Market research is the process of gathering information about your customers, competitors, market trends, etc.

• What Is Market Research?
• Primary Research
• Secondary Research

What Is Market Research?

• Market research is the process of gathering information about your customers, competitors, market trends, etc.  
  
  
• Conducting market research is important if:
  
  
  • you are looking for business opportunities in new markets
    
    
  • you have invented something new or improved on an existing product, and want to find out if there is demand for it
    
  • you plan to introduce your products in a new market
    
    
• You may conduct either primary or secondary research.

Primary Research

• When you collect information directly from the source, it is called primary research. This includes information collected through:
  
  
  • surveys
  • interviews
  • focus group sessions
    
    
• Talking to customers to garner feedback is often the simplest method.  Alternatively, you may wish to engage a marketing research company to conduct primary research.
  
  
• Primary research is usually:
  
  
  • time consuming
  • costly
  • tailored to suit your specific needs
  • valuable especially if you need to know something specific

Secondary Research

• Secondary research is conducted by looking at sources such as magazines, Government publications, industry surveys, economic environment, trade associations, chambers of commerce, libraries, etc.
  
  
• Secondary research :
  
  
  • is usually less time consuming
    
    
  • is usually less costly
    
    
  • may not be updated
    
    
  • is usually not customised to suit your needs
    
    
  • may be sufficient if you require just general information such as industry profile, trends and demographics