MARKET RESEARCH REPORT

Table of Contents
Executive Summary................................................................................................................................3
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................3
Background and Role of the Research...................................................................................................3
Marketing Research Industry as it Exists Today.......................................................................................4
Role of the Research................................................................................................................................4
Manufacturers and Marketing Research.................................................................................................4
Framing and Implementing Product Policies...........................................................................................5
Designing and Executing Marketing Strategies........................................................................................5
Distributors and Marketing Research......................................................................................................5
Location of the Outlet..............................................................................................................................5
Shaping and Improving Store Image........................................................................................................5
Distribution Cost Control and Reduction.................................................................................................5
Government and the Marketing Research..............................................................................................5
Internal Management..............................................................................................................................5
External Management.............................................................................................................................6
Objectives - Business, Marketing and Research......................................................................................6
Contemporary Market Research Methods.............................................................................................7
Online Surveys.........................................................................................................................................7
Live Chat Focus Groups............................................................................................................................7
In-Depth Interview..................................................................................................................................7
Eye Tracking.............................................................................................................................................7
Online Diaries..........................................................................................................................................8
Smart Boards...........................................................................................................................................8
Online Communities................................................................................................................................8
Social Media Listening.............................................................................................................................8
Research Methodology and Sampling.....................................................................................................8
Chosen of the Market Research Method.................................................................................................8
Significance..............................................................................................................................................8
Methodology...........................................................................................................................................9

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 Sampling..................................................................................................................................................9
Research Timing...................................................................................................................................15
Ethical and Legal Consideration...........................................................................................................15
Results..................................................................................................................................................15
Segment and Persona Development....................................................................................................15
Map Personas to Segments...................................................................................................................16
Score Segments Based on Attributes.....................................................................................................16
Apply Segments and Scoring to Marketing Programs............................................................................16
Evaluation............................................................................................................................................16
Future Recommendations....................................................................................................................16
References...........................................................................................................................................17

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Executive Summary
This study provided a deep understanding of the market research and the process which involved and
participated in achieving the needed goals. This study also discussed the role of research in building &
implementing successful marketing programs. As well as it explained the role of marketing research and
its importance in taking the decisions, also we will not forget that this study gave the needed and how
we can apply market research on our business. The purpose of this study to gain and understanding of
markets, changes and improvement in the products, reduce risk and uncertainty, provide a sound basis
marketing decisions to help selected brands and their companies. For this purpose in the list of research
methods tools we have selected the online conducting survey method and have applied on two similar
brands on specific topic like brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. After getting survey results at the
end we have highlighted the problems during conducting market research and give our conclusion and
recommendation to conduct the contemporary market research and the tools which would be helpful
more.

Introduction
Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers know
about them, starting with who they are. It is a very important component of business strategy and a
major factor in maintaining competitiveness. Marketing research may be conducted internally by the
firm’s marketing department or performed externally by a marketing research firm. The information
gathered is then used to make decisions related to the marketing mix or other marketing functions. The
marketing mix is the specific combination of product, pricing, promotional, and distribution decisions
made for the purpose of targeting a particular group of consumers. Some of the more common
marketing uses of research information include market segmentation, identifying specific target markets
and their media habits, analyzing consumer behavior and needs, tracking customer satisfaction,
developing new products, and evaluating various forms of advertising executions and pricing tactics.
But, the use of marketing research information is not limited to just the marketing department. It can be
used by all levels of management to make decisions.

Background and Role of the Research

The first documented instance of marketing research was in 1879 and was conducted by the advertising
agency N. W. Ayer. The company surveyed state and local officials about expected levels of grain
production. This information was used by a manufacturer of farm equipment in the preparation of an

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advertising schedule. From that first beginning marketing research slowly evolved. The basic foundation
of marketing research was developed during the first 30 years of the 20th century. The early years of
marketing research focused on methods of sampling, collecting data, and analytical techniques.
Researchers also focused on ways to measure concepts such as opinions, perceptions, preferences,
attitudes, personalities, and lifestyles. The period of the 1970s and 1980s is often referred to as the
“golden age of consumer research. During this time marketing research techniques became more
scientific. During the late 1990s and early 2000s a cultural shift in marketing research began to occur.
Decision makers wanted more than support for marketing decisions. They wanted marketing
researchers to offer insights into what the data meant.

