primary

• done through: observation, focus groups, questionarre, interviews, experimentation
• observation:

  • watching consumers as they show/ use the product
  • firms try to draw conclusions about shoppers buy observing their behaviour
  • they can use this data to improve the marketing of products; possible changing shelf layout or point of sales promotion
• focus groups:

  • often ask a group of consumers to giver their opinions on a product
  • observe the consumer's responses and record their comments
  • often use focus groups when introducing/launching new products
• experimentation:

  • manufacturing companies often build prototypes to test new product ideas
  • alternatively, they might launch a product in a smaller part of the market; regions or certain stores in order to see how customers react
  • this is also known as test marketing
• questionairres:

  • face 2 face: allows an interviewer to explain any questions that the respondents may not understand
  • telephone surveys are quicker and cheaper however are disliked by customers
  • postal/internet surveys: cheap and avoid questioner bias but have a lower rate of completion
• interviews:

  • gain more detailed, qualitative information from a smaller group of people, interviews are personal and 1 on 1
  • the interviewer may ask a wide range of questions and may spend a long time with each respondent as they explore the responses more deeply