Marketing Research

Hillary Jenkins, Otago Polytechnic 2008

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DefinitionDefinition

• The systematic and objective search for information

relevant to the identification and solution of any

problem in the field of marketing

• Key words

– Systematic and objective

What is it?What is it?

• Consists of activities that enable an organization

to obtain the information it needs to make

decisions about its:

– Environment

– Marketing Mix

– Present or potential customers

ObjectivesObjectives

• Identify markets

• Characteristics of markets

• Market trends

• Market changes

• Market opportunities/threats

• Effectiveness of marketing activities

• Analysis of competition

MethodsMethods

SWOT analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

MethodsMethods

• Secondary information

• Primary information

• Quantitative

• Qualitative

• Internal to organization

• External to organization

Research Data

• Secondary data is information which has already been gathered

• It is secondary because its use is not purpose for which it was gathered

• Sources

– Government agencies

– International data bases

– Own organization

– Financial institutions

Research DataResearch Data

• Primary data is collected from original sources for

the purpose of study

– Three ways to do this:

• Observation

• Experiment

• Survey

Need to ask four questionsNeed to ask four questions

• Is the information relevant?

• Is it current or obsolete?

• How accurate is it?

• How credible is the source of the data?

Marketing Research InformationMarketing Research Information

• Is either:

– Quantitative

or

– Qualitative

QuantitativeQuantitative

[Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrell 1997]

• This is hard data

“research aimed at producing data that can be statistically analyse and results that can be

expressed numerically.”

QualitativeQualitative

This is soft data

‘research that deals with information too difficult or

expensive to quantify such subjective opinions and

value judgements, typically unearthed during

interviews or discussion groups.’

[Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrell, 1997]

TechniquesTechniques

• Surveys

• Questionnaires

• Personal interviews

• Focus groups

• Observation

• Telephone interviews

• Mail interviews

• Experiments

• Test marketing

ResearchResearch

Can be either

• Internal = information gathered from within the company

Or

• External = information gathered from outside the company

ResearchResearch

• Continuous

– Carried out to determine long term trends

• Ad hoc

– Carried out for a particular purpose

Conducting Market ResearchConducting Market Research

1. Establish purpose or aim of research (objective)

2. Determine information requirements

3. Select suitable methods/techniques

4. Conduct research

5. Collate, analyse and interpret data

6. Report the findings