Marketing Research

Systematic: systematic planning is required at all the stages of the marketing

research process.
Objective: It attempts to provide accurate, impartial information.
The Role (significance) of Marketing Research in Decision Making
Descriptive Function
Diagnostic (analytical) Function
Predictive Function
Marketing Research Components
Market size - number or value of units sold
Market Share - market size out of the whole market
Market penetration - company enters/penetrates a market with current
products to get better market share by lowering the price of a product.
Brand equity research - to know how favorably consumers view the brand.
Buyer decision processes research - what motivates people to buy and what
decision-making process they use.
Marketing research classification
 consumer market research
 business-to-business (B2B) market research

Customer Satisfaction Research

 Distribution channel audits
 Marketing effectiveness and analytics
 Mystery Consumer or Mystery shopping
 Positioning research
 Price elasticity testing
 Segmentation research

Marketing Research Process

Step 1 Define the research purpose or objectives
Step 2: Research Design Formulation
Step 3. Gather secondary data
Step 4. Gather Primary Data
1. Observational techniques-do not involve contact with respondents
2. Focus groups
3. Experimentation-investigates cause and effect relationships.
4. Survey techniques- generate data by asking people questions and
recording their responses.
Step 5: Data Processing and Analysis
Step 6 Report Preparations and Presentation
Marketing Intelligence
Market intelligence is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing,
supplying and applying information (both qualitative and quantitative)
about the external market environment.
 Buyers are most powerful in the following circumstances:
When the industry that is supplying a particular product or service is
composed of many small companies and the buyers are large and few in
number. These circumstances allow the buyers to dominate supplying
companies.
When the buyers purchase in large quantities. In such circumstances, buyers
can use their purchasing power as leverage to bargain for price reductions.
When the supplying industry depends on the buyers for a large percentage of
its total orders.
When switching costs are low, so buyers can play off the supplying companies
against each other to force down prices.

 Suppliers are most powerful in these situations:

The product that a supplier sells has few substitutes and is vital to the
companies in an industry.
The profitability of suppliers is not significantly affected by the purchases of
companies in a particular industry—in other words, the industry is not an
important customer of the suppliers.
Companies in an industry would experience significant switching costs if they
moved to the product of a different supplier because a particular supplier’s
products are unique or different. In such cases, the company depends on a
particular supplier and cannot play suppliers off against each other to reduce
price.
When it is economically feasible for buyers to purchase an input from several
companies at once, so buyers can play off one company in the industry against
another.
When buyers can threaten to enter the industry and produce the product
themselves and thus supply their own needs. This is also a tactic for forcing
down industry prices
Suppliers can threaten to enter their customers’ industry and use their inputs
to produce products that would compete directly with those of companies
already
in the industry.
Companies in the industry cannot threaten to enter their suppliers’ industry
and make their own inputs as a tactic for lowering the price of inputs.

Steps of Competitive Analysis

1) Identify your competitors:
2) Gather information about competitors:
3) Analysing the Competition
4) Develop a pricing model

Marketing Strategy
 It is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited
resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a
sustainable competitive advantage.

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Pricing Strategy
Price Skimming
Penetration Pricing:
Cost-plus pricing
Mark-up pricing
Competition Oriented Pricing
Odd-even pricing
Promotion Strategies
is choosing a target market and formulating the most appropriate promotion
mix to influence it.
Distribution Strategies
Company Factors: financial, human and technological capabilities of a
company to do its business activities.
Market Characteristics: Geography, market density, market size, target
market
Product Attributes – perishability, value and sophistication of the
product
Environmental Forces – those forces that affect the business-like
competition, technology and culture.