Hoofdstuk 5
Market research is the process of collecting, analysing and presenting useful
information about consumers. Marketing research also includes the more general
research into markets, which includes competitive activities and also
environmental issues such as government activities and economic shifts.
Types of research that are carried out by marketers are as follows:
- Customer research is intended to produce facts about markets and market
segments; it provides information about where customers live, what they
do with their time, what their motivations are, what they like to spend
money on and what their spending power is, and what the trends are in the
market.
- Promotion research measures the success of promotions in terms of their
objectives. It relies on careful planning of objectives but can provide
information about the suitability of the approach used in reaching a target
audience. Research is also useful for determining which media should be
used; since promotion in general, and advertising in particular, tends to be
expensive it is important that the effort is not squandered on advertising in
the wrong place.
- Product research is used to identify new uses for existing products, or to
identify needs for new products. Product research is often used to refine
the design of an existing product to produce an improved ‘Mark 2’ version.
- Distribution research is concerned with finding the best channels of
distribution for a product; often it overlaps with consumer research, since
the location of retail outlets will depend on where the target consumers
live and on their habits.
- Sales research is intended to help the sales management process by
ensuring that territories are of equal size or value, that the techniques and
approaches being used are effective, that the training of the salesforce is
appropriate and sufficient, and that the salesforce motivation is
appropriate.
- marketing environment research examines aspects of the micro- and
macro-environments. The purpose of the exercise is to ensure that the firm
can anticipate environmental change and develop responses in advance.
The purpose of the research is to collect data (and sometimes information) and
process it into usable information that can be used to make management
decisions. The first stage in any research process is to define the problem and set
objectives. After setting the objectives, the process of collecting the data can
begin. Data can be collected from either primary sources or secondary sources.
Primary sources are original research: questionnaires, interviews, experiments or
product tests with consumers. Secondary research (also called desk research)
comes from already published information. Normally it is sensible to begin the
research process by looking at secondary sources. The reasons for this are as
follows:
• It is always cheaper.
• It is always quicker.
• Sometimes all the necessary information for making the decision has already
been published and is available.
• Even when the published information is incomplete, the researchers will only
have to fill in the gaps with primary research rather than gather all the
information first-hand.
Respondents are the subjects of research – the people whose behaviour and
opinion are of interest to the researchers. The methodology will depend on what
the researchers are hoping to discover. Methodology is not the same as method;
Market research is the process of collecting, analysing and presenting useful
information about consumers. Marketing research also includes the more general
research into markets, which includes competitive activities and also
environmental issues such as government activities and economic shifts.
Types of research that are carried out by marketers are as follows:
- Customer research is intended to produce facts about markets and market
segments; it provides information about where customers live, what they
do with their time, what their motivations are, what they like to spend
money on and what their spending power is, and what the trends are in the
market.
- Promotion research measures the success of promotions in terms of their
objectives. It relies on careful planning of objectives but can provide
information about the suitability of the approach used in reaching a target
audience. Research is also useful for determining which media should be
used; since promotion in general, and advertising in particular, tends to be
expensive it is important that the effort is not squandered on advertising in
the wrong place.
- Product research is used to identify new uses for existing products, or to
identify needs for new products. Product research is often used to refine
the design of an existing product to produce an improved ‘Mark 2’ version.
- Distribution research is concerned with finding the best channels of
distribution for a product; often it overlaps with consumer research, since
the location of retail outlets will depend on where the target consumers
live and on their habits.
- Sales research is intended to help the sales management process by
ensuring that territories are of equal size or value, that the techniques and
approaches being used are effective, that the training of the salesforce is
appropriate and sufficient, and that the salesforce motivation is
appropriate.
- marketing environment research examines aspects of the micro- and
macro-environments. The purpose of the exercise is to ensure that the firm
can anticipate environmental change and develop responses in advance.
The purpose of the research is to collect data (and sometimes information) and
process it into usable information that can be used to make management
decisions. The first stage in any research process is to define the problem and set
objectives. After setting the objectives, the process of collecting the data can
begin. Data can be collected from either primary sources or secondary sources.
Primary sources are original research: questionnaires, interviews, experiments or
product tests with consumers. Secondary research (also called desk research)
comes from already published information. Normally it is sensible to begin the
research process by looking at secondary sources. The reasons for this are as
follows:
• It is always cheaper.
• It is always quicker.
• Sometimes all the necessary information for making the decision has already
been published and is available.
• Even when the published information is incomplete, the researchers will only
have to fill in the gaps with primary research rather than gather all the
information first-hand.
Respondents are the subjects of research – the people whose behaviour and
opinion are of interest to the researchers. The methodology will depend on what
the researchers are hoping to discover. Methodology is not the same as method;
