Contents
Meaning of Marketing Research
Marketing research is a process of analyzing and conducting research about the market to understand market trends. It involves proper collection, analysis and interpretation of information regarding market conditions. Marketing research is mainly conducted to identify changes in preferences and behaviour of customers arising from the change in market mix elements viz. promotion, place, price and product. It may be defined as the mechanism which helps in linking the customers, producers and several other end users to the marketer and help in finding and communicating of all required information.
Scope of Marketing Research
Determines Customer Behaviour
Market research helps the organisation in understanding the behaviour of customers. It performs research and acquires data like age, gender, income, likes, dislikes etc. related to customers. All this data provided to an organisation helps them in developing the right product as to satisfy their wants. Marketing research helps organisations in understanding the needs and wants of customers and thereby accordingly formulates their production policies.
Provide Valuable Data
Effective decision making of any organisation depends entirely on the quality of information available with it. Marketing research supplies all important information about the market to the management team. It keeps organisation aware of market factors like demand, supply, competition, technological changes, consumer behaviour etc. All this information is vital for strategic decision making. Managers frame all their organisation policies in accordance with data supplied by marketing research.
Helps in Sales Forecasting
Marketing research support business activities by forecasting sales using different techniques. Producing and maintaining an optimum level of inventory in the organisation is a challenging task in front of every product manager. Producing goods in accordance with demand helps in reducing risk and raising profit. Over producing and under-producing of goods adversely affects the business. Marketing research forecasts sales using sale force estimate method, sale force method, jury method etc. and supplies data to the organisation. This helps in framing production policies accordingly.
Lower Business Risk
Marketing research plays an important role in reducing business risk and raising the revenue of the business organisation. It helps businesses in carrying on their operations in accordance with market requirements. The business acquires all current data and generalized information about market trends. All decisions are taken in order to focus on the customer’s current demands and thereby producing the right product. This results in avoiding resources of organisation and lowering risk.
Evaluate Market Performance
Market performance has an effective role in developing a good image of the business in the market. Marketing research helps the business in evaluating its performance in the market and taking action accordingly to improve it. It checks the effects of product, price, brand name, packaging etc. on sales volume. Marketing research studies the customer response towards company products in the market and provides all data. It evaluates and helps in choosing best pricing policies, distribution channel and advertising techniques which help in improving the market performance.
Facilitates Introduction of New Products
Marketing research enables the business to examine and introduce their new products in the market. It enables to conduct testing of new products in small or local markets initially and studies consumer reaction towards it. This helps the business in understanding the deficiencies and problem in their product. They can accordingly overcome these issues and develops an efficient marketing mix for their product. All these helps in minimising the risk involved in the launching of a new product.
Choose Best Promotion Techniques
Selection of proper promotional techniques is a must for increasing the sales of a business. Marketing research helps business in deciding suitable promotional and marketing programmes for their products. It helps the business in understanding the customers’ needs and behaviour.
Accordingly, promotional techniques are designed and implemented which displays the keys wants of customers as the product features. It has an influencing and long-lasting effect on customers and helps in attracting more of them. Marketing research increases the sales of a business by choosing the best promotional measures.
Objectives of Marketing Research
Identify Customer Needs And Expectations
Marketing research helps business in understanding the needs and wants of customers. Proper knowledge of what customer want is necessary to deliver the products as per their expectations. Marketing research involves reaching out to customers and interacting with them to understand their demands. It helps in developing the right product as per customer requirements.
Minimise Marketing Costs
Marketing research process monitors and controls all marketing programmes. It performs a proper analysis and research of the market before formulating various marketing policies. It helps in choosing the efficient means of advertising and distributing the goods to reduce the marketing expenses. Marketing strategies used by competitors are also analysed through this process to design better plans for marketing.
Setting Up Proper Price Policy
Deciding a proper price is a crucial decision for every business organisation. Pricing policy should be such that it should neither adversely affects the customers nor the organisation itself. Market research conduct research about price policies adopted by several other competitors in the market. It collects a considerable amount of information regarding what competitors are charging and also what customers are willing to pay. This all helps in deciding optimum prices for different products.
Finds Target Market And New Opportunities
Identifying potential customers and new opportunities are important for grabbing the market. Marketing research explores the wide and large market and find out the opportunities for new products by recognising the unfulfilled needs of customers.
It finds and gathers collection about new areas where its products can be sold. Different information about people of that area like their taste and preferences, purchasing power, culture and tradition is collected and analysed to target that area.
Recognise Deficiencies In Product
Marketing research helps the companies in identifying the deficiencies in their products. Timely identification and removal of faults from company products is essential to retain its image in the market. Marketing research process involves interacting with customers and takes their valuable feedback and suggestion.
These suggestions and feedback from customer help the customers in improving their product quality. Marketing research also informs of any technological changes in market to business so that accordingly changes can be made timely.
Product Positioning In Market
Positioning of product among targeted customers is an important task. It is the means through which customers are attracted and the market for the product is developed. Marketing research process collects all relevant information about the targeted audience.
This information helps in designing a company offers an image that may attract customers and have a long-lasting effect on their mind. Positioning strategy is designed differently for each product that may attract large customers. These strategies should clearly denote the main features of products.
Process of Marketing Research
Problem Identification
The first and foremost step in the marketing research process. The identification of problems. For which the research is to be conducted. Unless and until the problem is recognized clearly. No clear cut plan can be formed leading to wastage of resources.
Research Plan Formulation
It consists of strategies. That is to be followed, for solving the problem and achieving the required objectives goals. It involves various data sources. From which data is to be collected. Various research approaches, contacting ways and sampling methods.
Acquiring And Gathering Information
It is one of the important step in this process. Its focus is on a collection of all required information. Using various data sources. So that the result will come true and fair.
Interpretation Of Information
The successful collection of all required information. A systematic and proper study is to be done. To conduct a successful analysis of all collected information. To get details in accordance with the research plan.
Result Presentation
In this step, all the findings of the process are presented to management team. For the researcher to take efficient decision-making.
Decision Making
This is the ending of the marketing research process. Once the research results are presented to the management team. They use this research information in their decision-making.
Conclusion
Marketing research plays an important role in studying consumer behaviour. It is very efficient tool for the marketers to understand the trends of the market that mainly consists of information relating to new product launch in the market, trends in consumer demand, pricing strategy of the competitor and available close substitutes of the product.
Marketing research companies easily identify what their customers want which helps in developing products of their use so that competitive advantage over other competitors can be maintained in the market. It helps in finding out the target market and interacts directly with potential customers to get valuable feedback and suggestion. These all information acquired through this process enables in the smooth functioning of the marketing process.
