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11 Market research
Introduction
The success of marketing activities and the effectiveness of marketing decisions
Objectives depends on how well businesses research their markets and find out what consumers
want. In this chapter you will learn how business can research the market for its
In this chapter you will products and the benefits of doing so.
learn about:
■ the role of market research
The role of market research
■ methods of market research
and methods used
■ how market research results
are presented and used.
Market research provides businesses with
important information about the markets
in which they operate, or are planning to
KEY TERM operate in. It involves collecting and recording
data about customers, competitors and the
Market research: the process market for a product, and then analysing
of collecting, recording and
the results. Market research gives a business
analysing data about the
customers, competitors and information about:
market for a product.
■ its customers
■ its competitors 153
■ its market.
The information obtained from market
Promotion, packaging research helps a business to:
and distribution methods:
■ find out what consumers like and dislike
see Chapter 13, pages 179
and 182. about their products A market researcher at work
■ identify consumer tastes and preferences
■ decide on the best promotion, packaging and distribution methods for its products
■ identify the main competitors and what is special about their products – this is
KEY TERMS
known as the product’s unique selling point
Unique selling point: the ■ know the size of the market
special feature of a product that
sets it apart from competitors’ ■ explain the reason for the sales of its current products
products. ■ predict how the demand for its products may change in the future.
Market-orientated: products
are developed based on Market-orientated businesses
consumer demand as identified In today’s business world most fi rms are market-orientated. This means the
by market research. decision about what to produce is based on consumer demand for products
Product-orientated: the firm as identified by market research. This is a very different approach to product-
decides what to produce and
orientated businesses. With this approach it is the business which decides what to
then tries to find buyers for produce and after doing so tries to find customers who want to buy the product.
the product.
There are two main benefits of a market-orientated approach.
■ The risk of new products failing is reduced because they have been produced
following market research which identified the needs of consumers.
