Market Research
Definition and importance.
- Market research is a systematic process of gathering, analysing and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service.
- It involves studying aspects such as consumer behaviour, competitive positioning and trends within the industry.
- Market research is crucial as it supports decision making, reduces risk, and provides insights into how to improve products and communicate effectively with the target audience.
Primary Research
- Primary research is information gathered first hand from original sources.
- Methods include questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and observational study.
- It may be costly and time-consuming but provides specific data tailored to the organisation’s needs.
Secondary Research
- Secondary research involves the use of existing data, or data gathered by someone other than the user.
- This includes reports, studies, internet research, and statistical data.
- It’s a less costly method which provides a broad background view.
Quantitative Research
- Quantitative research develops numerical data and can be used to generate statistics.
- It provides measurable, comparable data, often used for sales projections, market share, and understanding customer demographics.
- Surveys with yes/no or multiple-choice questions are common quantitative research methods.
Qualitative Research
- Qualitative research develops non-numerical data, such as responses to open-ended questions, observations or transcripts from focus groups.
- It provides deeper insights into customer attitudes, behaviour, desires, and helps to understand ‘why’ and ‘how’ certain decisions are made.
- Methods include in-depth interviews, focus group sessions, and observational studies.
Market Segmentation
- Market segmentation involves dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers who have common needs and priorities.
- Effective market segmentation should result in segments that are measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable, and actionable.
- This allows for targeted and effective marketing strategies, catering to the specific needs of each segment.
Limitations of Market Research
- Market research is not without its limitations including time constraints, availability and reliability of data.
- Primary research may be costly and time-consuming and secondary research may lack specificity to the organisation or could be outdated.
- Furthermore, data interpretation may vary and could be influenced by the researcher’s subjectivity.
- Despite these limitations, market research remains a fundamental tool in business decision-making about their strategies and operations.
Reference Library
Collections
- See what's new
- All Resources
- Student Resources
- Assessment Resources
- Teaching Resources
- CPD Courses
- Livestreams
Study notes, videos, interactive activities and more!
Business news, insights and enrichment
Currated collections of free resources
Browse resources by topic
- All Business Resources
Resource Selections
Currated lists of resources
Quizzes & Activities
Marketing Research
Last updated 22 May 2017
- Share on Facebook
- Share on Twitter
- Share by Email
Marketing research is the subject of this A Level Business revision quiz.
Related Study Notes
Why is market research needed.
Study Notes
Secondary Market Research
Marketing research - sampling, marketing research - limitations and constraints, data mining, marketing planning (overview).
- Secondary research
- Quantitative research
- Qualitative research
- Marketing research
- Primary research
You might also like
Research & development & new products, hotels and market research case study..
27th January 2016
Market Mapping (Positioning)
Topic Videos
Brexit: The Uncivil War – Marketing, Big Data and Strategy
28th January 2019
Scientific Decision Making
3.3 decision making to improve marketing performance - impossible 5 revision activity, our subjects.
- › Criminology
- › Economics
- › Geography
- › Health & Social Care
- › Psychology
- › Sociology
- › Teaching & learning resources
- › Student revision workshops
- › Online student courses
- › CPD for teachers
- › Livestreams
- › Teaching jobs
Boston House, 214 High Street, Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, LS23 6AD Tel: 01937 848885
- › Contact us
- › Terms of use
- › Privacy & cookies
© 2002-2024 Tutor2u Limited. Company Reg no: 04489574. VAT reg no 816865400.
Market Research ( Edexcel A Level Business )
Revision note.
