market research

• Market research

  The process of gathering and analyzing data about the market, customers' needs and wants, in order to determine the market and strategy
• Systematic market research


  Regular, takes place at regular time intervals
• Ad hoc market research


  Takes place only when necessary
• Market research is a dynamic process because the market, industry, needs, wants, and external environment are constantly changing
• Why organizations carry out market research

  • Risk reducer
  • Provides up-to-date information
  • Helps set goals, objectives, strategies and tactics
  • Different purposes for product-oriented vs market-oriented businesses
  • Part of market and planning
  • Helps make key marketing decisions (4Ps for goods, 7Ps for services)
• Primary research


  Gathering new first-hand data, also called field research
• Advantages of primary research

  • Up-to-date
  • Confidential and unique
  • Designed to meet organization's needs
• Disadvantages of primary research

  • Expensive and time-consuming
  • Prone to researcher bias
• Primary research methods

  • Surveys
  • Interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Observations
• Surveys


  Document with a set of questions, can be open-ended or closed
• Advantages of surveys

  • Suitable for both quantitative and qualitative data
  • Easy to analyze
  • Easy for respondents to complete
• Disadvantages of surveys


  • Need large sample size for statistical validity
  • No chance to clarify unclear responses
• Interviews


  Face-to-face meetings to collect information, can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured
• Advantages of interviews


  • Collect in-depth data
  • Flexibility to ask follow-up questions
• Disadvantages of interviews


  • Time-consuming for researchers and respondents
  • Prone to interviewer bias
• Focus groups


  Small group discussions about a brand or product
• Advantages of focus groups

  • Less interviewer bias
  • Provide insights into reasons behind customer behaviour
• Disadvantages of focus groups

  • Small sample size
  • Observer effect - people may behave differently when observed
• Observations

  Monitoring and recording customer behaviour in natural or controlled conditions
• Advantages of observations

  • Identify patterns in customer behaviour
  • Verify effectiveness of marketing strategies
• Disadvantages of observations


  • Do not reveal reasons behind behaviour
• Secondary research


  Collecting existing, second-hand data, also called desk research
• Advantages of secondary research

  • Convenient and readily available
• Disadvantages of secondary research

  • Data may not be tailored to organization's needs
  • Potential issues with reliability and validity of data
• Primary market research

  Field research where you go to the field and collect data that does not exist
• Secondary research


  Desk research where you just sit at the desk and look up something that somebody already collected before
• Sources of secondary research

  • Foreign publication
  • Academic journal
  • Government publication
  • Media article
  • Online content
• Foreign publication


  • Provided by consultancy agencies like the 'big 4' (Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC)
  • Professional and trustworthy
  • Well-presented and readily available
  • Expensive
• Academic journal

  • Published by educational institutions
  • Credible, peer-reviewed, and reliable
  • Theoretical and not real-world enough
• Government publication


  • Official documents provided by the government
  • Reliable and up-to-date
  • Not tailored for business purposes, may need adaptation
• Media article


  • Published in newspapers or magazines
  • Suitable for opinions and analytics
  • Biased due to media agendas
• Online content

  • Anything posted online
  • Suitable for customer feedback and insights
  • Most biased and unreliable, can be manipulated
• Quantitative research


  Collecting measurable, quantifiable 'hard' data
• Qualitative research

  Collecting non-numerical 'soft' data like opinions, attitudes, and reasons for behaviour
• Differences between quantitative and qualitative research

  • Quantitative is about numbers, qualitative is about words
  • Quantitative is objective, qualitative is subjective
  • Quantitative requires large sample sizes, qualitative requires smaller sample sizes
  • Quantitative is easy to collect and analyze, qualitative is harder to collect and analyze
  • Quantitative is superficial, qualitative provides deeper insights
  • Primary methods for quantitative are surveys and observations, primary methods for qualitative are interviews and focus groups
  • Quantitative is less biased, qualitative is more biased
• Population


  All potential customers or respondents that can be involved in market research
• Sample


  The people who are involved in the research and represent the entire population
• Sampling

  The process of selecting the respondents that are representative of the entire population
• Quota sampling

  • Population is divided into representative groups and a fixed number of respondents from each group is selected
  • Advantages: representative and reliable
  • Disadvantages: subject to sampling errors if population division or quotas are inappropriate
• Random sampling


  • All members of the population have an equal chance of being selected
  • Advantages: minimal bias, convenient
  • Disadvantages: may not be representative of specific market segments