Marketing Research

O One of the key elements in a marketing decision support system is marketing research. This process helps to deliver information to marketing managers and decision-makers. O Marketing research is a critical component of a marketing decision support system.

Marketing Research O Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data relating to marketing products and services. O The goal of marketing research is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior. O Its uses include: O helping create a business plan, O launch a new product or service, O fine tune existing products and services, O and expand into new markets.

Marketing Research O Managers use marketing research to: O Improve the quality of decision- making. O Trace problems. O Focus on the importance of retaining customers. O Understand the changing marketplace.

Consumer & B2B O Consumer marketing research studies the buying habits of individual people O While business-to-business (B2B) marketing research investigates the markets for products sold by one business to another.

For what? / whom? O Market research is valuable for all persons involved in a business! O Market research can be used to determine which portion of the population will purchase a product/service, O Based on variables like age, gender, location and income level.

Questions it answers O What is happening in the market? O What are the trends? O Who are the competitors? O How do consumers talk about the products in the market? O Which needs are important? O Are their needs being met by our current products?

What and how! O Market research is for discovering what people want, need, or believe. O It can also involve discovering how they act. O Once that research is complete it can be used to determine how to market your specific product.

Marketing Research Techniques Marketing research techniques to collect data come in many forms. For example: Surveys Questionnaires Test marketing Mystery shoppers Store Audits Data tracking

Interesting Methods O Mystery shopping - An employee or representative of the market research firm anonymously contacts a salesperson and indicates he or she is shopping for a product. O The shopper then records the entire experience. O This method is often used for quality control or for researching competitors' products. O Test marketing - a small-scale product launch used to determine the likely acceptance of the product when it is introduced into a wider market.

The Phonies! O Sugging (or selling under the guise of market research) forms a sales technique in which sales people pretend to conduct marketing research, for a later sales call. O Frugging comprises the practice of soliciting funds under the pretense of being a research organization.