It is important we use market research, mainly to decide which product would be best to use. Market research will determine which idea is most demanded,

The purpose of any market research project is to achieve an increased understanding of the subject matter. With markets throughout the world becoming increasingly more competitive, market research is now on the agenda of many organisations, whether they are large or small."

(Definition from http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=38)

Why it is important we use market research

It is important we use market research, mainly to decide which product would be best to use. Market research will determine which idea is most demanded, which is most popular and who exactly would use each of the ideas. By determining this, we will be able to decide which idea to use and be able to make the most profit.

Our aims

What we are aiming to find out is basically what the customer wants. By doing this we need to aim our research at the correct socio-economic group. For example, we don't want to try and sell skateboards to old age pensioners. And we don't want to try and sell tea sets to teenagers. So first we must establish what exactly the group we are aiming at is. This can sometimes be hard if it a product for all ages, like food or computers or DVDs. However even these products can be narrowed down to fit each group.

Our 3 Ideas

Our first choice was a product with the name Lenseye. Earlier this year and last year I lead a team of people to help design this product. In its basic form it is a contact lens remover. However this product can only be aimed at people who where contact lenses. So we need to aim our surveys at contact lens users and contact lens shops. We also need to design our questionnaire for this sector of people.

Our second choice was to open an internet café in the town centre. This would be aimed at all ages. However, being more specific, we would probably aim more at the younger generation and people who enjoyed online gaming rather than the older generation who might want to use the computers for work etc... This means the questionnaire needs to be young person friendly, we mustn't include complicated language.

Our third and final choice was to open a KFC in the town centre. We noticed that there wasn't a KFC in town. We thought it would be a great opportunity to open a franchise. We believe there's definitely a market for fast food in Swindon so why not expand that market even further. In this area we need to be careful about asking people too personal questions, for example questions about weight or size.

To go about doing these surveys, we need to do both primary and secondary research. The advantage with primary research is that it's directly from the source, so we know it's 100% the truth and no one has messed around with it. Secondary research is also a good thing to use; as we don't need to do the work, someone else has already done it. We will use surveys and questionnaires as our primary research. And research socio-economic groups in Swindon for our primary groups.

Our main aim at this point is to establish what our customer preferences are, the price in which our products and other similar products are going to be sold for, our competitors, our location, whether people buy from shops or buy online and how often to people buy these products. By finding this information, we can make the right decision on which of our ideas to choose.

Jack Minty