Market Research, Features, Advantages and Procedure of mArketing research.

1. MARKET RESEARCH
Asst. Prof. Parasmani
Jangid
SDJ International College

2. DEFINITION OF MARKET RESEARCH
“Market Research refers to rational (wise) investigation for the
marketing possibilities of the product in a definite region or area.”
American Marketing Association defines as, “The gathering, recording
& analysing of all the facts about problems relating to the transfer &
sale of goods & services from producer to consumer.”

3. IMPORTANCE/ADVANTAGES OF
MARKET RESEARCH
1. Solving Marketing Problems: Market research provides many information
about market & thereby helps in solving marketing problems. Problems
include problems related to consumers, traders, competitors, advertising,
distribution, etc. It helps in solving all these marketing problems.
2. Increase Market Efficiency: It answers the questions like which channels
should be used for distribution, how the product should be designed, what
should be the price, quality, etc.
3. Facilitates sales forecasting: It provides important information for sales
forecasting. This information can be used to predict or planning of
production, marketing & sales.
4. Authenticity of decisions: It’s information is considered authentic or
genuine as marketing manager is in constant touch with the current market
situation, factors affecting market situation, etc. & so good decisions
regarding production & sales can be taken.

4. 5 Helpful to management: It helps the management in planning &
executing advertisement & promotion activities.
6. Useful to producers: It helps the producers in selection of
production plan, distribution method, instruments of publicity, etc.
7. Link between producer & consumer: It acts as a link between
producer & consumer. It is Market Research which brings producer &
consumer in contact as they don’t have any direct contact.

5. OBJECTIVES OF MARKET
RESEARCH
The main objectives of Market Research is to give answers to-
1. What to sell?
2. When to sell?
3. Where to sell?
4. How to sell?

6. 1. For production of a new product: When a new product has to be
brought in the market, producer must check the possibilities of its
sales through Market Research. He can decide type of product, price ,
etc. on its basis.
2. For improvement in quality of product: It is needed to find out
defects or deficiencies in the quality of product so that an
improvement can be brought. Market Research is needed to know
market response.
3. For making changes in product: Customer’s tastes & preferences
keep on changing & to know the same, Market research is needed. On
this basis, changes in size, colour, packing, flavour, etc. of the
product is made.
4. For sales promotion: Research provides information regarding
market trend, degree of competition, customers’ needs, etc on the
basis of which producers can take measures or steps to make

7. 5. To find the causes of decline in sales: When sales decline, it is
necessary to know the reasons. Research finds out these reasons &
defects & suggests the steps to be taken to remove these defects.
6. To judge the strengths of competitors: Market Research is
conducted to find out main competitors, nature of products, prices of
competitors, media of publicity, etc.
7. To get information about purchasing power of buyers: Research is
useful in getting information about number of buyers in different
market segments, their purchasing power & size of purchases made
by them, etc.
8. To decide the medium of advertisement: Market Research helps in
deciding the best medium of advertisement which can give maximum
benefits as advertisement is expensive.

8. 9. To modernize Organisation: In order to make organisation
structure modern, necessary data and suggestion is required which is
possible to get after research.
10. To increase exports: Research is also undertaken to increase
foreign trade & thereby increase exports making foreign exchange for
India.
11. To know customers’ preferences: In order to make changes in
size, quality, form, etc of product, it is necessary to know consumers’
preferences & that is done by research.
12. To prepare sales budget: It is not possible to make sales budget
without data provided by market budget.

9. SCOPE/FUNCTIONS OF MARKET
RESEARCH
1. Product Research: If a producer wants to survive in market, he
must produce & sell a product which is liked by customers, useful &
capable to satisfy their needs. Customers’ taste & preferences keep
on changing & accordingly producers have to make necessary
changes to suit the demand of consumers.
2. Consumer research: Customer is the king of the market. So
complete information about them should be collected. This research
is called Market Research. Information regarding who are the buyers,
what is the objective behind their purchases, what is magnitude of
purchase, etc are collected through Market research.
3. Sales research: Market research includes research regarding sales,
efficiency level of marketing, distribution system, etc. Information
about present & past sales can help to solve some problems. The
classification of sales, whether product wise or salesman wise or
region wise can be helpful for controlling. Sometimes Research is

10. 4. Advertising research: Credit for development of market research
goes mainly to the advertisers. Advertising research includes matters
as to how should buyers be attracted, which media of advertising
should be adopted, which market or region, etc. need more
advertising, etc.
5. Competition research: A study of sales strategy of rival firms or
competitors is very useful to cope up with rivals. Market research
provides such information.

11. PROCESS/ PROCEDURE OF
MARKET RESEARCH
1. To define problem or objectives of research: Market Research is
fruitful only when the researcher has clear-cut idea of the objectives
for which he’s undertaking research. Now to know the objectives, the
researcher has to take into account views & opinions of individuals &
officers too. Mainly defining problem is necessary for i) indicating
limits of research ii) efforts can be directed in the direction only.
2. Analysing the situation: Before research it is research to know the
problems the company is facing & the situation in which research has
to be undertaken. An analysis of information can help in determining
how much information can be collected & how much of it should
really be gathered, otherwise irrelevant information can lead to
wastage of time & money.
3. Informal investigation: Here the offer & his assistants try to get
grip over the problems by visiting customers, traders & industrialists,
etc. thereby theycan decide how & on what basis should research

12. 4. Planning final investigation: the steps can be as under:
 Determining nature & extent of data
 Prepare forms for collecting primary data
 Decide samples (customers)
5. To collect data: Research uses 2 types of datas: primary & secondary.
The information collected by researcher himself is called primary data,
but if data is collected from internet, etc it is called secondary data. The
most important step in collecting data is selection of qualified, trained,
experienced & sincere assistants for this purpose. Foe this, clear
information & training have to be given to HR.
6. Tabulating, Analysing & Interpreting data: The DATA collected must be
properly arranged & analysed so that useful conclusion can be derived
from it. For this information should be arranged in form of tables,
schedules, etc. Statistical tools like regression, correlation, etc. are used
for drawing conclusions.
7. Interpreting conclusion: The research work doesn’t end by drawing
conclusions. The research officer shold make recommendation on the
basis of data collected & analysed.

13. 8. Preparing research report: A complete report consisting of all data
must be prepared & presented before the management. While making
administration report, simple terms & not technical terms should be
used. While technical report is made in details including evidences,
statistical tools, conclusions, etc. while information report contains
just information only.
9. Implementing recommendations: If the recommendations are not
implemented properly, research is a total waste of time & energy &
money. So implementing recommendations should be done initially
on experimental basis. If results are positive, they can be executed
entirely. One of the main weakness of many large companies is their
carelessness in implementing recommendation made on the basis of
Market research.

14. Thank You