Product & Market Orientation
- The emphasis will be on creating a product first and then finding a market
- The business has a belief that the product is superior i.e. it will sell itself
- One problem with being too product orientated is that over time your business may move further and further away from what the market is looking for, thus increasing the risk of business failure
- E.g. Gillette's razors can be classed as a product oriented business as the business focuses on the quality of its products and regular innovations aim to increase sales
A product orientation is an approach often used by inventors who research, test and produce a product well before market research has taken place
- Consumers are at the centre of marketing decisions
- Products will be developed which respond to consumer needs
- The result of market orientation is that the firm will benefit from increased demand, increased profits, and a valued brand image as its products become more desirable
- E.g. Universities often develop new courses based on the feedback they receive from students and employers
Market orientation aims to develop products to meet needs identified by consumers during the market research process
Primary & Secondary Market Research Data
- Market research is the objective collection, compilation and analysis of information about a market
- To reduce ris k when launching new products or entering new markets
- Anticipate future needs and wants of consumers
- To understand consumer behaviour
- To identify potential consumer demand
- To identify h ow much consumers are prepared to pay
- To identify competitors and gauge their potential strengths and weaknesses
- Both forms are useful and any d ata analysis should ideally include a combination of the two
Primary research
- This gathers information that is new and does not necessarily exist in any format
Primary Research Methods
|
| by using surveys in which the results of the sample are to be true for the wider population such as Survey Monkey |
|
| in a store or perhaps judge the potential consumer traffic at a particular location in a store may have on consumer choice |
|
| but does allow the interviewee to ask and gather the information that can easily be missed when conducting surveys |
|
| |
|
| on all aspects of the from the target market |
The Advantages & Disadvantages of Primary Market Research
| and will not be available to its rivals | and unrepresentative of all of the customers leading to unreliable results |
| from respondents, for example, reasons behind certain behaviour | may mean that researchers can guide respondents to |
| can be used to and so will be more relevant | to help and the process can be |
Secondary research
- Typical methods include purchasing market reports from specialist companies or accessing government statistical portals which provide useful information
The Advantages & Disadvantages of Secondary Market Research
| and so is than primary research thereby saving time | or may factually correct e.g. Wikipedia |
| is leading to compared to primary research | to purchase market specific secondary data from specialist companies e.g. MINTEL reports |
| that lacks a large marketing budget and/or expertise | , especially in dynamic markets |
The use of ICT to Support Market Research
- ICT can be used to support market research in the following ways:
- Company websites Websites allow businesses to collect primary data more cheaply e.g. tracking consumer searches and analyzing customer reviews as well as collecting secondary data about rivals e.g. prices and special offers. Pop-ups used on websites can also be an effective way of gathering information
- Databases These can be used to store large amounts of customer information e.g. Tesco loyalty cards. Databases are also effective in collating customer e-mail addresses so that targeted customers can be surveyed later via e-mail
- Social networking F ocuses on gathering information about consumers via online social channels such as Twitter and Facebook. It is also useful as a method of running quick polls and surveys or tracking opinions about brands
Market Segmentation
- Each segment represents a slightly different set of consumer characteristics
- Firms often segment their markets according to factors such as income, geographical location, religion, gender, or lifestyle
- Dinner party snacks (Walkers Sensations, Pringles, Burts) are targeted at middle to upper earners/professionals with a premium price
- Health conscious crisps (Walker's lite, Walkers baked, Revita lite) are targeted at the health conscious market
- Lunch box value snacks (multipacks, hoola hoops, etc) are targeted at families and the mass market
The Advantages & Disadvantages of Market Segmentation
| are - consumer groups do not all share the same tastes and preferences | |
| and marketing activities can be altered to and targeted more precisely | and consumers can belong to multiple segments at the same time |
| than marketing products at wide market segments | egmentation requires which can prove costly (but beneficial) to the business |
| if the consumer feels that their which | identified but it may be too to cater for |
You've read 0 of your 10 free revision notes
Get unlimited access.
to absolutely everything:
- Downloadable PDFs
- Unlimited Revision Notes
- Topic Questions
- Past Papers
- Model Answers
- Videos (Maths and Science)
Join the 100,000 + Students that ❤️ Save My Exams
the (exam) results speak for themselves:
Did this page help you?
Author: Mark Collins
Mark has taught Business and Economics for over 25 years in the UK, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He has an MA from UCL and was a research assistant at the Institute of Education. He enjoys creating learning resources for students and has co-authored several teaching guides. Mark has been an examiner and principal examiner for various exam boards and has a mission to demystify the examination process for students. When not teaching Mark plays guitar, harmonica, ukulele and is currently teaching himself piano. He is a firm believer in Lifelong Learning.
A Level Component 1 Market research - Blended learning
This blended learning resource contains interactive self-study content covering Component 1 Market research.
The resource is designed to complement traditional face to face teaching with an online learning pack that allows students to learn at their own pace.
It can be used as revision by students, as part of catch-up or for flipped learning.
It should not be seen as a way to deliver the content in a classroom setting and should always be blended with conventional methods.
Not seeing what you want? Is there a problem with the files? Do you have a suggestion? Please give us feedback, we welcome all correspondence from our users.
Want to get the latest resources for your subject?
Free resources and subject updates delivered straight to your inbox.
