraying themselves via social media,
and what does that say about their strategy?
Social media monitoring shows that you don’t always need to
participate in the conversation to learn from it.

Ques. Explain the process of Marketing research.

Ans.