Though you may have some idea as to what market research is, you may not know or understand the specifics as to what constitutes market research. Market Research is the system by which companies research the market of their particular brand or product to find out why it is either doing well or badly. It is usually used to help businesses develop different strategies that ensure that they can forge ahead with their agenda and ensure that their products sell as well as possible. The research that is found through market research often leads to the changing of a product’s image or of the entire company.
It is therefore important to get right, and it is vital that you understand the various types of market research there are and how precisely they can impact on a company’s standing. To help you understand how exactly it can impact on a company, let’s break down the various different ways that it can cause change in the image of the company or a particular product it wants to advertise more:
- Price. One of the ways that a product can be affected by market research is a change in price. If customers seem to think that the product is too expensive or that, for an item in the luxury end of the market, that it seems too cheap, then the price of the product can be impacted which can help to change its image. This can often have a positive impact and drive up sales of the product or help it be exposed to more people. Price is one of the most important elements that impacts on a customers decision whether to buy a product or not and, therefore, if market research suggests that the price of the product is not appropriate in some way then it is certainly wiser to follow that evidence and change the price of the item accordingly. This is why market research is so important – it directly affects how much you pay for products.
- Changes in the product. Changes that often impact on the way a product is perceived can come as a result of market research; often the market research will either cause a change in the product or it will result in the product staying the same. Often, when the research is primary, it will involve proposed changes to a product being presented to a focus group who will then express their opinion on whether they feel the proposed improvements help the product or hinder it. This is a key reason for the importance of market research – the entire look of a product can either be changed or prevented from changing because of the way consumers react to the change. This is particularly important to note when writing a business dissertation; consumers can often make choices and have opinions that surprise you and this is the reason that it is always wise to run any proposed changes past consumers to ensure that you have their backing. If you don’t then it would seem fool hardy to attempt to force a change on them that they do not want – it may mean that they turn away from your product.
- Marketing Strategy. One of the most important elements of market research is how it informs the choices of the company as to how they should market their product or company. In this globalised, internet world, it is more important than ever to understand how to advertise your products in such a way that it gains as much traction as possible and one way to find this out is to conduct market research to find out as to what your target demographic is, how best you can address their concerns about the product and ensure that they see it in a positive as possible light. This is the key to market research – it unlocks exactly how to ensure that a product succeeds in the field of business.
