MARKET RESEARCH: AN INTRODUCTION
Market Research is a term that is used to refer to a process of gathering or collecting information about target audience or target market. The main role of the concept of market research is to provide a company or a business organization with an in-depth view of the customers or consumers in order to be able to satisfy their needs better. The process of market research is integral to be able to compete with other players in the same industry and helps to analyze things like market size, competition and market needs.
Market research makes use of analytical and statistical techniques and methods to gather and interpret information in an organized fashion. This process also involves opinion and social research and is important in today’s increasingly complex business environment. In such a scenario, businesses cannot just rely on their ‘gut-feeling’ to run things, and this is why market research is needed.
From: Anastasia (2015) Market Research Techniques: Primary and Secondary Market Research, URL: https://www.cleverism.com/market-research-techniques-primary-secondary/
Depending on your research topic, there are many different terms that may be useful for your searches. These terms include:
| brand choice | consumer research | marketing strategy |
| brand loyalty | customer loyalty | product acceptance |
| brand preferences | market research | product choice |
| consumer attitudes | marketing research | product introduction |
| consumer behavior | market strategy | target markets |
When doing market research, it is typically helpful to know the primary code(s), such as NAICS and SIC codes, associated with that market.
Finally, advanced Google searching can also be beneficial, particularly focusing on trade or industry associations, government reports and websites, and white papers from companies or think tanks.
Tip: Adding the site:.org command to a Google search will limit all the results to those with domains ending in .org
Often, when looking up market information in search engines like Google, you will find all sorts of reports. However, you'll also find that most of the reports cost hundreds-thousands of dollars to access. We typically do not have access to these types of reports; however, it can be helpful to read the table of contents or preview the information provided to steer you in the right direction for additional information.
From: https://libguides.umgc.edu/c.php?g=970568&p=7014269#s-lg-box-22582837
See Also | Primary Data vs. Secondary Data: Market Research Methods