Marketing Research Industry as it Exists Today

Client firms conduct research in-house or hire full-serve or boutique marketing research firms to provide
information needed for decision making. Data collection can be undertaken with the general population,
or a firm may be hired to provide a sample from its panel or database. Research agencies are
increasingly relying upon sample aggregators to obtain more representative, reliable samples

Role of the Research

Marketing research has been very rightly described as the ‘radiology and pathology’ of marketing
operations.

Manufacturers and Marketing Research

Every agile manufacturer is expected to design the most matching policies and marketing strategies. A
policy is the guiding principle established by the firm to govern the actions usually under repetitive
conditions. Strategy, on the other hand, is a kind of plan formulated basically to meet the challenges of
special circumstances. It is a counter plan to kill the plans of competitors.

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Manufacturers stand to benefit in two ways by marketing research

Framing and Implementing Product Policies

Marketing research solves effectively the problems in the areas or activities of product policy
formulation and implementation. These product policies are related to product development,
determination of product-line, purchase of inputs, inventories, location and layout of plant, production
planning and control, plant maintenance, control of waste, quality and cost, finance and personnel.

Designing and Executing Marketing Strategies

Marketing research is almost indispensable in planning and executing the marketing strategies because,
it collects, analyses and interprets the relevant data thus, reinforcing the hands of the decision-maker in
making sound and timely decisions to kick the threats and kiss the opportunities.

Distributors and Marketing Research

Distributors the vital link between producers and consumers stand to benefit by marketing research as
under

Location of the Outlet

The success of a distributor depends on the strategic place of his selling outlet. While selecting the site,
two aspects are given top priority namely region and specific site. Marketing research helps in finding
out the regions with thick and rich population, encouraging business environment and suitable transport
facilities.

Shaping and Improving Store Image

Market research studies show that store’s image has given the factors influencing the consumer
attitudes towards store, in terms of shopping practices and store characteristics.

Distribution Cost Control and Reduction

An effective cost accounting system can provide cost analysis that unearths the possible pockets of
wastes and inefficiencies and helps in plugging these forever. This is the part of marketing research.

Government and the Marketing Research

In such a stupendous task, these governments have to depend on marketing research to a very great
extent which is quite evident from following.

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Internal Management
Management of economic system implies planning and controlling the various segments of it. It is
basically the task of resource allocation on national and social priorities so as to have the optimum
results. Control implies control of production, prices distribution and consumption. To discharge these
responsibilities, governments will have to collect the relevant data, analyze it and interpret it.

External Management
There is continuous hunt for market expansion, beyond national boundaries. Governments are at
constant work of exploring the new markets in the world for its products and services. The vital
decisions on imports and exports are hinged on the exhaustive market researchers conducted. As it
provides accurate information, excesses and their ill-effects on the economy can be curbed. Thus, the
marketing research fortifies the statement “Export or Perish” by enabling the firms to export with
careful study.

Objectives - Business, Marketing and Research

The main objective of marketing research is to identify the needs, wants and demands of the target
customer, so that the firm can introduce changes in the product according to the important
requirements. It is this quality of product that helps to create brand loyalty of the customer toward the
firm's product. Market research is conducted with specific objectives in mind. The research purpose and
objectives might be to gain a better understanding of a situation or phenomenon, to investigate an
opportunity, or to understand or address one or more problems that may be negatively impacting the
firm. The task is particularly challenging when the purpose of the research relates to a problem being
experienced by the firm or brand. Marketing research aims to reduce uncertainty and risk by providing
information about the variables involved in the decision and the possible outcomes
of marketing decisions and actions. One way of looking at market research is to consider the nature of
the information that has been obtained.

The main market research objectives are:

 To know the current trends and market needs of the customers

 To improve the quality and get competitive edge on competitors
 To make the better decisions for the future on the basis of current market research
 Promote new products or services
 Grow digital presence

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  Lead generation
 Target new customers
 Retain existing customers
 Develop brand loyalty
 Increase sales and/or revenue
 Increase profit

Contemporary Market Research Methods

Online Surveys
The online survey is the most common quantitative research method around, and is typically comprised
of questions that businesses want to ask research participants to get the ‘what’ answers.  There are a
multitude of online survey tools that we are familiar with, Survey Monkey is a great example of this, and
there are different ranks of online survey tools depending on how much you want to pay, and how much
variety you would like within your survey. Fig.1 Source: Balmar & John 2001

Live Chat Focus Groups

Focus groups are like online surveys, in that

they seem to be a timeless traditional
research method, but this one is great for
gathering qualitative data directly from the
mouths of participants. These particular
focus groups allow data to be gathered in
real-time with a formidable connection
built up between the researchers and the
participants for contextual purposes.

