Marketing Research

Marketing May be defined as the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and service under essentially non recurring conditions- Hasty, Roland, Wand till R Ted

 MR has to do with the gathering, processing, analysing, storage and dissemination of information to facilitate and improve decision makingSeibert Joseph MR is the branch of marketing intelligence that conducts specific enquiries into problems in order to guide decisions- Luck, David, J.Wales

AMA Definition
Marketing research as the function which links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information- information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems, refine and evaluate marketing action s, monitor marketing performance and improve understanding of marketing as a process

 1. 2.

Applied research Basic research Role of MR Situational Analysis Strategy Development What business should we be in? How will we compete? What are the objectives for the business?

3. Marketing Programme Development Segmentation Decision Product Decision Distribution decision Advertising and Promotion decisions 4. Implementation of Management Decisions

Factors Influencing MR Decisions

Relevance Type and nature of information sought Timing Availability of resources Cost and benefit analysis

Use Of MR
Research quality
Conformity to prior expectation Clarity of presentations

Political acceptability within the firm

Does MR Guarantee Success?

Cost Time Skills Security External Factors Attitude of management

Information Systems
It is a continuing and interacting structure of people, equipment, and procedures designed to gather, analyze, evaluate and distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information to decision makers

MR vs. IS
MR is concerned with the actual content of the information and how it is to be generated. IS is concerned with managing the flow of data from many different projects and secondary sources to the management who will use it. This requires databases to organize and store the information and a decision support system (DSS) to retrieve data, transform it into usable information, and disseminate it to users.

Types of Information
Recurring day to day information

Intelligence relevant to the future strategy of the business

Research studies

MDSS
The purpose of a marketing decision support system is to combine marketing data from diverse sources into a single data base which line managers can enter interactively to quickly identify problems and obtain standard, periodic reports, as well as answers to analytical questions

Characteristics of MDSS
Interactive: simple and direct.
Flexible Discovery oriented

User friendly

Components OF MDSS
MANAGERS
Modeling Display

Analysis Environment

Database

Research Suppliers
Internal External 1. Full Service: The entire range of marketing research

2. Limited service: specialises in one or few phases of the marketing research

Full Service
Syndicated services
Standardized services Customised services

Internet services

Syndicated Services
They collect information of known commercial value that they provide to multiple clients on a subscription basis. Surveys, panels, scanners and audits are the main means by which these data are collected Nielson Television Index- audience size, demographic characteristics of households watching specific television programmes

Standardised Services
They are research studies conducted for different clients but in a std. form Procedures for measuring advertising effectiveness have been standardised so that the results can be compared across studies and evaluative norms can be established. Starch Readership Survey

Customised Services
To suit a clients specific needs.

Each marketing research project treated uniquely.

Limited Services
Field services Coding and data entry services Analytical services Data analysis services Branded marketing research products

Field services
Companies whose primary service offering is their expertise in collecting data for research projects Specialising in interviewing

Coding and Data Entry Services

Companies whose primary service offering is their expertise in converting completed surveys or interviews into a usable database for conducting statistical analysis.

 Analytical Services: Companies that provide guidance in the development of research design Data Analysis Services: Firms whose primary service is to conduct statistical analysis of quantitative data

Branded Marketing Research Products

Specialised data collection and analysis procedures developed to address specific types of marketing research problems These procedures are patented, given brand names and marketed like any other branded product