Name: Dan Spoors

Class: Rothschild
Date: 15/09/2022

Task 1

Business Name: Colchester Zoo

Colchester uses different types of market research to gather information

to better improve themselves as a business. Colchester zoo uses
customer observation to understand and identify the target market of its
customers. Colchester zoo also uses the market research of surveys.
Surveys can be used in multiple ways to gather information depending
on the questions used in the survey, for Colchester Zoo this could be
questions based on the animals to find out visitors’ favourite animals or
what other animals they may want to see.

What is market research: Primary market research is done by

collecting data yourself, often through surveys or interviews with your
target market. Secondary research uses existing data that you can find
online and use for yourself.

What are specialist market research agencies: Market research

firms gather and analyse data about customers, competitors,
distributors, and other actors and forces in the marketplace. A large
portion of the work performed by most market research firms is
commissioned by specific companies for purposes. –
www.britannica.com
Types of market research:

Primary:
 Interviews – receiving information directly from a reliable source
like a witness or a creator. Interviews can take several different
forms - from short interviews to longer in-depth interviews. These
can also be in person or commercial.
For Colchester Zoo, this method may work and be reliable, however,
interviews may not be very effective as it is time consuming and can
only receive little amounts of information at one time, I would suggest
Colchester Zoo to use surveys as it is more time efficient and
accurate.

 Surveys – used to gain opinions of many different individuals,

commonly used as different options for study participants to
choose from to give their opinions. Can be used to gather
information or just gather an opinion.
For Colchester Zoo, surveys can be used to gather excessive
amounts of opinions from many customers and then they can
respond to the most popular opinion, however, surveys have a set
and limited amount of questions and so some visitors can share their
opinion on certain areas but may not be able to share their opinion on
different areas.

 Focus groups - A market research method that brings together a

group of people to provide feedback regarding a product, service,
concept, or marketing campaign. Someone would lead a
discussion within the group that is designed to gather helpful
information.
For Colchester Zoo, this is not very effective as the zoo receives
hundreds of different visitors per hour and so asking a small group of
less than 10 may not be an accurate response or opinion that reflects
all the other visitors. However, if the zoo wants to know a certain
question about the monkeys, a focus group formed of people found
near the monkey enclosure may be accurate and less time
consuming than creating a survey for many people.
  Observations – A market research technique in which highly
trained researchers generally watch how people or consumers
behave and interact in the market under natural conditions. It is
designed to give precisely detailed and actual information on what
consumers do as they interact in each niche market. –
www.thebalancemb.com
For Colchester Zoo, observations are a very effective way to do
market research, this is because it requires no sacrifice from the
visitors and requires only a small amount of time to find a pattern or
problem in the zoo. Observations can be easy and time saving but
these are also assumptions and may not be the most accurate.

Secondary:
 Censuses - A study of every unit, everyone or everything, in a
population. Used to gather information from everyone in a certain
area or market. This information can be seen be all and used for
secondary data market research.
For Colchester Zoo, a census is very accurate and gathers a large
variety of opinions and information needed to do with the animals or
the business itself. However, this method of market research can be
quite expensive and time consuming for Colchester Zoo.

 Previous studies - The process of evaluating previous research

done by previous staff, this can be updated or kept the same. This
method allows organisations or businesses to discover their target
market, collect and document opinions and make informed
decisions.
For Colchester Zoo, previous studies are not a very reliable source of
market research because with Colchester Zoo changing lots and
having new visitors daily, old opinions change, and new opinions are
formed. I would suggest doing a primary source of market research in
replace of this as it is more accurate and more updated. Market
research should be kept up to date as the Zoo improves or changes.
 Newspapers/social media – Used for informing people worldwide
about current events. They are used to provide readers with
information they need/want to know about the world around them.
For Colchester Zoo, newspapers will have to receive information,
facts and opinions through the business and its staff. Therefore, this
may be classified as primary research that can then be given to
newspaper agencies for others to use at secondary research. Social
media reports will be predominantly done by Colchester Zoo’s visitors
as they share opinions or information needed for new visitors, this will
benefit Colchester Zoo as they can then gather views and opinions
from visitors with ease and save time by not having to do this market
research themselves.

 Past figures/statistics - To systematically analyse the collected

data from the customers. It is used to draw insights from data,
make predictions and determine the accuracy of its predictions
with a certain confidence. – www.superheuristics.com
For Colchester Zoo, I would suggest doing a consensus and then
carry out this type of market research as old statistics will be easy to
access and understand as it is their own information. This information
can then be compared to their new information found by doing
updated market research. Colchester Zoo will then be able to find
trends or problems in certain areas of the zoo and allow them to act
on these problems or maintain the popularity of certain areas.

One agency that offers specialists to help Colchester Zoo is Ipsos. A

multinational market research and consulting firm.

Another agency that offers specialists to help Colchester Zoo is

Experian. Experian is trusted by millions of consumers and
businesses and is safe to use.

Overall, Colchester Zoo could use primary research to receive the

most reliable and a wide variety of opinions/information from its
visitors but also its appearance as a business and a Zoo itself.
However, I would suggest for Colchester Zoo to use secondary
research In order to save time and money by using visitors
knowledge through social media or setting up an e-commerce
consensus for its visitors to share opinions and views, Colchester Zoo
can then respond to these results as it collects information from the
largest amount of visitors they can, these are accurate, time saving
and cheaper than holding individual interviews or focus groups where
they will only receive limited information. This will also be much more
time consuming.