Market Research Flashcards
market research
the process of gathering primary and secondary data on the buying habits, lifestyles, usage and attitudes of actual and potential customers
benefits of market research
•can identify opportunities and threats
•can be used to monitor sales after a promotional campaign
•can help them find alternative routes to overcome a problem
•identify target market
•reduce risk of failure
benefits of market research
•can identify opportunities and threats
•can be used to monitor sales after a promotional campaign
•can help them find alternative routes to overcome a problem
•identify target market
•reduce risk of failure
drawbacks of market research
•research doesn’t guarantee success
•costly in time
•costs money
•research can be unreliable
why is understanding the market place a major priority for businesses?
•the expense of launching new products
•importance of maintaining market share
•importance of preserving the profile and brand value of existing products
reasons to carry out market research
•aid to decision making
•find out about customer wants and expectations
•suggest introduction of new products or modification of existing products
•find out how much customers are willing to pay
•gaining competitive advantage
•predictive reasons- what’s likely to happen in the future
•exploratory reasons- new possibilities in a market
•descriptive reasons- what’s happening in the market
•explanatory reasons
•reduces risk
reasons against market research
•may predict that an idea will succeed but it isn’t the case
•data can be based on an unrepresentative sample- bias
•data doesn’t always meet specific needs of a business in secondary research
•primary research can be expensive to gather
•secondary data can be outdated
•time consuming to gather, especially primary
primary research and examples
collecting primary data and info that doesn’t already exists- it is collected for a specific purpose
•usually questionnaires, interviews, surveys, focus groups, consumer panels
advantages of primary research
•research carried out is only available to that business- gives market advantages over rival firms
•up to date info so helps with better decision making
•can be targeted for specific needs that the business may have identified
disadvantages of primary research
•can be expensive to collect
•time consuming to collect (fast changing market?)
•problems of bias
secondary research and examples
identifies, collects and collates info that already exists- can be collected internally or externally
•existing documents, official publications, yellow pages, industry magazines and online desk research
advantages of secondary research
•inexpensive to collect and quick to obtain
•enables cost-effective analysis of several data sources
disadvantages of secondary research
•often out of data
•might not be available
•little control over quality
•problems of interpretation
how is marketing linked to human resource department
marketing will influence the numbers and skills of employees required
how is marketing linked to production department
marketing helps to determine what to produce, when to produce it and how much money can be spent producing it
how is marketing linked to finance department
marketing generates the money for the firm through sales revenue and helps to forecast future sales revenue
how is marketing linked to purchasing department
marketing will influence how much in the way of raw materials will be needed
how is marketing linked to transport department
Marketing will influence the number of lorries and drivers required
quantitative research and common methods
involves the collection of data that can be measured- the collection of statistical data such as sales figures and market share
•surveys, government publications/existing statistics
quantitative research characteristics
•researcher uses tools like questionnaires and surveys to collect numerical data
•researcher knows clearly in advance what they’re looking for
•recommend during latter phases of research projects
•usually regarded to be less open to interpretation
•data is in the form of numbers and statistics
qualitative research and common methods
involves collection of data about attitudes, beliefs and intentions
•focus groups, participant observation and interviews
qualitative research characters
•researcher may only know roughly in advance what they’re looking for
•recommend during earlier phases of research projects
•can be time consuming to collect and difficult to draw general conclusions
•information gathered is often open to high degree of interpretation
•data is in the form of words, pictures or objects
sample
a group of respondents to a market research exercise who are selected to be representative of the views of the target market as a whole
why is sample size important
•if sample size is large, the research will take a long time and may be expensive
•if the sample size is too small then there’s a greater chance that it will become inaccurate through random factors
