Market Research

Blockbusters

Last week feedback

•Last week you carried out Market Research as part of your Business Plans, how did you feel it went?▫What methods did you use to collect info?▫How did you use the info you collected?▫How key was your research to determining

the success of your product?

Market Research - Key

•The key part of starting a business and ensuring your business idea is a success is the research that is put into the potential market.

•Not just for new start-ups!

Where to start?• Starting point is the fundermentals:

▫ How big is the market? (measured by sales, volume etc)

▫ How fast is the market growing and what is the market growth potential?

▫ Who are the existing competitors and what market shares do they have?

▫ How is the market segmented? (“segments” are the different parts of a larger market – e.g. low price or high quality)

▫ What kind of customers are there in the market? What are their preferences in terms of when and where they buy, what prices they pay and which methods of promotion are effective?

Primary vs Secondary

•Primary data: data collected first-hand for a specific purpose by the entrepreneur

•Secondary data: data that already exists and which has been collected for a different purpose.

What methods are available?

•List as many methods as possible to collect both primary and secondary?

•How many did you use last week?

QuestionnairesInterviewsArticlesInternet SearchGovernment PapersTrade associationsNewspaper/MagazinesTV programmes

Price Comparison WebsitesDirectoriesMarket Research ReportsObservationsOnline SurveysFocus GroupsTesting/Experiments

Quantitative/Qualitative

•Qualitative – Based on opinions, to find out why something is happening▫Often done through Focus Groups and

Interviews

•Quantitative – Based on data and usually more reliable as it is a bigger sample▫Often done through Questionnaires and

Surveys

Sampling

•When doing some research choosing the right sample is key. Asking the wrong market will not give you information that is useful or puposeful.

•In market research, a sample is a group of people that is intended to represent the overall target population.

•Can be expensive so in start-ups often small

Methods of Sampling

•Random – in the name, no bias involved, although large sample needed

•Quota – Segment population into groups of shared characteristics, often bias, although more specific to target market

•Stratified – Picks a ‘group’, but is random within (so limits bias)

Thinking point

•If you were to do your research again, how would you go about it?

•What did you learn from the experience of being asked to do Market Research?

Tasks

•Revision Questions – by end of P.2

•Case Study for H/W