business market research

• Market research


  The collection of data on customer habits to help decision making in marketing
• Market research


  • Before a business starts, it is important that the owners check exactly who their customers are likely to be
  • Are they old or young, male or female, rich or poor?
  • There is little point starting a business and then wondering why you are not selling anything
• Target market


  The people most likely to purchase the businesses products
• Understanding your target market is important because it can help a business segment its market, which means aiming different products at different groups of people
• Watches


  • There are many different types and styles made by the same maker, all targeting different groups of people
• What is market research?

  Market research is how businesses collect information on whether or not their products or services will be bought
• Why is market research important?

  • Market research will help a business to be clear on whether there is demand for the product of service
  • Put quite simply: will customers buy the product or not?
  • There is clearly no use making a product or providing a service is no one wants it!
  • Market research avoids unnecessary investment
• Methods of market research

  • Primary
  • Secondary
• Primary research


  Collecting information that s new and specific to the business
• Primary research methods


  • Questionnaires
  • Interviews
  • Trials
  • Focus groups
• Questionnaires

  A question sheet filled in by the consumer
• Questionnaires

  • Advantages: They are cheaper than interviews to collect data
  • They can easily target particular consumers, for example, a questionnaire sent with a guarantee or a product
  • Disadvantages: It is difficult to predict how many completed questionnaires will be available
  • The people filling in the forms may not understand the questions being asked
• Interviews

  A question sheet filled on by the person conducting the interview
• Interviews

  • Advantages: The interviewer can explain questions of there is a misunderstanding
  • Customers can be targeted easily, for example picking out certain age groups in a street interview
  • Disadvantages: They can be expensive because and interviewer has to be paid
  • Customers may feel uncomfortable being interviewed, whether it is being stopped in the street of over the phone
• Trials

  Are used to test whether customer will buy a product
• Trials

  • Advantages: As trials are conducted in a small area, a business may save money by having a trail for a product or service, just in case it finds out that customers don't want what the business has for sale
  • Disadvantages: Trials are still costly to set up
  • The area chosen must fully reflect the target market of the business, if not then money will be wasted
  • The business may conduct a trail and only find out what they first thought
• Focus Groups

  Are selected small groups of customers who give their opinions on products
• Focus Groups

  • Advantages: Because focus group are chosen to represent the target market for a business, the data from them is usually very accurate and can be relied upon to make important decisions
  • Disadvantages: Focus groups, though carefully chosen, are still small groups which makes the collection of data from them more expensive per person than interviews or questionnaires
  • The selection of people to take part in the focus group is time consuming and so costly
• Smaller businesses often do not use primary research because it can be expensive
• Primary research is also known as

  Field research
• Trials are used to establish whether there is demand without committing fully to the idea
• Focus groups are usually made up of people who represent the target market
• Secondary research

  Is the collection of data using research or information provided by others, such as magazines journals and the internet. Often called desk research
• Sources of Secondary research

  • Census Data
  • Websites
  • Internal Data
  • Newspapers and Magazines
• Census data


  Data collected by the government every ten years, questioning the entire population on their income occupation etc
• Internal data

  Data already within a business based on past performance
• Advantages of secondary research

  • As the research has already been completed by another organisation, secondary research is usually much cheaper to collect than primary research
  • A wide range of data is readily available, especially with the growth of the internet
• Disadvantages of secondary research

  • The research information eight not be exactly what a business wants
  • The data may not be up-to-date
  • The data might not be in a form that the business can analyse easily
• Qualitative data is collected when the opinions of consumers is needed
• Qualitative data


  Data based on opinion of those being asked
• Qualitative data is usually collected using primary research methods, often with interviews or the use of a focus group, although secondary research could be used as well
• Quantitative data


  Data collected that is based on facts and numbers, usually easier to analyse than qualitative data
• Quantitative data could be collected using primary of secondary data