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FMD 451 Target Market Research Market Research What is marketing research? The marketing research process Six stages What is Marketing Research? Marketing research is the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis, and dissemination of information, undertaken to improve decision making related to identifying and solving problems in marketing. American Marketing Association Identifying your market? Identifying Your Market Step One: Identifying Why a Customer Would Want to Buy Your Product/Service Step Two: Segment Your Overall Market Step Three: Research Your Market Types Of Markets A market is simply any group of actual or potential buyers of a product. There are three major types of markets. 1. The consumer market. Individuals and households who buy goods for their own use or benefit are part of the consumer market. Drug and grocery items are the most common types of consumer products. 2. The industrial market. Individuals, groups or organizations that purchase your product or service for direct use in producing other products or for use in their day-to-day operations. 3. The reseller market. Middlemen or intermediaries, such as wholesalers and retailers, who buy finished goods and resell them for a profit. Why would a consumer buy your product? What does your product have to offer? What are the features of your product and its benefits?example: is anti-lock brakes; they are features on a car, but the benefit to the consumer is safety. This will help you narrow down your key target market! In one column, list the features of your product/service. In the other, list the benefits each feature yields to the buyer. Features: Benefits: 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. Segment your Market Market segmentation is the process of breaking down a larger target market into smaller segments with specific characteristics. Segmentation will help you customize a product/service or other parts of a marketing mix, such as advertising, to reach and meet the specific needs of a narrowly defined customer group. Segmenting your market! 1. 2. 3. 4. Geographic: Where do your customers live? What state or region-climate concerns? Demographic: What is their age, race, religion, gender, income level, family size, occupations, education, and marital status? Psychographics:What are their attitudes, beliefs, and emotions? What is their lifestyle, family stage, hobbies, status seeking, and entertainment. Example: Do they see themselves as avante garde, high tech, socially responsible, ect? Buying Behaviors: Why does your customer buy? Price, brand, loyalty, how frequently, what time of the year, ect. Example of Customer Profile Career Option's Sample Customer Profile: Professionals in Transition Segment Gender: 30% Female 70% Male Age: 10% 26-30 30% 31-40 30% 41-55 30% 56-64 Income: 25% 30-40K 25% 40-50K 50% 50-75K Marital Status: 80% Married 20% Single Level Of Education: 60% Bachelor's degree 40% Master's degree Occupations: 10% Health Care 20% Financial 30% Marketing/Advertising 40% Hi-Tech Fields Job Sought: 70% Same Field 30% New Field Most Important Benefits: 1. Assistance in finding work quickly. 2. Want a better job. 3. Want equal salary or increase. 4. Stability. Psychographic Summary: This segment closely associates work with self-esteem. They feel pressure because most have families and comfortable lifestyles to maintain. They are not interested in forging new careers but want stability. Choose the Target Market you will sell to! After identifying and defining the possible segments within your target market, you must face the critical question of whether it would be profitable and feasible for you to pursue each identified segment, or choose one or two. Brand new companies should choose one or two! Find out what is important to your customer?Create a survey! High Price Quality Brand Name Variety of services Salespeople Customer Service Special Offers Promotional Campaign Packaging Convenience of Use Convenience of Purchase Location Guarantees Store/Office Decor Payment Terms Medium Low Not At All Market Segmentation Segment potential buyers into similar groups. Buying habits Ability to pay-Price What is the size of the market Checklist! Identifying Your Market ___ Determine why a customer would want to buy your product/service. ___ Identify your products'/services' benefits and features. ___ Decide which segmentation criteria will best segment your target market: geographic, demographic, psychographic or behavioral. ___ Segment your market. ___ Divide larger target market segments into smaller segments. ___ Decide if it would be profitable and feasible for you to pursue each segment. Two Types of Marketing Research Problem Identification Research Market Potential, Market Share, Brand image, Forecasting, Business Trend Problem-Solving Research Segmentation Research Product Research Promotion Research Distribution Research Examples of Marketing Research Projects • concept test: evaluates new product or advertising ideas • copy test: tests advertising content • price responsiveness studies: tests how customers will respond to various price levels • market-share analysis • segmentation studies • customer satisfaction studies: monitor how customers feel about products and service Marketing research process 1. Define the Problem 2. Developing an Approach to the Problem 3. Formulating a Research Design 4. Doing Field Work or Collecting Data 5. Preparing and Analyzing Data 6. Preparing and Presenting the Report 1. Define the Problem Defining a problem 1. 