4

Marketing
Research
Kotler | Armstrong

marketing 17e
 Learning Objectives

 What is marketing research?

 Marketing research process.

4-2
 Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Marketing information system (MIS) is the people
and procedures assessing information needs,
developing the needed information, and helping
decision makers to use the information to generate
and validate actionable customer and market insights.

Customer insights is fresh

understandings into customer needs
and wants.
It is important but difficult to obtain.
3
 Marketing Information System (MIS)

1 2 3

The information should be available to users in the right form at

the right time for managers to make marketing decisions and
manage customer relationships. 4
 MIS step 1
Assessing Marketing Information Needs

 A good MIS balances

Customers Company
the information users
would like against what
they really need and
what is feasible to
offer.
 By itself, information
has no worth; its value
comes from its use.

5
 MIS step 2:
Developing Marketing Information

Internal Competitive Marketing

Databases marketing research
intelligence

4-6

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 (a) Internal databases
• Electronic collections of consumer and market
information obtained from data sources within
the company network
Examples:
Marketing department furnishes information on customer
characteristics, sales transactions, and Web site visits.
 Customer service department keeps records of customer
satisfaction or service problems.
Accounting department provides detailed records of sales,
costs, and cash flows.
 Operations reports on production, shipments, and
inventories. 4-7

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 (b) Competitive marketing intelligence

 It is the systematic collection and analysis of

publicly available information about consumers,
competitors, and developments in the
marketplace.
 Firms use competitive intelligence to gain
early warnings of competitor moves and
strategies.

4-8

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 (c) Marketing Research

The systematic
design, collection,
analysis, and
reporting of data
relevant to a specific
marketing situation
facing an
organization.
4-9

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 The Marketing Research Process

4 - 10
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
 Marketing Research stage 1:
(1) Defining the Problem and Research Objectives

Research to help identify problems which are

not necessarily apparent on the surface and
yet exist or are likely to arise in the future.

“Victory comes from

finding opportunities
in problems”

4 - 11
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
 Marketing Research stage 1:
(1) Defining the Problem and Research Objectives (Cont.)
• Gather preliminary information that will
Exploratory help define the problem and suggest
Research hypotheses.
• Describes things .
Descriptive
Research

• To test hypotheses about cause-and-

effect relationships.
Causal
• Does a change in X cause a change in Y?
Research
4 - 12
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
 Marketing Research stage 2:
(2) Developing the Research Plan

• Research plan should be presented as a written

proposal.
• Research objectives must be translated into
specific information needs.
• The research plan outlines:
– sources of existing data
– Specific research approaches
– Contact methods
– Sampling plans and instruments 4 - 13

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Developing the Research Plan
Types of Data

Secondary data
• Information that already exists somewhere,
having been collected for another purpose

Primary data
• Information collected for the specific
purpose at hand

4 - 14

Copyright ©2021
Copyright © by Pearson
2015 Pearson Education
Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
 Developing the Research Plan
Gathering Secondary Data
Common sources of secondary data:
- Internal company databases
- Commercial online databases
- Internet search engines
Advantages Disadvantages

Low cost Potentially

Irrelevant
Obtained quickly Inaccurate
Cannot collect Outdated
otherwise possibility
Biased 4 - 15

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Developing the Research Plan
Gathering Secondary Data
 Researchers must make certain that data is:
 Relevant – fits the research project’s needs.
 Accurate – reliably collected and reported.
 Current – up-to-date enough for current
decisions.
 impartial – objectively collected and reported.

4 - 16

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Primary Data Collection

4 - 17

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 Sampling Plan

• A sample is a segment of the population selected

for marketing research to represent the
population as a whole.
a) sampling unit
b) sampling size
c) sampling procedure

4 - 18

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 c. Implementing the Research Plan

• The researcher then puts the marketing

research plan into action. This involves
collecting, processing and analyzing the
information.

4 - 19

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 d. Interpreting and Reporting
Findings
The researcher must now interpret the
findings, draw
conclusions and
r report them to
management.

4 - 20

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

 MIS step 3:
Analyzing and Using Marketing Information
 The marketing information system must make
the information available to managers and others
who make marketing decisions or deal with
customers.
 Many companies use an intranet to facilitate
information distribution. The intranet provides
ready access to data, stored reports and so forth .

4 - 21

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Company Intranet
 The End!

4 - 22

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall