Primary Market Research Methods

• Accurate definitions are key to a good mark when answering exam questions, as they are precise and concise and save time.

Primary Market Research

• Businesses use primary market research to gather up-to-date customer views about products and tailor questions to meet specific needs.
• Primary market research can be difficult and time-consuming to collect and is expensive to carry out.
• Misleading results stem from small sample sizes or biased questions.

Primary Market Research Methods

• Observation is where businesses monitor customers' behavior when purchasing to reveal customer views and feelings; however, this method can be time-consuming and costly.
• Online surveys use websites such as social media, and have the benefit of automated database results.
• Online surveys typically have low response rates, which can distort consumer opinions.
• Face-to-face surveys are personal interviews to gather customer views and obtain detailed insight, particularly for emotional responses though they are costly.
• Focus groups assemble potential customers to discuss feelings about a product or market to gather detailed qualitative information but can be expensive.

Secondary Market Research

• Secondary market research involves using data collected by someone else, which was not specifically designed for the business requiring details.
• Government statistics are available to all, and include demographic trends, for instance, the rate of rise in the number of under-fives predicted over the next five years.
• Government statistics are free to obtain and usually free from bias, but the data can be one or two years out of date
• Mintel and other commercial organizations publish market research reports on numerous customer products and services to show current businesses and potential areas for new businesses to target.
• Reports may not be focused on business specific questions and can be expensive to buy for businesses.
• Internal business data, such as sales figures and customer numbers, can research what customers want from a product or service.
• The existing research data is cheap, but it may not answer all key questions for business success.
• Publicly available sales and profit competitive data can research competitor market performance.
• Competitor data is accessible to all competitors, and the available may be basic with little real value.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Market Research

• Secondary market research is time and cost-effective from readily available or cheaper already existing data that was gathered by primary research methods.
• Secondary market makes business fully dependent on someone elses efforts and the data may be biased, making business decisions risky.

Market Research

• Market research entails gathering information about customer attitudes, behavior, and wants related to a product or service.
• Businesses often complete market research before entering a new market and at regular operating intervals.
• Market research can check customer loyalty and identify service improvements.

Market Orientation

• Market orientation involves designing a product or service to meet customer desires.
• Market research is vital for a market-oriented business to find out customers' tastes and priorities.
• The strengths of a market focus are close customer expectations and responsiveness to changes in customer needs.
• The weakness of market orientation is a product's regular changes, leading customers to be confused about the brand.

Product Orientation

• Product orientation focuses on creating and developing a high-quality good or service but may ignore customer preferences and priorities.
• The strength of product orientation is focusing on product quality and innovation.
• Shortcomings of product orientation are prioritizing products over customers that leads to products that although admired, do not sell well.
• The risk with market research is that customers struggle to envision the future, as consumers asked 100 years ago would have requested a faster horse rather than a car.