In-Depth Interview

This is considered the online version of

traditional in-depth interview. This typically consists of a one-to-one chat between researcher and
participant and allows the participant to really go into depth about their experiences without the
possible contamination of other participants

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Eye Tracking
This innovative technique is used to measure consumer attention and spontaneous responses, typically
to marketing messages but can also be used to capture the most eye-catching product placements and
ranking the importance of aspects such as price, ingredients/composition, and image attraction. The
usual use-cases for these results are to improve design communication and shopping experiences, but it
can have more practical uses too. 

Online Diaries
This is a technique that allows for more accurate insights to be gathered over a long period of time.
Online diary research presents us with a window into our participant’s day-to-day lives and can be
conducted on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Tools such as ours allows are not just text-based diary
entries, but also video diaries and survey-types questions which can be answered by participants
through multimedia on a regular basis to add variety and enhance the research experience.

Smart Boards
A method which enables consumers to markup images and generates detailed sentiment heat maps.

Online Communities
The gold standard for qualitative engagement that balances researcher and participant led feedback.

Social Media Listening

Picking up on brand or industry trends by analyzing huge volumes of social media data.

Research Methodology and Sampling

The research methodology is the plan that is be used to address the research problem, question, and/or
hypothesis you use for gathering or collation of data. It guides the research process and outlines how
data will be collected. The specific design chosen will vary depending on the problem being studied and
the constraints imposed by management.

Chosen of the Market Research Method

For conducting a quantitative market research we have chosen the most appropriate tool is conducting
online survey through questioner in which we checked the brand loyalty and customer satisfaction of
two antibacterial soap brands Lifebuoy and Safeguard by analyzing data collected through primary and
secondary sources.

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Significance
 The results of research will help brand managers to take measure to know
the consumer preferences, loyalty and satisfaction of customers towards selected brand.

 This research will find the reasons why one brand is preferred over other so
it will help to increase focus on main aspect which needs to be improvement for the company.

 This study will help to understand the customer preference and

expectations from these brands.

 This research will help the Management of the company to make better
decision in future.

Methodology
Following methods are used throughout this research:

Data collection sources

The information is collected from following primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources

 Customers

Secondary sources

 Internet (company website, online reports)

Data collection tools

 For primary data collection the most important tool would be questionnaire.
 Secondary data would be collected through internet.

Sampling
Sample Selection because of time and cost constraints, researchers in most studies select a sample, or
subset of individuals to study, rather than the entire population being studied. The sample selection
process begins by defining the population, which is the group that a researcher wants to study. It can be
as small as the students at a university or as large as the entire population.

Sample size

 Total 100 consumers were covered by questionnaire in this Research

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Q1. Which Soap category you use most?

Antibacterial Beauty No preferences

11%

35% 54%

During this study I have found that general population are keen towards utilizing antibacterial soaps.
Today's customer is no more viewed as oblivious people. They are clever and savvy customer. The
overview showed that 54% of the respondents are at present utilizing antibacterial soaps to meet their
day by day family’s health needs.

Q2. Did you considered brand name when making your purchase decisions?

Preference of brand while making purchse decision

60% 53%
50%
40% 33% % users
30%
20%
10%
10% 2% 2%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral DisagreeStrongly Disagree

The above stated question’s object is to measure the brand preference, awareness and recognition of
various brands available in the market. The survey respondents 53% strongly agreed and 33% agreed to
the point that they do consider the brand name before making the purchase decisions. The results show
that people pay lot of attention towards brands which is considered as a status symbol in Pakistan as
well as a symbol of quality.

Q3.Which brand you prefer in antibacterial soaps?

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 % users of Antibacterial soap
Lifebuoy
38% Safeguar
d
62%

In between 100 respondents the above graph showing that 62% of the survey respondents said they
prefer Safeguard Soap in the antibacterial category due to its good “brand image & quality”. While only
38% respondent said they like to use lifebuoy as (Protection against germs, hygiene, cleanliness etc.).
Q4. How long have you been using this brand?

