Global Market Research

Global marketing has become a fact of life. Local companies are affected by global ones, understanding the global market is a must. Firms are going beyond geographical boundaries to take advantage of resources they don’t have in their countries. Understanding these diverse markets is a must and it is done through global market analysis. Conducting research in these countries is hard, so it is better to get research done by a local firm. Marketing and research go hand in hand now, previously the market analysis department did not have a say in decision making but now, and they play a major role. They help in predicting trends in the market.

Importance of Market Research

Market research is very important; it helps companies to tailor their messages to their targeted audience and helps the organisation to perform better. Research can measure the reputation of a company among consumers, governmental officials and the academic community. Mathematical models are used to estimate the failure or success of a product. Research helps in getting consumer reaction to products that are already being sold by the company or even a product that is at a conceptual stage. Research can tell a marketing company what flavour or colour the appeals most to the consumer. Target audiences can be set accurately and positioned in the right market. Research can prove whether your advertisement communicates what it was intended to be.

The major steps involved in market research are:

• Defining the market research problem
• Formulation of Research design
• Analysis of secondary data
• Development of a questionnaire
• Collection of primary data
• Data Analysis
• Preparation and Presentation of report

Phases of Global Market Research

These is in general for global market analysis with more steps. International Marketing Research design has 5 major phases

• Phase 1: Deciding whether to internationalise- Assessing the demand for the company’s products or services
• Phase 2: Deciding on markets to enter- Understanding their local competition and the potential of the product
• Phase 3: Market entry strategies- Understanding the competitors strategy
• Phase 4: Designing the international marketing mix, the 7 Ps- Understanding the behaviour of the consumer, SWOT analysis, and deciding on the media mix
• Phase 5: Implementation of plan in international market- Final implementation and analysis of performance.

Acquiring secondary data is a must; this gives a clear background as to how the process of research takes place. Other companies would have also done market research in these global markets. By reading these works of market researchers can design their analysis work. At the end of the research work, companies usually list out the drawbacks of the research or the challenges they faced during the implementation phase.

Primary research must be done when the agency is not able to acquire enough or reliable information. Collecting primary data takes more time and money consuming. Designing a primary data collection is a must and the right collection technique to collect data. Some of the popular methods of data collection for global market analysis include:

• Observational and Tracking Methods
• Focus Group Interviews
• In-depth Interviews
• Action Research
• Survey and Questionnaires
• Experiment
• Psychological or Psychographic approach2

Global market analysis is very important and companies which have knowledge about global markets must be selected, so that data obtained is accurate. Market research allows marketing agencies to tailor their message or product accurately in the right country at the right time. Geographical boundaries have more differences, in terms of weather, culture, religion and language. The product or service should be positioned in a market where it is profitable.

Management Consultant for Primary Market Research

Primary Research is a form of research where the data is collected directly from a respondent. Market research is done to understand an area in-depth. Understanding the marketing environment is a must. Market research helps in finding out how the market is. Being aware of what’s going on in the market is called Market Intelligence. The areas that are considered a part of market intelligence are-

- Product Position- The position they have in the market favourable, unfavourable or neutral? Primary Research answers these question, so that the marketing efforts can be designed based on the position to brand, product or service.

- Market segmentation- Understanding the market segment is a must, the product or service needs to be positioned accurately in the dynamic market. Research finds out if the product should be marketed to seniors, working professionals or teenagers. This also helps in tailoring the message.

- Consumer Behaviour- Understanding a consumer’s behaviour is a must, their personality, their attitude, motivation and other intrinsic factors. Primary Market research is one on one research.

Management consultants help with primary market research. As a type of research primary market research takes a lot of time, by hiring a management consultant they would be able to conduct an in-depth research which would provide conclusive and empirical results.

Primary market research has several steps, this steps need to be clearly defined at demarcated, the following are the six major steps-

- Defining the problem statement- The problem must be clearly stated i.e. what are you trying to find out or prove. An example could be finding out the sales forecast for a period of a month. The time and place needs to be clearly defined.

- Method of data collection- The method needs to be defined and followed spot on. Whether the method adopted is going to be a survey or an interview. If a survey is selected, is going to be a telephonic interview or an online survey. The method needs to be defined in the beginning, so that the questions can be devised.

- Sampling technique- Defining the sampling technique is a must, random, stratified, cluster or some other technique. A mix of techniques must be avoided, for primary market research the company must use stratified sampling. As a technique for data collection, stratified sampling the researcher divides the entire target population into different subgroups, then selects the final group or sample. This method is adopted when the population size is vast, complete enumeration cannot be possible when the sample size is large.

- Analysis of data- After the process of data collection, the data must be interpreted through statistics. The researcher must define the software they are using to interpret the data. The statistical measures they are going to use to prove the problem statement.

- Error checking: This step is very crucial, the researcher must check if the data is entered accurately, if a hypothesis is stated it needs to be proved or disproved at this stage. The data or evidence must be corroborated at this stage.

- Research Report Writing- All the chapters of the research must be combined, the charts, tables and other forms of pictorial representation must be written at this stage. The Interpretation of the research findings is finished at this stage.

Management consultants can conduct in-depth works of research. Market analysis in general takes time and primary market research is more tedious, companies must hire management consultants to carry on this task. The steps are many and each step takes a lot of time, the end result is that market research answers many questions that companies are asking.

7 Easy Steps to Conducting Your Marketing Research Plan!

Marketing research is a process used by businesses to collect, analyze, and interpret information used to make sound business decisions and successfully manage the business. In other words, it links the consumer to the marketer by providing information that can be used in making marketing decisions (i.e. B2C or B2B). This can not be implemented without the use of a MIS (Marketing Research System) to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers.

