Unit 4 - Marketing

Question 1

Market Research

Answer 1

• The collection, presentation and analysis of information relating to the marketing and consumption of goods and services

Question 2

Purpose of Market Research

Answer 2

• Identify & understand customer needs - can supply products that meet customer needs or can anticipate needs
• Identify gaps in the market - can gain competitive edge & more revenue
• Reduce Risk - reduce risk of failure
• Inform business decisions - can provide information to improve decision making

Question 3

Primary/field research

Answer 3

• Gathering of new information that doesn’t exist

Question 4

Methods of primary research

Answer 4

• Questionnaires - list of written questions, can be done via post, telephone & in person
• Focus groups or customer panels - number of customers attend a discussion led by market researchers - generalizing can be done but is cost-effective
• Observation - market researchers watch behavior of customers
• Test Marketing - selling a new product in a restricted geographical area to test sales levels & receive feedback

Question 5

Secondary/desk research

Answer 5

• Collection of data that already exists

Question 6

Methods of secondary data

Answer 6

• Business websites - business history, price lists, product info
• Competitors - annual reports, price lists, product catalogues
• Internal data - sales, stock data, budgets, previous research
• Government publications - population & economic data
• Commercial publications - Data gathered by market researches then sold to businesses
• Media - Newspapers, magazines, directories & TV

Question 7

Qualitative data

Answer 7

• Information about attitudes, beliefs and intentions, usually written in words

Question 8

Quantitative data

Answer 8

• Information that can be quantified/that is expressed in numbers

Question 9

Role of social media in market research

Answer 9

• Playing an increasing role
• Businesses can gather information in a cheap way
• Most social medias have features to analyze trends and conduct market research

Question 10

Importance of reliability of market research data

Answer 10

• Often depends on number of people questioned and whether they represent the views of everyone
• Businesses use a sample of people to represent the market or the data will be biased and unreliable
• Answers might also be changed in interviews to make interviewers hear what they want to hear