Marketing Research

Marketing research

Marketing research is a step-wise process which involves several activities such as identifying the problem, gathering relevant data and ultimately, analyzing the gathered data for the sole purpose of decision making by the higher management.

Quite often, the terms 'market research' and 'marketing research' are wrongly interpreted and substituted for one another. Market research, in simple words, is nothing but the research that is directed towards a very specific i.e. particular market area, whereas marketing research has a much wider, broader spectrum. Marketing research can be further expanded into two specific domains: consumer-related marketing research and business-to-business marketing (B2B) research. However, the basic steps involved in both of these types are generally the same.

The need for market research

Markets are constantly changing. As a result there is a regular need for market information for the following reasons:

1) Sales prediction

2) Market analysis

3) New opportunities

Market research aims to reduce the uncertainty about the launch of new products or the development of existing ones.

“Examiner’s secret”

1) The result of market research aids the marketing and production decision-making process.

2) Primary research also referred as Field research.

3) Secondary research also referred as desk research.

Stages of marketing research

1) Define problem and research objectives.

This is the introductory phase of the marketing research process. Basically, it involves a clear and precise understanding of the problem at hand. It is crucial that the research team identifies, understands and defines the problem in its entire capacity, as it affects all the subsequent activities involved in the research process. Research teams make use of customer feedback, internal and external data reports, sales graphs, purchasing patterns, etc. to come up with an accurate problem definition.

After...