ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

ASSIGNMENT-I

TOPIC: SOURCES OF MARKET RESEARCH INFORMATION

SUBMITTED TO: Prof. Anil G.S Nair Department of MBA BJSM

SUBMITTED BY: Chaithra c s 4 th sem MBA Roll no: 10 BJSM

SUBMISSION ON: 12-04-2013

MARKET RESEARCH Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy. Market research is a key factor to get advantage over competitors. Market research provides important information to identify and analyze the market need, market size and competition. 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

SOURCES OF MARKET RESEARCH INFORMATION There are two main sources of market research information that are:1. Secondary data sources 2. Primary data sources

1. Secondary data sources Secondary data is data that already exists and has been collected by someone else for another purpose. Secondary research involves the investigation of secondary sources of data. Sources of secondary data can come from within the firm itself this is known as internal secondary data. External secondary data, on the other hand, is data that has been published by other organisations Internal sources of Secondary Data Every department within an organisation will have its own records that represent a potential source of valuable data. For instance, records of past advertising campaigns within the marketing department can be compared with copies of invoices held in the sales department in order to judge their effectiveness and get ideas for future campaigns. Past sales figures can also be used to spot trends and forecast future figures. The increasing availability and use of loyalty cards has given retail outlets the chance to gather a wide range of valuable information on customer buying habits, allowing them to target promotional campaigns more effectively. Internal sources of data should always be considered as a first line of enquiry for any investigation because they are usually the quickest, cheapest and most convenient source of information available. Internal data will also be exclusive to the organisation that generated it, so that rival firms will not have access to it.

However, internal data may be incomplete or out of date, and, if a project is new, there may be no relevant data at all. In such cases, an organisation may need to consider using external sources of secondary data.

External sources of Secondary Data There are several sources of existing data available from outside of the organisation that may be of value. These include:

Commercial market research organisations including MINTEL, Keynote and Euro monitor The Government e.g., Monthly Digest of Statistics, Annual Abstract of Statistics, Social Trends. In addition, there are now a number of government websites, such as www.statistics.gov. Competitors company reports and websites are easily accessible and contain a limited amount of information Trade Publications e.g., the Grocer The general media to the archives of newspapers such as the Financial Times and the Guardian and journals such as the Economist are now accessible online, making them a useful starting point for research

Uses of Secondary Data It can solve the problem on hand all by its own It can lead to new ideas and other sources Helps to define the problem more clearly It can help in designing the primary data collections process Helps in defining the population / sample It can serve as a reference base

Advantages and Disadvantages of using Secondary Data Secondary data sources should always be considered by any firm conducting research. No firm can afford to waste time and money conducting expensive surveys to gather data that already exists! However, secondary data may have been collected some time ago and, therefore, be out-of-date. Because it has been collected for another purpose, it may be in the wrong format or incomplete. The advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data will vary from source to source. Government data, for example, is usually cheap or even free to access. It is likely to be accurate and updated regularly. However, it may be too general and, because it is available to everyone, it is unlikely to give an organisation any competitive edge. Some information on competitors may be easily available via company reports or websites, but these are unlikely to contain sensitive information or data that gives the firm a negative image.

2. Primary Data sources Often, secondary data must be supplemented by primary data originated specifically for the study at hand. Some common types of primary data are: Demographic and socio-economic factors Psychological and lifestyle characteristics Attitudes and opinions Awareness and knowledge- for example, brand awareness Intentions- for example, purchase intentions. While useful, intentions are not a reliable indication of actual future behaviour Behaviour

Primary data can be obtained by communication or by observation. Communication involves questioning respondents either verbally or in writing. This method is versatile, since once needs only to ask for the information; however, the response may not be accurate. Communication usually is quicker and cheaper than observation. Observation involves the recording of actions and is performed by either a person or some mechanical or electronic device. Observation is less versatile than communication since some attributes of a person may not be readily observable, such as attributes, awareness, knowledge, intentions and motivations. Observation also might take longer since observes may have to wait for appropriate events to occur, though observation using scanner data might be quicker and more cost effective. Observation typically is more accurate than communication. Personal interviews have an interviewer bias that mail-in questionnaires do not have. For example, in a personal interview the respondents perception of the interviewer may affect the responses.