marketing (BS N5)

• Market research

  A systematic process of gathering, analysing, and interpreting information about the market in which a business operates
• Market research

  • Provides data about customers' preferences, market trends, and competitors
  • Plays a crucial role in guiding business decisions and developing effective strategies to promote an organisation's product or service to its customers
• Quantitative data

  Analyses numbers and statistics
• Qualitative data

  Descriptive and subjective, offering detailed insights into opinions and experiences
• Benefits of market research

  • Helps businesses stay informed and responsive to changes in the market and customer preferences
  • Helps businesses identify untapped market segments, emerging trends, and potential gaps in the market
  • Assesses the feasibility of new products, pricing strategies, or market expansions
  • Provides insights into competitors' strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and customer perceptions
  • Evaluates the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, advertising messages, and promotional activities
  • Allows businesses to base their strategies and actions on reliable information and data-driven insights
• Primary (field) research

  Involves collecting first hand data directly from the target market or specific participants
• Examples of primary research

  • Surveys
  • Interviews
  • Focus Groups
  • Observations
  • Mystery Shopping
• Advantages of primary research

  • Gathers data that is targeted and specific, directly relevant to the business's needs
  • The business has full control over the data collection process, ensuring the reliability and quality of the data
  • Provides up-to-date information as it involves collecting data directly from the target market
  • Can gather in-depth insights into customer behaviours, opinions, and motivations
  • Only the organisation that collects data has access to it
• Disadvantages of primary research

  • Can be time-consuming and resource-intensive
  • Can be costly, compared with secondary research
  • May not provide a comprehensive view of the entire market or customer behaviour
• Secondary (desk) market research

  The process of gathering and analysing existing data and information that has been previously collected by someone else for a different purpose
• Examples of secondary research

  • Published reports and studies
  • Government publications
  • Company annual reports
  • Online databases and libraries
  • News and Media Sources
  • Social media and online forums
• Advantages of secondary research

  • Businesses access existing data and information, saving time and resources compared to primary research
  • Provides access to a wide range of data from various sources
  • Often offers historical data, enabling businesses to analyse trends and changes over time
  • Often involves larger sample sizes, which can enhance the validity and reliability of the findings
• Disadvantages of secondary research

  • The data may not be tailored specifically to the business's needs
  • Businesses have limited control over the data collection process, which may result in potential biases, inconsistencies, or gaps
  • Data may not be up-to-date or lack comprehensive coverage
• Market research tools and techniques

  • Face to face interviews
  • Postal survey
  • Focus group
  • Hall test
  • Observation
  • Telephone survey
  • Online survey
  • Mystery shopper
  • Social media listening
• Face to face interviews

  Interviews conducted personally by an interviewer to individual, or multiple, respondents
• Advantages of face to face interviews

  • Two-way communication, mistakes and provides information about opinions, feelings and attitudes and topics can be explored in detail
• Disadvantages of face to face interviews

  • Can be expensive, researchers have to be trained, and it can be difficult to analyse qualitative information
• Postal survey

  Market research using questionnaires sent in the mail
• Advantages of postal survey

  • Inexpensive and no formal interviewer training required, suitable for reaching a large geographic area, and provide respondents with flexibility in completing the questionnaire at their convenience
• Disadvantages of postal survey

  • Questions need to be simple and easy to answer, response rates are low, and incentives are needed sometimes
• Focus group

  Bringing together a small group of participants to discuss specific topics or products and to share their opinions, experiences, and feedback
• Advantages of focus group

  • Good qualitative information arising from group discussion or demonstrations, allows for interactive discussions and generation of new ideas
• Disadvantages of focus group

  • Small sample size and respondents may be too positive as they feel obliged to give favourable opinion, they may also be influenced by dominant participants
• Hall test

  Respondents get to try out or test a product or service and give feedback, typically conducted in a controlled environment, such as a shopping centre or testing facility, to gather immediate feedback on product or service performance
• Advantages of hall test

  • Instant feedback on a product or service
• Disadvantages of hall test

  • Respondents may feel under pressure to give a positive or favourable response
• Observation

  Systematically observing and recording participants' behaviours or interactions in real-life settings
• Advantages of observation

  • Demonstrates real life behaviour and actions by consumers, provides valuable insights into consumer behaviours and actions
• Disadvantages of observation

  • Samples are often random and not representative of all consumers, it also only shows actions and does not explain attitudes or motivations
• Telephone survey

  Surveys are carried out over the phone by an interviewer who will ask questions from a questionnaire
• Advantages of telephone survey

  • A quick data collection process which can reach a large geographical area and relatively inexpensive
• Disadvantages of telephone survey

  • Low response rates and respondents may view them as intrusive or nuisance calls
• Online survey

  A questionnaire is conducted via the Internet
• Advantages of online survey

  • Covers a large sample size and is inexpensive, provides fast data collection and analysis
• Disadvantages of online survey

  • Limited to consumers with internet access, and some people regard online surveys as interference
• Mystery shopper

  Trained individuals pose as customers to evaluate the quality of service or customer experiences
• Advantages of mystery shopper

  • Allows businesses to evaluate service standards and identify areas for improvement
• Disadvantages of mystery shopper

  • The mystery shopper's views may be subject to opinions and bias, making it less reliable, feedback may represent only a single or a limited number of observations so that it perspective may not fully capture the overall customer experience
• Social media listening

  Monitoring and analysing conversations and interactions on social media platforms
• Advantages of social media listening

  • Provides valuable insights into consumer opinions, sentiments, and trends, allows businesses to gather real-time information and understand the online perception of their brand or industry