- International
- Education Jobs
- Schools directory
- Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search
GCSE Business (9-1): Knowledge Organiser & follow-up tests for MARKET RESEARCH
Subject: Business and finance
Age range: 14-16
Resource type: Assessment and revision
Last updated
13 June 2019
- Share through email
- Share through twitter
- Share through linkedin
- Share through facebook
- Share through pinterest
This pack of resources has been made for GCSE Business (9-1) and is suitable for AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas specifications. All resources are in Microsoft Word format (so that you can amend them if you wish).
The following resources are included:
- A Knowledge Organiser sheet for Market Research. Give this to students as a homework or over the holiday, to be tested on their return.
- A multiple choice test [8 marks] – if you’d prefer to test them quickly with minimum marking! Correct answers provided.
- A written assessment [20 marks], along with model answers.
You could also test them using my quiz on Kahoot! – the same questions as the multiple choice test. Search for ‘Business_Cleeve’ (includes an underscore). Once your students have completed the quiz, you can download a detailed spreadsheet to identify problem questions, or struggling students.
You are welcome to print / copy these resources for your students, or put on your internal VLE – but please do not share with other institutions or put on an external website.
Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?
Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.
It's good to leave some feedback.
Something went wrong, please try again later.
This resource hasn't been reviewed yet
To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it
Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.
Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:
COMMENTS
The use of data in Market Research. Market research data can be quantitative or qualitative . Quantitative data is based on numbers and could include financial reports (e.g. sales, costs), market data (e.g. markets share) or summaries of data gained from primary research (e.g. on a scale of 1-10 rate our customer service). Qualitative data gathers descriptions or explanations based on ...
Terms in this set (21) Market research. The process of gathering information about the market and customers' needs and wants in order to help inform business decision, including product design and marketing. Focus group. A group of people who discuss their views on a product, service advertisement or idea, either face-to-face or online.
Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Why conduct market research, What are the types of market research, What is primary research and more. ... Design quantitative and qualitative questions tailored precisely to your needs 2) May give you inside knowledge to provide a competitive advantage. Cons of primary research ...
Marketing: Primary Market Research (GCSE) There are various methods of primary research: Observation. Watching how consumers behave provides many insights, but can leave questions unanswered. Observation works well in retail markets; sit outside a shop and watch how many people walk by, look at the window display etc. Postal surveys.
Market Research Market Research Definition and Importance. Market research is a systematic process of gathering, analysing and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service.; It involves studying aspects such as consumer behaviour, competitive positioning ...
Here is a suggested answer to the 16-mark question on whether the use of market research would help guarantee high sales of a new product. ... Finally, Kellogg's might question the validity of the research. Appendix C and D are both based on a sample of 1,762 cereal-eating internet users. A new product might be more successful if it is able ...
The most commonly used methods of primary market research include surveys, interviews based on questionnaires, observation, focus groups and test marketing. Businesses usually carry out primary research with a sample of the target market in which they are interested. A sample is a group of respondents that reflects the characteristics of the ...
The lesson outlines all the specification points of Market Research within the GCSE (9-1) Edexcel Business Studies course (useful for other exam boards too) This lesson teaches the following content: The purpose of market research: to identify and understand customer needs. to identify gaps in the market. to reduce risk.
Edexcel GCSE Business - Theme 1 - 1.2 Spotting a business opportunity. This 4 lesson bundle covers: 1.2.1 Customer needs 1.2.2 Market research 1.2.3 Market segmentation 1.2.4 The competitive environment Filled with real life examples, case studies, questions and modelled answers to improve exam practice. All you need - open the powerpoint, run ...
Marketing research is the subject of this A Level Business revision quiz.
Market research is the objective collection, compilation and analysis of information about a market. Effective market research will help the business. To reduce risk when launching new products or entering new markets. Anticipate future needs and wants of consumers. To understand consumer behaviour.
This blended learning resource contains interactive self-study content covering Component 1 Market research. The resource is designed to complement traditional face to face teaching with an online learning pack that allows students to learn at their own pace. It can be used as revision by students, as part of catch-up or for flipped learning.
Carl Wong (left) and fellow founder of Living Lens, David Woods. Traditional market research, based on clipboards and questions, has a glaring weakness, according to Carl Wong, who has worked in ...
A Knowledge Organiser sheet for Market Research. Give this to students as a homework or over the holiday, to be tested on their return. A multiple choice test [8 marks] - if you'd prefer to test them quickly with minimum marking! Correct answers provided. A written assessment [20 marks], along with model answers.