Market Research Flashcards
Market research
The process of collecting information about a business’s customers, the market place and the activities of competitors within that marketplace.
Features of market research
Have a collection of information relative to their objectives
Analyse and evaluate information to allow the business to make more informed decisions
Primary market research
The collection of information first-hand for a specific purpose.
Methods of primary research
Questionnaires
Focus groups
Consumer panels
Test marketing
Questionnaires
Specific information gained from a series of questions, usually carried out face to face.
Focus groups
Chaired discussions on themes set by a market researcher to try to understand most important issues to all groups of the population.
Consumer panels
Similar to focus groups, but more product orientated, and made up of consumers of products. The objective is to gain opinions on different aspects of a product.
Test marketing
Trial release of the product in a restricted area, designed to gather customer responses.
Secondary market research
The use of information that has already been collected for a different purpose.
Methods of secondary research
Official publications
Industry magazines
Internal information
Online desk research
Official publications
Census reports and social trend surveys.
Industry magazines
Many industries produce their own ‘industry magazine’, which provides information on specific retail and product areas.
Internal information
Retailers can build up detailed profiles of their customers, and then create target marketing, improve customer service and alter product ranges.
Online desk research
Simple Google searches can often find relevant data, and there is tons of information avaliable on the internet. Sorting out what is useful from the rest can be difficult.
Qualitative research
Based on opinions, attitudes and beliefs. Aims to understand why customers behave in a certain way or how they respond to a new product.
