Introduction
to Business MGT 211
VU
LESSON
26
MARKETING
RESEARCH
Marketing
Research is the process of
gathering data about
marketing issues and
transforming
that
raw data into meaningful
information that can improve
decisions and reduce risks.
Market
research
can help with nearly
every phase of marketing
from setting goals for
market share to
developing
new products to monitoring
the program's effectiveness. It is
also important to
monitor
the competition, track
industry trends, and measure
customer satisfaction.
Marketing
Research
can occur at any point in
the product's
existence.
The
Research Process
Study
the current situation
Select
a research method
Collect
data
Secondary
data are already available
from previous
research.
Primary
data is newly performed
research.
Analyze
the data
Prepare
a report
Research
Methods
i.
Observation-Market
Research technique
that involves simply
watching
and
recording consumer behavior.
Probably the oldest form of
market
research,
it has been brought up to
date with such tools as
electronic
supermarket
scanners that allow managers
to see what is selling
without
having
to check shelves or
inventory.
ii.
Survey-Market
Research technique
using a questionnaire that is
either
mailed
to individuals or used as the
basis of interviews. Surveys
can be
expensive
and may vary widely in
accuracy; it is also difficult to
find
representative
groups of respondents.
iii.
Focus
Group-Market
Research technique in
which a small group
of
people
is gathered, presented with an
issue, and asked to discuss
it in
depth.
At its best it allows
exploration of complex issues
and can
produce
creative solutions. Its
small size (6 to 15 people is
best) means
it
may not represent the
larger market well. Focus
groups are often
used
as a first step, leading to
some other form of
research.
iv.
Experimentation-market
research technique that
attempts to compare
the
responses of the same or
similar people under
different
circumstances.
This method is very
expensive but can supply
answers
to
questions that surveys
cannot address, by allowing
customers to
sample
new products, for
instance.
Data
Warehousing and Data
Mining
Database
marketing is the
process of recording and
analyzing information about
the
interactions
with customers. Two
components include
Data
Warehousing and
Data
Mining
Data
warehousing is the
process of collecting, storing, and
retrieving data in electronic
files.
106
Introduction
to Business MGT 211
VU
i.
Data
Mining uses
electronic technologies for
searching, sifting
through,
and
reorganizing date in order to
collect marketing information
and
target
products in the marketplace.
Some benefits are:
107