Market research

Market research

Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy.[1] The term is commonly interchanged with marketing research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that marketing research is concerned specifically about marketing processes, while market research is concerned specifically with markets.[2]

Market research is a key factor to get advantage over competitors. Market research provides important information to identify and analyze the market need, market size and competition.

Market research, as defined by the ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market and Social Research, includes social and opinion research, [and] is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organizations using statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making.[3]

Contents

History

Market research began to be conceptualized and put into formal practice during the 1920s, as an offshoot of the advertising boom of the Golden Age of radio in the United States. Advertisers began to realize the significance of demographics revealed by sponsorship of different radio programs.

Market research for business/planning

Market research is for discovering what people want, need, or believe. It can also involve discovering how they act. Once that research is completed, it can be used to determine how to market your product.

Questionnaires and focus group discussion surveys are some of the instruments for market research.

For starting up a business, there are some important things:

  • Market information

Through Market information one can know the prices of the different commodities in the market, as well as the supply and demand situation. Information about the markets can be obtained from different sources, varieties and formats, as well as the sources and varieties that have to be obtained to make the business work.

  • Market segmentation

Market segmentation is the division of the market or population into subgroups with similar motivations. It is widely used for segmenting on geographic differences, personality differences, demographic differences, technographic differences, use of product differences, psychographic differences and gender differences. For B2B segmentation firmographics is commonly used.

Market trends are the upward or downward movement of a market, during a period of time. The market size is more difficult to estimate if one is starting with something completely new. In this case, you will have to derive the figures from the number of potential customers, or customer segments. [Ilar 1998]

Besides information about the target market, one also needs information about one's competitors, customers, products, etc. Lastly, you need to measure marketing effectiveness. A few techniques are:

Financial performance

Top 9 of the market research sector 2009

From the Honomichl Top 50:

Rank Company Sales in 2009
(million USD)
Growth in %
1 Nielsen Company 9,056.0 2.6
2 Kantar Group - TNS, Millward Brown, BMRB, IMRB International and Ziment Group 4,692.0 2.5
3 IMS Health Inc. 1,958.6 8.5
4 GfK AG 1,397.3 5.4
5 Ipsos 1,077.0 6.5
6 Synovate 739.6 9.5
7 IRI 665.0 6.6
8 Westat 425.8 0.8
9 Arbitron 400.0 5.9

Global market research turnover in 2009

Rank Continent Sales in 2009
(million USD) [4]
Share
1 Europe 13,299 46%
2 North America 9,188 32%
3 Asia Pacific 4,480 15%
4 Latin America 1,486 5%
5 Middle East & Africa 492 2%

See also

References

Other reading

  • Bradley, Nigel Marketing Research. Tools and Techniques.Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010
  • Marder, Eric The Laws of Choice—Predicting Customer Behavior (The Free Press division of Simon and Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-684-83545-2
  • Young, Charles E, The Advertising Handbook, Ideas in Flight, Seattle, WA, April 2005. ISBN 0-9765574-0-1
  • Kotler, Philip and Armstrong, Gary Principles of Marketing Pearson, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2007 ISBN 978-0-13-239002-6, ISBN 0-13-239002-7

External links



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • market-research — market research …   Dictionary of sociology

  • market research — market re search n [U] a business activity which involves collecting information about what goods people buy and why they buy them ▪ They had to conduct market research, then advertise the product …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • market research — ► NOUN ▪ the activity of gathering information about consumers needs and preferences …   English terms dictionary

  • market research — n. the study of the demands or needs of consumers in relation to particular goods or services …   English World dictionary

  • market research — A technical analysis of factors such as volume, price trends, and market breadth that are used to predict price movement. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary * * * market research market research ➔ research * * * market research UK US noun [U] (also …   Financial and business terms

  • market research — the gathering and studying of data relating to consumer preferences, purchasing power, etc., esp. prior to introducing a product on the market. [1925 30] * * * Study of the requirements of specific markets, the acceptability of products, and… …   Universalium

  • Market Research — The process of assessing the viability of a new product or service through techniques such as surveys, product testing and focus groups. Market research allows a company to discover who their target market is and what these consumers think about… …   Investment dictionary

  • market research — noun research that gathers and analyzes information about the moving of good or services from producer to consumer • Syn: ↑marketing research • Hypernyms: ↑research • Hyponyms: ↑market analysis, ↑product research, ↑consumer research …   Useful english dictionary

  • market research — Qualitative and quantitative research on the tastes, values, and perceptions, on the personal, household, and neighbourhood characteristics, and on the purchasing behaviour, of individual consumers of (or industrial customers for) equipment and… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • market research — N UNCOUNT Market research is the activity of collecting and studying information about what people want, need, and buy. A new all woman market research company has been set up to find out what women think about major news and issues …   English dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”