Marketing Research Flashcards
What is marketing research?
Involves gathering and analysis of research to help support the implementation of marketing strategy
What important insights can market research provide that aid decision making and marketing strategy?
- dimensions of the market (size, structure, growth)
- competitor strategies (market share, positioning, USPS)
- needs, wants and expectations of customers (how they’re changing)
- market segments (existing and potential opportunities for new segments)
What is product orientation?
Business develops products based on what it is good at doing
What is market orientation?
Business responds to customer needs and wants- designs products accordingly
Why is market orientation linked to marketing success?
- markets are much more dynamic
- customers are becoming much more demanding
- barriers to market entry getting lower
What is primary research?
Data collected first hand for a specific research purpose
What is secondary research?
Data that already exists and which has been collected for a different purpose
Primary research benefits
- up to date
- directly focused to research objectives
- more detailed insights
- rivals do not have access to this data
Secondary research benefits
- often free and easy to obtain
- quick and available immediately
Primary research drawbacks
- time consuming and costly to obtain
- expensive
- some methods e.g focus group requires certain skills
- sampling may not be representative
Secondary research drawbacks
- can quickly become out of date
- rivals can access data
- not tailored to business needs
Market orientation benefits
- meeting customer needs
- less risk
- increase sales
- may be easier to charge a higher price
Market orientation drawbacks
- costly
- time consuming
- difficult to keep up with dynamic market
- don’t focus on innovation
Product orientation benefits
- less likely to conduct market research
- harder for rivals to copy
- high quality
Product orientation drawbacks
- can lead to unsuccessful products
- costly
Main formats for primary research
Focus groups Observation Surveys Telephone interviews Experiments
Secondary research main formats
Published market research reports Google Internal transactional data Media reports Competitor materials
Observations- primary research
- watching how consumers behave
- works well in retail markets ( sit outside a shop and watch how many people walk by and look at display)
Telephone interviews- primary research
- allows quicker feedback than a postal survey
- however potential customers are often warty of being called and may be reluctant to give anything other than short answers
Postal surveys- primary research
- sent to address of potential customers who complete form and send back in pre paid envelope
- cheap, covers a wide geographical area
- avoids the potential for interviewer bias
- however, response rates are low and can take a long time for customers to respond
Face to face- primary research
- personal interviews conducted face to face
- costly but good way to get detailed insights from an individual
Focus groups- primary research
- groups of potential customers are brought together to discuss their feelings about a product or market
- good way of getting detailed info about customer tastes and preferences
Test marketing- primary research
- involves selling a new product in a small section of the market in order to asses customer reaction
- food predictor of how a new product or service will be received by the larger market
Quantitative data
Numerical data, produces statistical data
- based on larger samples- more statistically valid
