Why market research?
The purpose of market research is to accurately identify target markets for a specific product and/or service, and determine how to maximize the appeal of your product/service to the identified target market. Traditional market research uses a survey method to help understand the mindset of the consumer. For example: If we are marketing a brand new breakfast cereal "Fruit Loops Plus", we may want to know who the key decision maker is when it comes to purchasing breakfast cereal. Is it the child, the mother or the father? If the mother is the primary decision maker, we will want to know as much as possible about her decision-making process. For example: We may ask the following questions:
1. When it comes to selecting breakfast cereal what is your primary consideration?
A. Flavor
B. Nutrition
C. Packaging
D. Position on shelf
2. Your child is most likely attracted to the cereal's?
A. Sugary taste
B. Crunchy texture
C. Shape and color of cereal
D. Packaging
E. Position on shelf
What if the highest response rate of question number one is nutrition and question number two is crunchy texture? Knowing that both mother and child need to be satisfied consumers, we will focus our advertising on the nutritional benefits of the cereal and its
crunchy texture. There is little doubt that traditional market surveys are valuable in that survey questions can reach a large survey size giving it a high c ...