35%
30%
30%
25%
20%
20%
14% Safeguard Soap % users
15% Lifebuoy soap % users
10% 8% 9% When the
7% 7%
5%
5% question was
0%
asked about
Less than 1 year 1-3 years 3-5 years Less than 5 years
toward the
antibacterial soap Safeguard and lifebuoy then the results were different. The proportion of safeguard
soap showed huge amount of loyalty towards their brand. The above mentioned graph shows the
number of consumer who are using Safeguard from 1-5years. Almost 30% of the people who use
Safeguard fall in the range of less than 5 years whereas 20% of the people are using this brand for more
than 3 years. The result of lifebuoy shows that very small numbers of people are using this brand. As
compared to safeguard soap, only 14% of the respondents fall in the range of 1-3 years. The results
show low loyalty level towards Lifebuoy soap.

Q5. Where you come to know about your brand?

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 30%
25%
25% 21%
20% 17%
15%
15% 13%
10%
5% 2% 3% 2% 1% Safeguard Soap
1%
Lifebuoy soap
0%

ve
s ia ia er he
r
iti ed ed eep Ot
al tM cM K
/Re r in oni op
d P
ctr Sh
ien Ele
Fr

To measure the promotional activities performed by safeguard and lifebuoy soap. When question was
asked about where you come to know about your brand. The safeguard’s respondent said they firstly
come to know about safeguard from electronic media.

Safeguard is giving good health education awareness to kids through cartoon stories and creating good
health and safety awareness by describing their products attribute more of the exception of word of
mouth through friends and relatives in the case of Safeguard Soap. Lifebuoy is giving health education
and awareness through print and social media with also effective CSR campaign. The comparison of both
the brands and the above graphs shows that Lifebuoy spend more on Print Media while Safeguard is
keen towards Electronic Media.

Q6. How often did you ever feel the need to replace it with some other brand?

When the users of both the brands were asked about replacing of their current brand with some other
brand with the similar or equal qualities and features then almost 27% of the respondents said they
rarely like to replace their brand showing their loyalty and preferences for safeguard soap. Whereas in

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the case of lifebuoy soap, people showed agree towards the current brand they are using and showed
they like to sometime replace it with some other related brand.

Q.7 is this offer something that other brand does not offer?

40% 37% % Respondent of Safeguard

35% % of Respondent Lifebuoy
30%
25%
19%
20%
15%
15% 11% 10%
10% 8%
5%
0%
Yes No Don't Know

The above graphic shows the respondent’s trust that the safeguard is provide something which other
brands are lacking which if explained in terms of attributes then it is known as excellent quality then the
other brands in the market.

37% of the respondents showed high level of empathy towards the brand meeting their family needs.
Where as in the case of Lifebuoy soap respondents were confused about the germ protection and
hygiene offered by their Lifebuoy.

Q8 is this better quality than other brand?

60%
51%
50%

40%
29%
30%
% of safeguard respondent
20% % of Lifebuoy respondent
10%
10% 7%
1% 2%
0%
Yes No Don't Know

During the survey 51% of the respondents said that they believe Safeguard is providing better quality to
its end users than Lifebuoy soap.

Q9 How do you rate this brand in terms of quality & performance?

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 30% 26%
24%
25%

20% 17%
Quality & performance
Safeguard
15% 11% 10%
9% Quality & performance
Lifebuoy
10%

5% 1% 2% 0% 0%
0%
Excellent Good Satisfyied Not satisfyied Poor

When the question was asked from the respondents to rate the selective brand they are using or choose
in terms of Quality and performance of brand.

The results of which are shown above Five point was used to analyze their responses ranging from
excellent, good, satisfied, Not satisfied poor respectively.

The respondent said that they prefer safeguard due to its good quality & performance. Where lifebuoy
users rated it in terms of good and satisfy.

Q10 How do you rate this brand in terms of price?

25% 22%
20%
20%
15%
13% 14% 12%
15%
Price of Safeguard
10% Price of Lifebuoy
3%
5% 1% 0% 0%
0%
Excellent Good Satisfyied Not satisfyied Poor

When the question was asked from the respondents to rate the selective brand they are using or choose
in terms of price. The results of which are shown above Five point was used to analyze their responses
ranging from Excellent, Good, Satisfied, Not satisfied, Poor respectively. A large number of respondents
rated the Lifebuoy’s price as good while the consumers of safeguard soap satisfied with its price.