Here are the steps to implementing a marketing research process.

1. Ask yourself if there is a real need for marketing research. It’s not only the first step to take but a very critical one as well! Research takes a lot of time due to the overload of secondary information available on the Internet. It’s ideal to think that it takes months or even a year to completely finalize a marketing research agenda. The other factor you will need to consider is the cost of doing it, especially if you hire an agency to do it for you. What you want to compare is the value of the information vs the cost of the information. If the value of the information is worth the cost and time of doing it, then by all means, go for it buddy!

If you’re still unsure, here’s a few quick guides to go by to determine that marketing research is not needed:

a) The information is already available

b) The timing is wrong to conduct marketing research

c) Funds are not available for marketing research

d) Costs outweigh the value of marketing research

2. Define the problem. This is the most important step (assuming you’ve decided to do marketing research). If the problem is incorrectly defined, all else will become wasted effort! Keep in mind that the need to make a decision requires decision alternatives. If there are no alternatives, no decision is necessary. For example, let’s say your sales are down by 30%, therefore becoming a problem with your revenues. Your alternatives may be to see how well ads #2 does compared to ads #1 in terms of sales. Use secondary data sources to develop ideas further into the research.

Here’s a powerful technique to use in order to pinpoint important problems and receive information all in one: create a focus group! Here’s why:

a) it generates fresh ideas

b) allow clients to observe their participants

c) understand a wide variety of issues

d) allow easy access to special respondent groups

3. Establish objectives. Research objectives, when stated effectively, can provide the information needed to solve the problem you have from step 2. All of your objectives should be what you want to study in your market research and specific as possible.

Here’s a quick checklist of what to include in each and every objective:

a) specify from whom information is to be gathered

b) specify what information is needed

c) specify the unit of measurement used to gather information

d) use the respondents’ reference to re-word the question

4. Determine research design. There are 5 different designs you can choose from to get the information you need, such as descriptive, exploratory, causal, and diagnostic research. Descriptive research describe market variables. Exploratory research allows you to get information in an unstructured way. Causal studies is to try to reveal what factor(s) cause some event to happen. Diagnostic research focuses on the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

5. Choose method of assessing data. Secondary data is more easy to access than primary data, such as online surveys. However, if you are into the traditional way of doing data collection (i.e. telephone, mail, F-2-F), they all still have a place in marketing research. The questionnaire that you present to the respondents must be worded clearly and unbias.

Here’s a few pointers you want to remember when creating the forms for your questionnaire:

a) use nominal, ordinal, interval-Likert, interval-S-D, interval-Stapel, and ratio measurements

b) questions pertaining to each research objective (step 3)

c) questions pertaining to attribute, attitude, or behavior

d) have 1 open-ended question (I would definitely keep this at a minimum, if I were you)

6. Determine sample plan and size. Your sample plan should describe how each sample element is to be drawn from the total population. The sample size tells how many elements of the population should be included in the sample. In other words, the purpose of the sample plan is to give you representativeness, while the sample size gives you accuracy!

Here’s a small but important task to take to prevent or minimize nonsampling errors from occurring: validate your participants by re-contacting!

7. Analyze and report the data. It’s always good to go back and run tests on the information you have to screen out errors that may occur. Once you have all that you need for the research (pie charts, bar graphs, statistics, survey, etc), you want to be sure to create a report of it. Carefully present the research report in a way that communicates the results clearly, yet accurately to the client.

Market Research Explained

There isn’t a consistent definition or common understanding of the term market research. However, it is used by many businesses in their marketing mix. It is normally understood as the activity where a company compiles information and then researches the markets for specific product or service acceptability. It can be done online or offline and also can include multiple types of research about people and organizations using different methods and techniques to help gain insight into the market.

Definition

As stated above, there are many different definitions of the term market research and the differences can results in a business understanding and using only one aspect of this instead of the large field and limiting its methods. Below are some of its more common definitions.

As per Wikipedia:

Marketing research is “the function that links the consumers, customers, and public to the marketer through information-information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications.”

As per the American Marketing Association:

“Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information–information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications.”

As per BusinessDirectory.com:

Market Research: “identification of a specific market and measurement of its size and other characteristics.”

As per MarketResearchWorld.net:

“Market Research is a systematic, objective collection and analysis of data about a particular target market, competition, and/or environment. It always incorporates some form of data collection whether it is secondary research (often referred to as desk research) or primary research which is collected direct from a respondent.”

The purpose of any research project is to achieve an increased understanding of the market. With businesses throughout the world becoming increasingly competitive, market research is now on the agenda of many organizations — large and small.”

Common threads in every definition:

No matter the definition that you choose to use, there can be found a few common thoughts in the different definitions:

• It is about the information that is gathered with a specific objective in mind
• It is about studying the market without influencing it
• The customer is the center of the research
• There are no assumptions made, however information is gathered to help data-driven decision making
• There is no definition of the channel of research and is free of the tools and techniques that are used to conduct it

The Steps involved

When done in a scientific and structured way, that is unbiased and is without assumptions, market research can provide many different benefits to an organization. In order for it to have meaning, research should encompass the following steps:

• Collect and analyze data on the market
• Identify and prioritize markets
• Quantify and communicate goals and results to stakeholders
• Measure and track customer relationships

Importance

Market research can be very important to several different aspects of a business. Research that is done right can help a business develop products and services that the target market needs; develop marketing plans based on the information that is gathered in order to reach all potential customers in the most effective way. Market research that is well executed can provide useful information that can help a business have an advantage over the competitors and ensure customer happines

Older posts »