The aim of this lesson was:
- To understand the difference between primary and secondary market research;
- To understand how primary and secondary market research may be used by a business to help inform its marketing decisions.
Market research is consist of: Primary research, Secondary research, Purpose, Sampling methods.
Primary research: Questionnaires, Focus groups, User groups, Postal survey, Telephone surveys, Customer interviews, Test markets, Technology - internet feedback.
–First hand information;
–Expensive to collect, analyse and evaluate;
–Can be highly focussed and relevant;
–Care needs to be taken with the approach and methodology to ensure accuracy;
–Types of question – Closed – limited information gained; Open – useful information but difficult to analyse.
Quantitative and Qualitative Information:
Quantitative – based on numbers – 56% of eighteen year olds drink alcohol at least four times a week. Doesn’t tell you why, when, how. Qualitative – more detail – tells you why, when and how!
Secondary reserch: Internal sources, External sources.
Internal sources - Company Accounts, Internal Reports and Analysis, Stock Analysis, Retail data - till data, etc.
External sources - Government Statistics, EU - Euro Stat, Household Expenditure Survey, Magazine surveys, Other firms’ research, Research documents – publications, journals, etc., Web sites: commercial & non-commercial.
Sampling methods: Random samples, Stratified or segment random sampling, Quota sampling, Cluster sampling, Contact or ¨snowball¨ sampling, Multi-stage sampling.
Purpose: Size of market, Market trends, Forecasting, Planning, Evaluation of strategies/promotion, Assessing marketing mix, Identifying market segments, Identifying consumer needs, Identifying competition, Identifying opportunities, Reduce risk.