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Research Timing

This survey was conducted online through different platforms from different consumers of the product
within week and analysis was conducted to measure the brand loyalty and customer satisfaction
towards selected antibacterial soaps brands Lifebuoy and Safeguard.

Ethical and Legal Consideration

Ethical marketing research refers to the process by which companies market their goods and services by
focusing not only on how their products benefit customers, but also how they benefit socially
responsible or environmental causes. To put this way, ethical marketing isn't a strategy; it's a
philosophy. In this research and during conducting survey we take security privacy and confidentiality
concerns of our consumers very seriously and have taken steps to ensure that the confidential
information is kept secure.

Results

The Conducted research which is through online questioner survey has the aim & object is to measure
and compare the strategies, consumer loyalty, and satisfaction towards lifebuoy and safeguard soap and
to compare the factor about preferences, loyalty, satisfaction of the consumers towards the selected
brands and making recommendations to the management of companies to improve the market research
to make better future decisions. The primary data collection was considered in the form of a survey from
the respondents and compares the loyalty, preferences of consumers of safeguard and lifebuoy soap.
The respondents showed loyalty and preferences towards safeguard soap and stated that they will
agree to switch only if provided with the same level of quality or above.

Segment and Persona Development

Segments help to forecast market interest for a product or service while Personas help to understand
the emotional and behavioral triggers behind individual customers within that market. Customer
segments don't provide insights into a consumer, but more insights about groups of consumers within a
larger marketplace. The four types of segmentation are Demographic, Psychographic Geographic,
and Behavioral. These are common examples of how businesses can segment their market by gender,
age, lifestyle etc. Three steps to mastering a personalized approach to marketing, all stemming from the
research and work you did as you developed personas.

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Map Personas to Segments
Most B2B companies have a set of personas usually developed by product marketing teams to
understand and add context to the buyer. 

Score Segments Based on Attributes

Once you know how to identify your personas in your database, the next step is to develop a scoring
methodology. It’s crucial to consider not only demographic attributes but also behavioral attributes.

Here are some commonly used attributes:

 Demographic: industry, company size, geography and seniority level

 Behavioral: website engagement, event attendance, and webinar registrations

Apply Segments and Scoring to Marketing Programs

With all the setup processes behind, it is time to start targeting and engaging your customers and
prospects with relevant information. With different communication channels you can tailor your
messaging to reach your target audiences e.g. E mail marketing, content syndication, Display advertising
etc.

Evaluation

Market research can identify how customers and potential customers might view your business and
identify gaps in customer expectations. This is powerful information to have when completing
your marketing strategy. Having good market intelligence helps to minimize risks when making key
business decisions. All methods of market research are good which provide better understanding about
customer’s attitude, behavior and needs which help the management of companies to improve

their quality of the product and service to get competitive edge. The above little market
research and their results will be helpful for the related brands manager to improve the choices
and future Consumers need.

Future Recommendations

Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers know
about them, starting with who they are. It is a very important component of business strategy and a
major factor in maintaining competitiveness. The market researcher should conduct the research for the
current and future benefits of the companies and it must be biased.

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The research should be carefully analyzed and conclude the expected results. For this purpose the
chosen method for conducting research should be appropriate and targeted population and selected
sample is according to the research project. The segmentation and persona is one of the key elements
that would be helpful to conduct better market research. The timeframe should be accurate to find
better market research results.

References

1 Al-Shatanawi, H. A., Osman, A., & Ab Halim, M. S. (2014). The importance of market research in
implementing marketing programs. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and
Management Sciences, 3(2), 150.
2 Green, P.E., Tull, D.S. and Albaum, G (1993), Research For Marketing Decisions, 5th edition, Prentice-
Hall
3 Kerlinger, FN.(1994) Foundations of Behavioural Research, 1st edition, Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
p. 174.
4 Emily J. (2019) Modern Market Research Methods: A Comprehensive Overview Retrieved from
https://blog.flexmr.net/market-research-methods-overview
5 Why & When to do Market Research Retrieved from www.iresearchservices.com.
6 https://www.researchgate.net/...Marketing.../0f31753639fbad2018000000
7 http://www.ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol._2_No._14;_July_2011/24.pdf
8 www.ctrchina.cn/…ite/e-zine/cnrs/201212/pdf/3en.pdf

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