Market Research



Market research is the process of systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about customers, competitors and the market. Market research can help create a business plan, launch a new product or service, fine tune existing products and services, expand into new markets etc. It can be used to determine which portion of the population will purchase the product/service, based on variables like age, gender, location and income level. It can be found out what market characteristics your target market has. With market research, companies can learn more about current and potential customers.

The purpose of market research is to help companies make better business decisions about the development and marketing of new products. Market research represents the voice of the consumer in a company.

A list of questions that can be answered through market research:

• What is happening in the market? What are the trends? Who are the competitors?
• How do consumers talk about the products in the market?
• Which needs are important? Are the needs being met by current products?

A simple example of what market research can do for a business is the following. At the company Chevrolet they brought several disciplines together in a cross-functional team to develop a concept for a completely new Corvette. This team enabled the marketers to come up with an alternative concept, one that balanced 4 attributes: comfort and convenience, quality, styling, and performance. This was considered radical because comfort and convenience were not traditional Corvette values. However, market research demonstrated that consumers supported the alternative concept. As a result the new Corvette was a huge success in the market. There are two types of Market research, Primary and Secondary.

With market research one can get some kind of confirmation that there is a market for one's idea, and that a successful launch and growth are possible.