Market Research (Copy)

3.2.1 The Role of Market Research and Methods Used

• Market-orientated businesses
  • Base decisions on customer needs and wants.
  • Use research to:
    • Identify market size and trends.
    • Predict demand and reduce risk of failure.
    • Understand competitors.
    • Decide pricing, promotion, distribution.
  • Example: Starbucks tests new flavours before nationwide launch.
• Primary research (field research)
  • Data collected first-hand for a specific purpose.
  • Methods:
    • Postal questionnaire
    • Online survey
    • Interviews
    • Focus groups (discuss opinions in groups)
  • Benefits: Up-to-date, relevant, specific to business.
  • Limitations: Time-consuming, expensive, may have bias.
• Secondary research (desk research)
  • Using data already collected by others.
  • Methods:
    • Internet/online sources
    • Government statistics (e.g. census)
    • Commercial market reports (e.g. Nielsen, Mintel)
  • Benefits: Cheaper, quicker, accessible.
  • Limitations: May be outdated, not tailored to needs, reliability issues.
• The need for sampling
  • Used when population is too large to study everyone.
  • Types:
    • Random sampling – everyone has equal chance.
    • Quota sampling – chosen based on certain characteristics (e.g. age, gender).
  • Importance: Saves cost and time, still representative if done properly.
• Factors affecting accuracy of research
  • Size of sample.
  • Method of sampling (biased vs fair).
  • Wording of questions (leading questions cause errors).
  • Accuracy of data source (reliability, up-to-date).
  • Respondents may lie or give incomplete answers.

Written and Compiled By Sir Hunain Zia, World Record Holder With 154 Total A Grades, 7 Distinctions and 11 World Records For Educate A Change O Level And IGCSE Business Studies Full Scale Course

3.2.2 Presentation and Use of Market Research Results

• Presenting data
  • Graphs, charts, and diagrams are common (e.g. bar charts, line graphs, pie charts).
  • Tables for numerical data.
  • Diagrams help businesses identify patterns and trends quickly.
• Analysing data
  • Look for trends over time (e.g. sales increasing/decreasing).
  • Compare between products, regions, or time periods.
  • Identify customer preferences and behaviour.
• Using conclusions
  • To decide marketing strategies (pricing, promotion, product design).
  • To predict demand and plan production.
  • To adjust business decisions to reduce risk.
  • Example: A clothing retailer sees higher demand for online shopping → invests more in e-commerce.

Quick Recap Keywords

• Primary research = new, specific, expensive, accurate.
• Secondary research = existing, cheap, quick, less specific.
• Sampling = saves cost/time, must be fair.
• Accuracy = depends on sample size, fairness, honesty, reliability.
• Presentation = charts, graphs, tables → analyse trends → guide decisions.

Written and Compiled By Sir Hunain Zia, World Record Holder With 154 Total A Grades, 7 Distinctions and 11 World Records For Educate A Change O Level And IGCSE Business Studies Full Scale Course