marketing market seg pri& sec mark rese

• Market research


  Collection, presentation and analysis of information relating to the marketing and consumption of goods and services
• Consumption


  Act of buying and using products
• Durability


  Staying in good condition for a long time, even if used a lot
• Market research involves gathering, presenting and analysing information regarding the marketing and consumption of goods and services
• Market research can be expensive but businesses are prepared to meet the cost because of the benefits it brings
• Main purposes of market research


  • Identify and understand customer needs
  • Identify gaps in the market
  • Reduce risk
  • Inform business decisions
• Identify and understand customer needs


  A business will be more successful if it can supply products that meet customers' needs
• Product features important to potential customers


  • Model design and style
  • Colour
  • Durability
  • Efficiency/performance
  • Ease of handling
  • Ease of storage
• Identify gaps in the market

  If a business can spot a gap in the market it is likely to gain a competitive edge for a while
• Reduce risk


  Setting up a business or launching a new product is risky, but investment in effective market research can help reduce the risk of failure
• Inform business decisions


  Market research can provide a wide range of information that could be used to improve decision making, particularly when making marketing decisions
• Primary or field research


  Gathering of new information that does not already exist
• Jargon


  Words and expressions used in a particular profession or by a particular group of people, which may be difficult for other people to understand
• Questionnaires


  A list of written questions used to record the views and opinions of respondents
• Good questionnaire


  • Balance of open and closed questions

  Clear and simple questions

  No leading questions

  Short length
• Questionnaire methods


  • Postal surveys

  Telephone interviews

  Personal interviews

  Online surveys
• Focus groups or consumer panels


  Where a number of customers are invited to attend a discussion led by market researchers
• Observation


  Where market researchers 'watch' the behaviour of customers
• Test marketing


  Selling a new product in a restricted geographical area to test it and sales levels before a national launch
• Secondary or desk research is the collection of data that already exists
• Sources of secondary data


  • Internal data

  External data
• Qualitative data


  Information about attitudes, beliefs and intentions, usually written in words
• Quantitative data


  Information that can be quantified, that is, expressed in numbers
• Advantages of using social media for market research


  • Allows collection of qualitative data

  Allows collection of quantitative data

  Allows monitoring of customer opinions and behaviour

  Allows targeting of specific customer segments
• Qualitative data


  Information that can be described in words or recorded in a video clip
• Qualitative data


  • It is open to many different interpretations
  • It is less easy to analyse statistically than quantitative data
• Quantitative data is often easier to gather, process and present to readers
• Quantitative data is regarded as being open to less interpretation than qualitative data
• Social media


  • Provides a cheap way of gathering information about a firm's customers, market, brand appearance and other market issues
  • Offers numerous ways to analyse trends and conduct market research
  • Allows businesses to simply observe or join in as an equal
• Advantages of using social media for market research

  • Broad reach
  • Ability to target
  • Free or low-cost
  • Personal
  • Fast
  • Easy
• Nescafe uses Tumblr to gather qualitative data
• Sample


  A small group of people, which must represent a proportion of a total market when carrying out market research
• The reliability of market research data depends on the number of people questioned and whether they represent the views of everyone
• Human behaviour is unpredictable, as people might change their minds, misunderstand questions, or give answers they think the interviewers wanted to hear
• Poorly designed questionnaires or untrained interviewers can reduce the quality of the research carried out
• Market segmentation


  Dividing a market into distinct groups of consumers with different needs, characteristics, or behaviour who might require separate products or marketing mixes
• Methods of market segmentation


  • Location (geographical)
  • Demographic
  • Lifestyle (or psychographic)
• Socio-economic groups


  Division of people according to social class based on employment status and prestige acquired mainly through economic success
• In Canada, Chinese consumers are likely to spend more on leather goods, furniture, appliances and electronic equipment
• Benefits of market segmentation


  • Businesses can increase revenue by producing different products for different market segments and charging higher prices
  • Customers may be more loyal to a business that provides products designed specifically for them
  • Businesses can avoid wasting promotional resources by only targeting adverts at those people really interested in the product
  • Businesses can market a wider range of goods to different customer groups