What is Market Research?

The term is commonly interchanged with marketing research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that marketing research is concerned specifically about marketing processes, while market research is concerned specifically with markets.

Market research consists of systematically gathering data about people or companies – a market – and then analyzing it to better understand what that group of people needs. The results of market research, which are usually summarized in a report, are then used to help business owners make more informed decisions about the company’s strategies, operations, and potential customer base.

Meaning, if your research told you that scientists had recently created a new kind of fabric that helped the wearer lose weight just by putting it on, for example, your retail clothing store might want to adjust its buying plan to test designs using this new fabric.

Market research is one of the main factors used in maintaining competitiveness over competitors. Market research provides important information which helps to identify and analyze the needs of the market, the market size and the competition.

Market research is any organized effort to gather information about target markets or customers. ... Market research provides important information which helps to identify and analyze the needs of the market, the market size and the competition.

if you uncovered that shoppers in your area rely heavily on coupons in making a purchase decision, you might decide to test sending your mailing list a promotional coupon.

Market research can help businesses run more efficiently and market more effectively.

Market-research techniques encompass both qualitative techniques such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, and ethnography, as well as quantitative techniques such as customer surveys, and analysis of secondary data.

Market research can help businesses run more efficiently and market more effectively.

Market research is the process of assessing the viability of a new good or service through research conducted directly with the consumer.This practice allows a company to discover the target market and record opinions and other input from consumers regarding interest in the product

Primary. Primary data is first-hand information you gather yourself, or with the help of a market research firm. You control it.

Secondary. Secondary data is pre-existing public information, such as the data shared in magazines and newspapers, government or industry reports. You can analyze the data in new ways, but the information is available to a large number of people.

The purpose of market research is to examine the market associated with a particular good or service to determine how the audience will receive it.

Market research, which includes social and opinion research, is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organizations using statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making.

Market research started to be conceptualized and put into formal practice during the 1920s, as an offshoot of the advertising boom of the Golden Age of radio in the United States. Advertisers began to realize the significance of demographics revealed by sponsorship of different radio programs.

Exploratory market research gathers lots of open-ended data from many people to better understand a problem or opportunity.

The goal is to gather perceptions and opinions regarding an issue, so your company can decide how to address it. But first you have to understand how your market sees the issue.

A business must engage in a variety of tasks to complete the market research process. It needs to gather information based on the market sector being examined

Market research is a way of getting an overview of consumers' wants, needs and beliefs. It can also involve discovering how they act. The research can be used to determine how a product could be marketed.

Specific. Once you understand the larger market issues, or opportunities, you can use specific questions to gather information that could lead to a new product or service.

The business must analyze and interpret the resulting data to determine the presence of any patterns or relevant data points that it can use in the decision-making process.

Market research firms often use specific questions to gather feedback on a new advertising campaign, or to refine a planned new product.

Surveys. Asking customers a series of questions to better understand how they feel about a product’s features, or about the experience they had during their hotel stay, for example, are two possible uses of a survey.

Peter Drucker believed market research to be the quintessence of marketing. Market research is a way that producers and the marketplace study the consumer and gather information about the consumers' needs.

Another market research technique is the one-on-one interview with an individual, during which probing questions are posed to better understand that person’s product preferences.