Marketing Management

Session III

Market Research, Demand Forecasting & Marketing Information System

Marketing research is a methodical and purposeful study conducted to obtain solutions for specific marketing problems

What is Market Research?

Simply a matter of finding out as much as you can before committing yourself to an irretrievable step When you do not have answers through your own Market Information and Intelligence System

What to find out?

What does the customer need? Who is the target audience and how much can you find out about them? What is the competition? Are there any gaps in the market? Would the product be acceptable in the market?

The MR Process

What is the Marketing Problem? What is the Research Problem? Developing the Research Plan Research Approach Research Instruments Collecting the Information Analysing the information Presentation of findings

The Marketing Research Process

Define the problem, the decision alternatives, and the research objectives Develop the research plan

Collect the information (Data Sources)

Analyze the information

Present the findings

Make the decision

Factors to be considered while defining a problem

Avoid ambiguity Be specific but not to rigid Watch for symptoms

Objective should be measurable, attainable and specific

Research Design

Exploratory Research : Exploratory research is a type of research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection method and selection of subjects. It should draw definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Given its fundamental nature, exploratory research often concludes that a perceived problem does not actually exist. Descriptive Research : Descriptive research, also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied. Descriptive research answers the questions who,what, where, when, "why" and how... Although the data description is factual, accurate and systematic, the research cannot describe what caused a situation Causative Research

Sources of Data

Primary Data

Census Sampling procedure

Random judgemental

Secondary Data sources

Reference Library Directories of Products/Companies The Bombay Stock Exchange Industry/Trade Journals Trade fairs and Exhibitions Company Annual Reports Internet

Techniques for Data Collection

Observation Experimentation Survey Focus group discussions

Tools for Data Collection

Questionnaire

Open-ended and close-ended questions

Interview Association tests