2. Understanding the purpose of the study Understanding the background issues E.g. the company growth rate is low. Discuss with decision makers, interviews with industry experts, analysis of secondary data, conducting focus groups analysis. Example: Subaru of America Management problem: What can Subaru do to expand its share of the automobile market? To conduct market research – need to define the problems more precisely Q.1 What needs do buyers of passengers cars, station wagons, and SUV seek to satisfy? Q.2 How well do existing automobile product offerings meet these needs? 2. Developing an Approach to the Problem Formulating an analytical framework and models, research questions. Determine a hypothesis: an educated guess The hypothesis provides a research problem for the investigators which can be tested scientifically. Define the Research Objective Pg. 253-What information do you want to learn? Prior to developing specific survey questions and the sampling frame. What needs to be accomplished by conducting the survey? Need to be measurable Objectives: assess support level for a ballot measure vs. gather opinions about current and potential services. Define the Research Objective 1. 2. Good market research objectives are focused and specific. They include: An action verb-what you want to do A type of finding Sample verbs: identify, define, describe, generate, evaluate, select, test, measure, prioritize, monitor, track. Sample findings: usage, problem, reactions, perceptions, ideas, size, growth, trends, competition, awareness, satisfaction, preferences. 3. Formulating a Research Design A framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research Details procedures needed to obtain the required information. Conducting exploratory research, precisely defining the variables, designing appropriate scales to measure them. How to obtain the data: survey or experiment Design questionnaire 4. Doing Field Work or Collecting Data Field work involves personal, telephone, mail, or electronic interviewing Proper selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of the field force are essential 5. Preparing and Analyzing Data Data Processing Editing, coding, transcribing of collected data. Analyze using different statistical techniques Interpreted the results, find conclusions related to the marketing research questions 6. Preparing and presenting the report. Source of information First, select sources of information: Secondary data information already collected for another purpose If use secondary data—designing the questionnaire, planning the sample, and collecting data are done for you. But make sure they are done right! Primary data information collected for the specific purpose at hand Source of information Sources of secondary data- pg. 255 internal sources balance sheets, sales figures, customer DB government publications Statistics, bureau of Economic analysis, bureau of labor statistics, census bureau periodicals and books WWD, California Apparel news, Journal of consumer research, Advertising age Trade associations-FBI, Cotton inc., National Retail federation, Fashion Group international internet Pros and Cons of Secondary Data Advantages of secondary data low cost less effort expended process less time consuming some information can be obtained only from secondary data Disadvantages of secondary data collected for some other purpose may not be very accurate may be outdated Primary Data Primary data collection process Data collection methods surveys qualitative research—personal interviews & focus groups observation Experiment Design study materials (e.g., questionnaire design) Sampling Data collection Survey Survey Data collection by asking people questions Advantages personal interview telephone survey mail survey Internet survey large size data, flexibility Disadvantages errors in questionnaire, expensive, response error Personal Interview Survey (cont.) Personal interview Advantages Disadvantages flexible, more information expensive, time-consuming, interviewer bias e.g., “shopping mall intercept”: a convenient, low-cost method but lacks representativeness Telephone Survey Survey (cont.) Telephone survey Advantages quickness, cost efficiency Disadvantages limited amount of information, limited accessibility of people, have to remember response options Mail Survey Survey (cont.) Mail survey Advantages low cost Disadvantages low response rate less control Internet Survey Survey (cont.) Internet survey Advantages low cost—much lower even than mail Disadvantages low response rate—large response bias Data reliability—difficult to verify if personal information is true Qualitative Research Qualitative research Types Advantages individual depth interview focus group interview resulting data have more depth and richness of context Disadvantages results not necessarily representative of population Hard to quantify the results Focus Group Interview Qualitative research (cont.) Focus group interview Loosely structured group discussion led by interviewer The discussion is