MARKET RESEARCH

• What is market research?

  collection, presentation and analysis of information relating to the marketing and consumption of goods and services
• What are the main purposes of market research?

  • to identify customer needs
  • to identify gaps in the market
  • to reduce risk
  • to inform business decisions
• What does the 'untapped' mean?

  supply, market or talent that is available but has not yet been used
• What is primary or field research?

  the gathering of 'new' information that does not already exist
• What are some methods of primary research?

  • questionnaires
  • focus groups or consumer panels
  • observation
  • test marketing
• What are the different kinds of questionnaires?

  • postal surveys (sent to people by letter)
  • telephone interviews
  • personal interviews
  • online surveys
• What is a consumer panel?

  groups of customers that are asked for feedback about products over a set period
• What is secondary or desk research?

  a collection of data that already exists
• What is qualitative data?

  information about attitudes, beliefs and intentions, usually written in words
• What are the methods of secondary research?

  • business websites (business history, product information...)
  • competitors (annual reports, price lists...)
  • internal data (sales figures, budgets, reports...)
  • government publications (population data, economic data such as inflation...)
  • commercial publications (data gathered by market researchers, which is then sold to businesses)
  • media (newspapers, magazines, television...)
• What is quantitative data?

  information that can be quantified and expressed in numbers
• What is a 'sample'?

  a small group of people, which must represent a proportion of a total market when carrying out market research