WEILAI Online Academic assistant
WEILAI Online Academic assistant
Back to 课程

Business GCES EDEXCEL

0% Complete
0/0 Steps
  1. 1-1-Enterprise-And-Entrepreneurship edexcel
    3 主题
  2. 1-2-Spotting-A-Business-Opportunity edexcel
    4 主题
  3. 1-3-Putting-A-Business-Idea-Into-Practice edexcel
    6 主题
  4. 1-4-Making-The-Business-Effective edexcel
    4 主题
  5. 1-5-Understanding-External-Influences-On-Business edexcel
    5 主题
  6. 2-1-Growing-The-Business edexcel
    9 主题
  7. 2-2-Making-Marketing-Decisions edexcel
    5 主题
  8. 2-3-Making-Operational-Decisions edexcel
    4 主题
  9. 2-4-Making-Financial-Decisions edexcel
    2 主题
  10. 2-5-Making-Human-Resource-Decisions edexcel
    4 主题
  11. 3-1-The-Exam-Papers edexcel
  12. 3-2-Business-Exam-Skills edexcel
  13. 3-3-Structuring-Your-Responses edexcel
课 Progress
0% Complete

Exam code:1BS0

The purpose of market research

  • 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

    • To identify and understand the future needs and wants of customers

    • To identify potential gaps (market niche’s) in the market which can be exploited to increase the sales volume

    • To identify competitors and gauge their potential strengths and weaknesses

  • Market research helps the business to make informed decisions about the most effective way to use their valuable resources

  • Market research enables the firm to develop the correct marketing mix 

  • On-going market research helps businesses to keep changing their marketing strategy in line with customers changing needs and preferences

Methods of market research

  • The process of market research is broadly classified into two categories – primary and secondary research

  • Primary research is the process of gathering information directly from consumers in the target market using field research methods such as surveys, interviews etc

    • This research gathers information which is new and does not already exist in any format

    • The most commonly used methods of primary market research include the use of surveys, interviews based on questionnaires, observation, focus groups and test marketing 

  • Secondary research involves the collection, compilation and analysis of data which already exists

    • Typical methods include:

      • Using the internet

      • Purchasing market reports from specialist companies such as Mintel

      • Accessing government research which provides useful information e.g The Office for National Statistics (ONS)

An explanation of the methods of primary research

Method

Explanation

Surveys

  • The most widely used method of gathering primary research is to use sampling by using surveys

  • This is where you would ask a series of questions to a certain number of people (respondents)

  • The results from the ‘sample’ are used to to make inferences in which the results of the sample are extrapolated to be true for the wider population

  • A wide range of respondents can be reached using online survey tools such as Survey Monkey

Observation

  • This involves hiring someone to stand in an appropriate location and study consumer behaviour in a store or to perhaps judge the potential consumer traffic at a particular location

    • Researchers may observe the impact of packaging on consumer choice, or the impact that the particular placement of a product in a store may have on consumer choice

Interviews

  • The questions may be set up in a very similar way to a survey, however an interviewer asks the questions

  • This method takes longer but does allow the interviewee to ask follow up questions and gather information which can easily be missed when conducting surveys

Test marketing

  • Free samples are provided for a limited period of time to the target market in order to gauge their response to the product

Focus groups

  • Free range discussions led by a marketing specialist with the aim of collecting detailed feedback on all aspects of the marketing mix from the target market

  • Usually limited to a small group of 12-15 people

  • The group typically meets for 90 minutes to 3 hours

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 conversations, discussions, impressions, and emotional feelings and is usually gathered through primary research

  • Both forms are useful and any data analysis should ideally include a combination of the two

Limitations of research data

Limitations of qualitative data

Limitations of quantitative data

  • The sample size used to gather data may be too small and unrepresentative of all of the customers, leading to unreliable results

  • Bias may mean that researchers can guide respondents to answer questions in a particular way

  • Respondents in focus groups may be influenced by the responses of others, or not provide accurate information

  • A business may need to hire a specialist market research agency to help gather primary data and the process can be expensive and time-consuming

  • Information has been collected for other purposes and so may lack relevance or may not be factually correct

  • Can be expensive to purchase market specific secondary data from specialist companies such as MINTEL

  • Numerical data may be out-of-date, especially in dynamic markets

  • Data analysis and interpretation is a skill and individuals within the business may draw incorrect conclusions which are then used to guide business strategy

  • Looking at a small amount of data and then extrapolating the results can provide wrong assumptions from which strategic decisions are made

  • Numerical data may provide insights, but does not provide the reasons for the insights e.g. data may reveal sales volumes are falling, but not the reason for the decline

Using social media to collect market research data

  • Traditionally, primary research has been relatively difficult and expensive for businesses to gather

  • The rise of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok has provided businesses with incredible market research opportunities (and some threats too!).

  • The speed of communication between businesses and customers can be almost instantaneous, e.g. by using online polls, thousands of responses can potentially be received in several hours

  • The cost of gathering this information can be very low, e.g. Online polls take a few minutes to set up and software automatically gathers and analyses results

  • Social media helps businesses generate an interactive relationship with their customers, which helps to strengthen brand loyalty

  • Customers are also able to provide feedback quickly or express innovative ideas about how they want the products to change

    • This feedback may help the firm develop extension strategies in their product life cycle

Examiner Tips and Tricks

When answering questions about theory-rich topics like market research it is tempting to write down everything you know about the subject. 

Try to focus more on weighing up the benefits and drawbacks of market research methods and justifying which method(s) might be more appropriate – and explain why in context.

Responses

您的邮箱地址不会被公开。 必填项已用 * 标注