New technology is either a really good thing for a company or really bad thing, the reason for this is that if a company is unable to get the best technology available, but their competitors can then their competitors will always be one step in front and have an advantage over them, however if your business is the business able to get the new technology then they will be able to have an edge over their competitors and try monopolise the market.
When there are new trends within a certain market, then the businesses in that certain market will have to adapt to them, if a company fails to do this then they will struggle but if they can adapt then they will thrive with the new trends.
Knowing your competitors strengths and weaknesses is very important to business because this will let them know what things they can do to get an advantage over their competitors and this will help them to maximize profits. Also a company can pick up ideas from competitors that are working well for them.
Having your competitor’s strategies is a good way to get an insight into what they are going to do in the near future and what techniques they are doing to get profit and customers.
Knowing the overall marketing environment is good because it lets businesses know about other possible markets they can go into and what markets are doing well.
Primary research
Primary research is the information that comes directly from the source, which is usually the potential customer. You can compile this information yourself or hire someone else to gather it for you via surveys, focus groups and other methods. Primary research is a good way to get ideas and max the profit of your business.
This contains such things as surveys/questionnaires, focus groups and observations. With surveys and questionnaires it lets the business get feedback on certain things to do with their product or service with also a comparison to competitors. The feedback received from these primary methods of market research includes the popularity of features, how much customers will spend, where they buy from and how frequently and how customers rate the service or product.
Also with questionnaires and surveys the company may include some questions about competitors and ask what they do better than their business and also what they do worse. This helps to identify the popularity of competitors and allows the business to change some aspects that customers prefer by their competitors.
Focus groups are very similar to questionnaires and surveys except they are usually done with a certain amount of customers in one room expressing their views to a person from within the business. They go into much more detail than a questionnaire because it requires customers to give detailed feedback rather than a quick answer.
Focus groups usually give the business a good knowledge of the emotional attachment to brands, how customers feel about a product, brand or company and their attitudes and opinions towards these brands and companies. This type of primary research is also good because it can give the business a bigger insight into what their competitors are doing that they aren’t doing so well, for example; how customers feel about the competition, why they like them and what they like about them.
The marketing environment also has an effect on the business and would influence them into getting research done. This is when certain things happen within the industry for example the interest rate, inflation, unemployment and exchange rates. Also other factors that contribute to this are the population, ethnic backgrounds, age, child birth rates and holidays/public expenditure.
Secondary research
Secondary research is the market research that's already compiled and organized for you. Examples of secondary information include reports and studies by government agencies, trade associations or other businesses within your industry.
Secondary research uses outside information assembled by government agencies, industry and trade associations and media sources. It's usually published in newsletters, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers.
Secondary research involves businesses receiving internal and external data and this helps them to get information about a certain market size, the trends and growth of a particular market, competitors, the segments within the market and the market share.
Secondary sources include the following:
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Public sources. These are usually free, often offer a lot of good information, and include government departments, business departments of public libraries, and so on.
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Commercial sources. These are valuable, but usually involve cost factors such as subscription and association fees. Commercial sources include research and trade associations, such as Dun & Bradstreet and Robert Morris & Associates, banks and other financial institutions, and publicly traded corporations
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Educational institutions. These are frequently overlooked as valuable information sources even though more research is conducted in colleges, universities, and technical institutes than virtually any sector of the business community.
Primary and secondary research are both vitally important for businesses when introducing a new product or improving an existing one. They do this research to get an idea as to how they should deliver their new or improved product, meaning they can get the best possible results for it.
