Marketing Research

Market research is the process of collecting, collating and analysing data about the market.

• Primary or field research is research that is done first hand e.g. questionnaires, surveys
• Secondary or desk research uses existing sources of information e.g. books, journals

Primary Research

Methods

• Postal surveys – these have a high sample size but low response rate, relatively cheap
• Telephone surveys – more expensive, higher response rate, can explain questions
• Interviews – smaller sample size, higher response rate, may be interviewer bias
• Focus groups – provide in-depth analysis, small sample size

Advantages

• Fitness for purpose
• Allows to target right segments
• Can explain difficult problems / concepts

Disadvantages

• Can be time consuming
• Expensive
• Some forms have low response rates

Secondary Research

Methods

• Census – provides information on all the households in the UK, updated every 10 years
• Internet – can provide a wealth of information however need to check validity of data
• Government statistics
• Books and journals
• Company reports
• MINTEL reports – these are often a good source of market information

Advantages

• Quick and easy
• Relatively cheap

Disadvantages

• May be out of date
• May not be relevant

Sampling

This video looks at sampling including quota and random sampling.