Piloting Research: more complex survey taken by customers, which will indicate their needs and expectations. Also, it will determine the attitude of customers for a certain product. A business may decide to make some changes to products/services upon the results of this research.
Field Trials: introducing a new product to see how the customer response to it. Field trials will be held in selected stores and it will help the business to make possible improvements upon the customer’s feedback. A business may decide to adjust prices or change packaging and also it will allow customer to test new products.
Focus Groups: collecting data through group interaction. The group members are selected by the business and they have to have common interests. The aim of this research is to gain knowledge and opinions on a specific subject.
Panels: survey which is taken by the same people on a continuous basis. This kind of research shows how buying patterns are changing, what trends are on the market and how the customers respond upon these changes. If a business decides to work with consumer panel it will gain a lot of useful information which would then be used for strategic planning.
Secondary Research – collecting existing data. Secondary research can be described as summary of primary research as the information found previously is used. Secondary research is divided into two parts – internal and external. Internal means that the information is owned and stay within a business and external is the data which has to be gathered outside the business.
Internal methods of secondary research are:
Data Records: a database which usually contains personnel file of the customer including the name, address and a phone number.
EPOS: a shortcut of electronic point of sales - provides services which are usually completed by employees. It allows customers to pay by bank or credit card and verifies transaction. A business can easily check volume of sales as the EPOS is generating and providing the sales report.
Website Monitoring: a process of testing, controlling and verifying users which allows the customers so see fully developed products which they have used previously. It can interact with any website applications made by the company. Website monitoring is mainly used to ensure that there are no errors and the website is fully working. This kind of secondary research may also involve simulation of visitors’ reaction to certain changes – this allows the business to observe customers’ reaction.
E-transactions: transferring money from one person to another over technological sources (devices). This kind of secondary research is usually used to pay for products ordered on the internet.
Accounts and production records: these information are kept by all businesses; including any documentation, statements or records of the company which are relevant such as financial records, journals, checks and purchases. Accounts and production records would be really useful when it comes to writing business reports.
Sales personnel: a person with good marketing knowledge who offers and sells products to businesses or customers. This person has to have certain skills in order to persuade customers to buy. Sales personnel would usually make a relationship with the customer in order to be more successful.
Delphi technique: interactive forecast. This technique involves choosing a panel of experts who are completing questionnaires providing judgements on certain products or services. Then a summary is completed and the experts are revising and comparing their answers. Usually the range of the answers decreases and the panel of experts will converge towards the correct answer.
External methods of secondary research are:
Internet: possible the best place to research external information. Data on the internet can be easily accessed and can be found in seconds. It contains a huge amount of data which is usually not verified so it has to be completed carefully as some of the data may be incorrect.
Government statistics: data published by the government or any other public body. It will contain a lot of useful information including economic and social development, living conditions, health, education and the environment. This kind of information will help the business to complete a successful strategic plan.
Company reports: are including many useful information for people who are interested in the business. Company reports is a record of all the activities completed by the business including the financial performance information (accounting policies, balance sheet, and cash flow statement)
Libraries: can provide many books, articles as well as the internet. This kind of secondary research would be really useful when looking for records of old papers.
Market research reports: are completed by external companies. This type of information allows the business to see forecast of market segments, market share and trends in more details.
Quantitative research; can be measured. It is usually described as being real.
Quantitative research contains a measurable value. This kind of data is collected from a wide range of sources. It will usually include facts, figures, statistics and scientific observation.
Qualitative research; getting to know peoples’ opinions, ideas or beliefs. This information cannot be measured.
This kind of research would be a good source of information in order to make organisational decisions. Also, it would help to understand the nature of facts and statements.
Main types of qualitative research are:
- Depth interviews – the best way to gather personal opinions, usually last up to one hour.
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Focus groups – unstructured discussion held by moderator between 8 or 12 members of the group.
- Projective techniques – encouraging respondents to get to know their motivation, beliefs or feeling.
- Random probability sampling – random interviews with a group of people who have at least one common interest.
Triangulation
Triangulation of observations increases the effectiveness of the data collected. It basically happens when a business collects different sorts of data and then compares it against each other in order to check if the results are the same.
Marketing strategies and activities
Marketing is an activity which results in making products. The purpose of this is to gain high level of profit and to satisfy customers.
Marketing strategies: a good marketing strategy would be based upon market research results and would be concentrated on the marketing mix. Marketing mix is all about getting the right product on the right market with a suitable price and having a successful promotion plan.
Technical marketing: can be described as taking technology to the market. This would be completed by having a product concept which is developed and promoted.
Databank: contains a lot of information on many subjects. It can be organised in rational manner or alphabetically. If there is more than one databank, someone may decide to build a new database.
Ad-hoc market research: collecting data from one sample of potential/existing customers which is then used to identify marketing problems. This research would include: product usage survey, new product concept tests, advertising development, corporate image surveys and customer satisfaction surveys.
Continuous research: asking the same group of people to get to know their opinions repeatedly.
Types of continuous research are:
- Consumer panels – recruiting a lot of people who are giving their opinions on buying. These people would usually have common interest.
- Retails audits – observing changes in brand loyalty, market share and how effective different retails formats are. This kind of research would involve cooperation with retail outlets.
- Television viewership/radio listening panels – measuring number of views or listening. This kind of information would be used to determine programmes strategy.