Market Research

• Product Orientation is an inward looking approach to new product development were the focus is on what products can be made and the process of making them.
• Market Orientation is an outward looking approach to new product development were the key focus is on what products the consumer wants.
• Product Orientated product characteristics:

  • Informed by scientific research and technical development.
  • business focuses on producing high quality products.
  • commonly technological products as consumers don't have the knowledge to see if it could exist elsewhere.
• Market Orientated product characteristics:

  • Informed by market research.
  • business will concentrate on understanding the needs of consumers to meet their needs.
  • Reduces the risk of new product development.
• Factors that influence if the product is market orientated are:

  • expansion.
  • diversification.
  • greater choice.
  • market share.
• Factors that influence if the product is Product Orientated are:

  • customer satisfaction.
  • customer feedback from focus groups/surveys/etc to understand what the consumer wants.
  • developing new products to solve consumer needs.
• Reasons to complete market research are:

  • anticipate customer needs and wants.
  • Quantify the likely demand for a product.
  • Provide an insight into customer behaviours.
• Benefits to market research are:

  • understand consumer behaviour.
  • identify potential competitors.
  • understand how much consumers will pay for a product.
  • quantify potential consumer demand for a product.
• Primary research is the first hand data that did not exist before and therefore is original data.
• Secondary research is research that has already been undertaken by another organisation and therefore already exists.
• Methods of Primary research include:

  • questionnaires.
  • telephone interviews.
  • personal/customer interviews.
  • focus groups.
  • observation.
  • test marketing.
• Questionnaire is a list of questions used to gather data from respondents about their attitudes/experiences or opinions of the product/service.
• Telephone Interview is an interviewer asking a series of questions over the phone and records the answers given.
• Personal/Customer Interviews are interviews that are scheduled in advance and they ask customers a variety of questions either related to their overall brand experience.
• Focus Groups are representative sample of people selected by an organisation to provide them with the opinions they require for consumer or business research.
• Observations are observing participants and phenomena in their most natural setting to enable the researcher to see their subject make choices naturally.
• Test Marketing is a method that aims to explore consumer response to a product or marketing campaign by making it available on a limited basis to test before release.
• Internal data is the information that has been stored or organised by the organisation itself.
• External data us data organised or collected by someone else.
• Examples of Internal Data:

  • sales reports.
  • customer database.
  • reports from test research.
• Examples of External Data:

  • Government sources.
  • Media outlets.
  • Journals.
  • Books.
• Qualitative research is the gathering of non-numerical information that gives a company insight into the reasons/motivations for human behaviour.
• Quantitative Research is the gathering of numerical data to inform the company about peoples behaviour.
• Qualitative Research is collected by:

  • Interviews.
  • Focus Groups.
  • Taste Panels.
• Quantitative Research is collected by:

  • Surveys.
  • closed questions.
• limitations of market research include:

  • sample size is too small.
  • sample bias.
• Sample means a group of respondents that have been chosen from a larger group for investigation.
• Value of Sampling includes:

  • It can provide useful research insights.
  • Using sampling before making marketing decisions can reduce risk and costs.
  • Sampling is flexible and relatively quick.
• Types of Sampling include:

  • Random Sampling.
  • Quota Sampling.
  • Stratified Sampling.
• Random Sampling is when each individual has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
• Quota Sampling is dividing a larger population into subsets segments and are deliberately chosen.
• Stratified Sampling means dividing a larger population into segments and are chosen at random.
• ICT can be used by these things to help market research:

  1. Websites.
  2. Social Networking.
  3. Databases.
• Can use websites for market research by:

  • Inviting feedback through blogs.
  • Online polls and surveys.
  • Cookies.
• Can use Social Networking for market research by:

  • Reviews.
  • Blogs.
  • Likes/Dislikes.
  • Customer feedback.
• Can use Databases for market research by:

  • Data Mining.
  • Trends.
• Benefits of using ICT for market research include:

  • Quicker and easier.
  • Store customer characteristics to target consumers most likely to buy a particular product.
• Market segmentation is when a market is split up into customers with similar buying characteristics
• Benefits of Market Segmentation are:

  • Most/least profitable customers can be identified.
  • Helps firm improve existing products and customer service.
  • Advertising can be targeted at specific market segments so advertising spending can be more effective.
  • Least profitable markets can be avoided.
  • Easier to identify new products.
• Types of Segmentation are:

  • Demographical.
  • Geographic.
  • Income.
  • Behavioural.
  • Psychographic.