1.2 `Spotting a business opportunity

Question 1

Choice:

Answer 1

giving customers options and increasing the chance that the product will be perfect for the tastes/habits of one type of customer.

Question 2

Quality:

Answer 2

to a customer quality means getting what they want, or perhaps better than expected; some companies use the term ‘customer delight’.

Question 3

Convenience:

Answer 3

making life easier for customers, perhaps by a great location (next to the bus stop) or a product that saves time in preparation or consumption.

Question 4

Identifying customers:

Answer 4

finding out who they are: their age, gender, incomes, where they live and what they want.

Question 5

Understanding customers:

Answer 5

learning why customers do what they do, making it easier to see how to make a product that better suits them.

Question 6

Focus group:

Answer 6

a group discussion among people selected from the target market; it draws on psychology to provide qualitative insights into consumer attitudes.

Question 7

Primary research:

Answer 7

research conducted first-hand; it is tailored to a company’s specific needs, for example a quantitative sales estimate for a brand new chocolate bar.

Question 8

Qualitative data:

Answer 8

in-depth research into the opinions and views of a small group of potential or actual customers; it can provide insight into why consumers buy what they buy.

Question 9

Quantitative data:

Answer 9

factual research among a large enough sample of people to provide statistically reliable results, for example a survey of 500 people aged 15–24 years.

Question 10

Secondary research:

Answer 10

when a company uses research that has already been carried out for general purposes.

Question 11

Demographics:

Answer 11

the study of the statistical differences that exist within a population, both now and in the future.

Question 12

Lifestyle:

Answer 12

grouping people by common characteristics in how they live, from their participation in sports and leisure to their views on the environment, taste in music and even nerdier things such as a passion for trains.

Question 13

Location:

Answer 13

the extent to which consumers identify with the place where they were born or grew up.

Question 14

Market segments:

Answer 14

the subsets within a market that have been identifi ed as a result of market segmentation.

Question 15

(The) competition:

Answer 15

companies operating in your market or market sector.

Question 16

Gap in the market:

Answer 16

An area on a market map where few or no existing brands operate, implying a business opportunity to fi ll an unmet consumer need.

Question 17

Market map:

Answer 17

measuring where existing brands sit on a two-factor grid, for example young/old compared with high price/low price.

Question 18

Competitive environment:

Answer 18

the strength of competition between companies in the same market.

Question 19

Innovative:

Answer 19

a new, perhaps original, product or process.

Question 20

Unethical:

Answer 20

an action or decision that is wrong from a moral standpoint.