understanding markets and customers Flashcards
what is market research
the systematic and objective collation, analysis and evaluation of information that is intended to assist in the marketing process
what is primary market research
the collection of first hand data that did not exist before and therefore it is original data
- fills gaps that secondary research cannot
what are some examples of primary research
- Focus groups
- Interviews (online & in-person)
- Surveys & questionnaires
- Mystery shoppers
- Product testing and product trial
what are some advantages of primary research
- Directly focused on research objectives = fit for purpose
- Tends to be more up-to-date than secondary research
- Provides more detailed insights – particularly into customer view
what are some disadvantages of market research?
- Time-consuming and often costly to obtain
- Risk of survey bias – research samples may not be representative of the population
what is secondary market research
research that has already been undertaken by another organisation and therefore already exists
give some examples of secondary research
- Government publications
- Newspaper
- Magazines
- Company records
- Competitors - Market research organisation
- Loyalty cards
- Internet
what are some advantages of secondary research?
- Already gathered so may be quicker to collect
- May be gathered on a much larger scale than possible for the firm
- In some cases it can be very cheap or free to access
what are some disadvantages of secondary research
- Information may be outdated, therefore inaccurate
- The data may be biased and it is hard to know if the information was collected is accurate
- The data was not gathered for the specific purpose the firm needs or is not relevant to the original context
- In some cases it can be costly (e.g. marketing firm reports)
what is market mapping
- A market map illustrates the range of positions that a product can take in a market based on two dimensions that are important to customers
what are some dimensions for the axes in a market map
- Low price v high price
- Basic quality v high quality
- Low volume v high volume
- Necessity v luxury
- Light v heavy
- Simple v complex
- Unhealthy v healthy
- Low-tech v hi-tech
What are some advantages of market mapping
- Help spot gaps in the market- Useful for analysing competitors
– where are their products positioned? - Encourages use of market research
what are some disadvantages of market mapping
- Just because there is a gap in the market doesn’t mean there is demand for the product
- Not a guarantee of success
- How reliable is the market research that maps the position of existing products based on the chosen dimensions?
what is sampling
involves gathering data from respondents whose views or behaviours are representative of the target market as a whole
what is random sampling
member of target population has an equal chance of being chosen