Market Research - Marketing Flashcards
What is market research?
Market research is the process of gathering, recording and analysing data about customers, competitors and market trends.
What are the reasons a business may use market research?
• identifying what the target markets should be for their products or services;
• finding out what the target market’s needs and wants are so as to design products that satisfy
them;
• finding out how much the target market would be willing to pay for products so as to set
appropriate pricing;
• gathering information about competitors, allowing them to gain competitive advantages.
What does market research provide information about?
Market research provides information about:
- the market itself (size and make-up – i.e. age, gender, income, tastes)
- customer feedback
- promotional methods
- sales data
- competitors
- effect of price on market
What are the 2 types of market research?
There are two types of market research that you must be aware of: field research and desk research.
What is field research?
Field research involves a business gathering brand new information themselves using methods such as face-to-face interviews and focus groups. This type of research collects primary information
What is desk research?
Desk research involves the use of pre-existing data that has been gathered by someone else. This type of research collects secondary information.
What are the method of collecting field research?
- face-to-face interview
- postal survey
- focus group
- hall test
- telephone interview
- online survey
- observation
What are the advantages of field research?
• data collected is brand new and up-to-date;
• data is not available to competitors;
• the research is tailored to the specific requirements of a business, meaning that the data gathered is highly relevant.
What are the disadvantages of field research?
• it can be an expensive type of research compared to desk research;
• it can be a time-consuming process, meaning that decisions cannot be made quickly.
What are the common sources of desk research?
• government reports and statistics (such as census data);
• reports produced by market research companies such as Mintel;
• competitors’ websites;
• trade magazines and journals;
• reputable newspapers.
What are the advantages of desk research?
• it is a relatively inexpensive way of gathering and obtaining data;
• it is relatively quick to gather compared to field research, meaning that decisions can be made
quicker;
• large amounts of information and data are available at little to no cost.
What are the disadvantages of desk research?
• the data gathered could be out of date, leading to poor decisions being made;
• the same information is also available to competitors;
• the information might contain bias.