observed or videotaped Best for preliminary research Individual depth interview: similar interview with a single person Difficult to understand without seeing it, so we have a video. Focus Groups Group discussion and focus group Postal research questionnaires Diary panels - sources of continuous data In-home scanning - hand-held light pen to scan barcodes Telephone research Observation home audit direct observation In-store testing Observational Method Observational method Types Advantages personal observation mechanical observation (e.g., scanner data) can have high degree of accuracy, short period of time for data collection Disadvantages unaware of motives, attitudes, or decision processes Experiment Experiment Tests the effects of variables in a controlled situation Example: test of two different versions of advertisements in two different cities Advantages control Disadvantages unrealistic settings (laboratory experiments) Expensive (real experiments) Questionnaire Questionnaire design Wording Order simple, direct, unbiased—no leading questions written with respondents in mind first question should create interest if possible difficult or personal questions should be asked last Format open-ended questions closed-end questions Developing the Questionnaire General rules: Keep the order of questions logical, with smooth transitions. Move from general to specific. Make sure respondents understand the wording. Be conversational. Avoid monotony. Include exhaustive and non-overlapping response categories. Questionnaire Open- vs. close-ended questions (asked of Americans) “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?” 1) the energy shortage 2) quality of public schools 3) economy 4) war on terrorism --- 70% endorsed “war on terrorism” • Same question in open-ended format How can we get out of Iraq? Your questions should address: •Attitude measurement •cognitive component (know/believe about an act/object) •affective component (feel about an act/object) •cognitive component (behave towards an object or act Types of Questions Pg. 257 Likert scale strongly agree agree neither agree nor disagree disagree strongly disagree Pre-Testing the Questionnaire Estimate the length of the questionnaire. Ensure that words, phrases, and subjects are easily understood by the respondents. Ensure that answer categories match with what the respondents have to say. Ensure that the questionnaire achieves the research objectives. Sample selection Survey and questionnaire design Choosing a sample: Samples need to be as representative as possible, ideally randomly chosen from the population of interest Sample size must be large enough to have confidence in the results—depends on situation Poorly chosen samples lead to biased results Reported daily TV consumption in hours Low frequency alternatives Up to ½ ½ to 1 1 to 1½ 1½ to 2 2 to 2½ More than 2½ High Frequency alternatives Up to 2½ 2½ to 3 3 to 3½ 3½ to 4 4 to 4½ More than 4½ Schwarz et al. (1985) Reported daily TV consumption in hours Low frequency alternatives % Up to ½ ½ to 1 1 to 1½ 1½ to 2 2 to 2½ More than 2½ 7.4 17.7 26.5 14.7 17.7 16.2 High Frequency alternatives Up to 2½ 2½ to 3 3 to 3½ 3½ to 4 4 to 4½ More than 4½ Schwarz et al. (1985) % 62.5 23.4 7.8 4.7 1.6 0 Sample Sampling A sample is a subset of the population selected to represent the population as a whole Samples should be representative of the population Sample size larger sample gives more reliable results small samples are OK when they represent the population (US presidential election poll: sample size of 1,000) Sampling Sampling (cont.): Sampling procedure random sampling every member of the population has a known probability of being included convenience sampling the researcher selects easiest population members from which to obtain information lacks the representativeness of the population (e.g.) shopping mall intercept Data Processing When conducting the survey with volunteers: Record all responses on paper. Keypunch responses into computer for data processing. Software packages to use for keypunching: Excel, SPSS, or SNAP. Each column is a variable and each row is a respondent. Data Processing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 2 3 4 5 2 4 5 3 3 2 5 5 2 1 0 2 2 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 5 1 5 5 4 4 1 4 0 0 5 3 0 2 2 3 5 5 6 2 0 0 1 2 1 2 5 5 6 2 3 3 0 0 5 2 0 5 6 6 6 2 2 1 2 3 3 2 5 2 5 5 6 0 Data Analysis Statistical software packages to use: SPSS, SAS, STATA, or SNAP. Statistical techniques: mean, mode, median, cross tabulation, correlation, factor analysis, and regression analysis. Mean-Average- mean is the usual average, so: (13 + 18 + 13 + 14 + 13 + 16 + 14 + 21 + 13) ÷ 9 = 15 Median-The middle value- There are nine numbers in the list, so the middle one will be the (9 + 1) ÷ 2 = 10 ÷ 2 = 5th number: 13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21 So the median is 14. Mode- The number repeated most often=1 Prepare and Present the Final Research Report • • • • • Findings are presented, often by research objective, in a clear and concise way. The need for a good report cannot be overstated. Use Graphical charts to highlight the most important findings! How do your findings influence your business and objectives?! This must be well written or results will not be taken seriously!