Business studies: market research

What is market research?

the process of gathering,analysing and interpreting

information about a market.
Role of market research:

1. Willingness to buy
2. Product
3. Place
4. Price
5. Promotion
6. Competitors
Primary market reseasrch:

-original information
Advantage: Disadvantage:
-direct information gathered -expensive
-relates directly to the use -time consuming
of the researcher's study.
Secondary market research:

-references
Advantage: Disadvantage:
-ease of access -not specific to researchers needs
-low cost -incomplete information
Methods of primary market research:

Online surveys:
Advantage:
• Fast,with quicker response time
 • Cheaper
• Easy to complete
• Data collected can be quickly presented and analyzed
Disadvantage:
• Absence of interviewer to explain open ended question
• Cannot reach potential respondents
Questionaires:
Advantage:
• Detailed quality information
• Customer opinions can be obtained
Disadvantage:
• If questions are not well thought out, answers won't be accurate
• Takes a lot of time and money
Interviews:
Advantage:
• Able to explain any question
• Detailed information can be gathered
Disadvantage:
• Inaccurate results due to interviewer bias
• Very time-consuming
Focus groups
Advantage:
• Detailed information about customers preferences
• Quicker and cheaper
Disadvantage:
• Time consuming and expensive
• Discussion could be biased
• Can be dominated by just a few people
Sources of secondary data:

Internal-inside the business

External-outside the business
▪ Departments:
Internal:
▫ Finance department
▫ Sales department
▫ Customer service department
Eternal:
▫ Online sources
▫ newspaper
▫ Government statistics
▫ Market research agencies