Market research methods

 If you are a micro-sized enterprise, such as a

single proprietor who runs a corner barbecue
stand with just one or two employees, then
you may not quite have a budget to spare for
assessing the environment around you. You
cannot, for instance, afford to hire professional
researchers.
marketing information system (MIS)

 It is the people, equipment, and

procedures used to gather, sort, analyze,
evaluate, and distribute needed, timely,
and accurate information to marketing
decision-makers.
Components of a Market
Information System
Internal Records

 This refers to documents in the company’s

Order-to-Payments cycle, such as invoices,
shipping orders, etc. It also avails documents
and resources that comprise the sales
information system, such as sales forecasts,
information from sales personnel, and
information culled from automated sales
system.
 Many businesses are sitting on gold mines of
information without even knowing it. Client
records, for instance, may contain purchase
histories that, if properly analyzed, can produce
patterns which can be useful for determining
seasonality in buying behavior. In fact, a lot of
customer insights can be generated by
analyzing customer records in bulk using
computer programs to extract these patterns.
 In sophisticated data analytics systems, the buying
behaviors of huge numbers of people are processed so
that the systems can “learn” new insights about how
customers behave. In a celebrated case, US retailer
Target actually knew that a customer was pregnant
even before her own family did based only on the items
that she recently bought, none of which were obvious
indicators. Their system was able to study patterns of
behavior from its databank of hundreds of thousands of
customers. By comparing her purchases with theirs,
the system was able to infer that she just discovered
that she was pregnant! (Hill 2012)
Marketing Intelligence

 The set of procedures and sources used by

managers to obtain everyday information
about developments in the marketing
environment. This includes newspapers,
intermediaries, social networks, trade
conferences, suppliers, ad agencies, the
reverse engineering of competitor products,
published reports, purchased information, etc.
 In layman’s terms, intelligence is gathered by simply
“putting yourself out there.” Having a network of
people and sources of information in the right places,
in general, is the easiest way to get potentially useful
knowledge. Being part of the right social network of
friends or groups on Facebook, for instance, can lead
to getting a potential useful insider tips faster than
your competitors can. Encouraging also your sales
team to do small talk with clients is often a quick way
to gather insights about what their future needs are.
 When Unilever’s Vaseline 2-in-1 soap was
launched in the market with a “three-pid” three-
soaps discount pack, they were surprised by the
immediate appearance of a similar three-pid pack
from chief competitor Safeguard. Clearly,
Safeguard was able to get wind of the Vaseline
product launch from its own extensive intelligence
work!
Market Research
 It is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and
reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific
marketing situation be facing the company. This includes
taking surveys or conducting exploratory studies of a
market.
 It is scientific in nature, utilizing the scientific method in
order to gain insights on how to solve real-world
problems. In this case, problems usually involve resolving
questions about how to best provide value to customers
or about understanding how consumers behave.
Thank You for Listening!