2.2 market reaserch Flashcards
What is market research?
The collection of data to help a business make decisions
Why must market research be carried out?
•to find out customer needs and wants to help improve the quality of the decisions they make
•so that money and effort are not wasted on products people do not want to buy
What is primary research/field research?
The process of collecting and analysing original information or data that has been planned and collected first hand through methods such as interviews or questionares
what is secondary/desk research?
•the collection of data and information that has already been collected and published by someone else for a different piece of research e.g. competitor accounts or magazines
what is qualitative data?
•it is collected when the opinion of the customer is needed, often collected through Primary research
•opinions may be more difficult to collate but give a good level of detail in responses
what is quantitive data?
•data related to facts and numbers
•it is easier to interpret than qualitative data
what are open questions?
•open questions allow customers to give any answer they wish too, they give qualitative data e.g. what do you think of my product?
what are closed questions?
•selective questions with answers to chose from e.g. yes or no questions
•they give quantitive data
what are the primary methods of market research?
Questionnaires, Interviews, Trials, Focus groups
What are trials?
When a product is sold for a short period in one region or country
What are focus groups?
A small group of people are asked to use a product or think about it and are then asked for feedback
What are interviews?
A person or a set of people are asked questions by an interviewer
What are questionnaires?
A set of questions sent out to selected people or online
what are some advantages of using questionnaires?
•cheaper to carry out and cheaper than interviews
•can easily target particular consumers e.g. a questionnaire sent with a guarantee for a product
what are some disadvantages of questionnaires?
•it is difficult to predict how many completed questionnaires will be available
•the people filling in the forms may not understand questions
what are some advantages of interviewing?
•the interviewer can explain questions is there’s a misunderstanding
•customers can be targeted easily
what are some disadvantages of interviews?
•they can be expensive as the interviewer would have to be paid
•customers may feel uncomfortable after being interviewed
what are some advantages of trials?
*a good way to see if the product is what customers want before they start producing in large quantities so less capital is wasted if customers dont like it so they dont lose investments
-generates initial interest in the customers beforehad
what are some disadvantages of trials?
•the area chosen must fully reflect the target market or money would be wasted
•businesses may conduct trials and only find out what they first thought meaning they do not gain new information
what are the advantages of focus groups?
*focus groups are selected to represent the target market for a business so data is usually very accurate
-the interaction of the group may encourge people to speak who may have otherwise been reluctant
what are some disadvantages of focus groups?
•data is more expensive per person
•the selection process is timely and costly
what are some pros of using primary research?
•you can tailor questions to your business
•you can gain up to date information
what are some cons of using primary research?
•there’s a possibility of bias
•time consuming
•expensive
what are some examples of secondary research?
census data, websites, internal data,newspapers and magazines
what are some pros of using secondary research?
*free/low cost
*good overview of the market as it may be based on large samples
what are some cons of secondary research?
•may not be up to date
•not tailored to business’s needs
