Market Research

1. Competition

1.1. 1 or more business trying to compete for the same customers in 1 market

1.2. Businesses have to ensure they produce good products at good prices to win customers and good customer service to gain customer loyalty

1.3. Helps to improve price,customer service and product range

2. Primary Research

2.1. Data that has never been collected before (Field research)

2.2. • Observations • Consumer trials • Hall tests • Focus groups • Questionnaires/Surveys.

2.3. Advantage-Only firm that collects data has access to it,Collected for a specific purpose Disadvantage-Expensive to collect,Time consuming

3. Secondary Research

3.1. Data that has already been produced (Desk research)

3.2. • Articles • Books • Newspapers • Internet • CD/DVD

3.3. Advantages-Saves time,Cheap, Widely available Disadvantages-May be out of date,may be bias,not for business

4. Market segment

4.1. A group of people who share similar characteristics and buying habits

5. Market research is the process of gathering information from customers which helps identify their needs and target markets

6. Qualitative

6.1. Focus groups,individual interviews and participation/observations.

6.2. Rich data that gives an in-depth picture and it is particularly useful for exploring how and why things have happened.

6.3. • Secondary data • Focus groups • Interviews

7. Quantitative

7.1. Online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys,face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, online polls

7.2. • Numbers • Statistics/Surveys • Secondary Data • Observations

7.3. Data produced are always numerical, and they are analysed using mathematical and statistical methods.

8. Market mapping

8.1. A diagram that identifies all the products in the market using 2 key figures,from which gaps in the market can be identified