Conducting a marketing research.pdf

1. Lesson 3
Conducting a Marketing Research
1
Nuresh Eranda, PhD

2.  Marketing research is the systematic design,
collection, analysis, and reporting of data
and findings relevant to a specific
marketing situation facing the company
 The function that links the consumer,
customer, and public to the marketer through
information
2

3.  Marketing research should facilitate to identify
the customer’s pain points
 What is a customer pain point?
◦ A specific problem that the prospective customers
experience in your industry
E.g. spending too much money on current products
wasting too much time on current products
 Marketers should position their offerings as a
solution to customer's pain points
3

4. 4
To keep little amount
of vegetables, milk
and left over for
couple of days
Do not need ice
and huge
storage capacity
Less electricity
consumption and
portable
Operated by
even a car
battery
Distributed through micro
finance institutions and
NGOs in India (Community-
based selling model)

5.  The job of the marketing researcher is to
produce insight to help the marketing
manager’s decision making
 Marketing insights provide
◦ Diagnostic information about how and why we
observe certain effects in the market place and
◦ What that means to marketers
 Gaining marketing insights is crucial for
marketing success
5

6. Used to identify and
define market
opportunities and
problems
Generate, refine, and
evaluate marketing
performance
Monitor marketing
performance
Improve understanding
of marketing as a
process

7.  To gather knowledge
 To find competitive advantage
 To understand the core competencies
 To develop marketing mix strategies
 For segmentation, targeting and positioning
 To identify unmet customer needs
 To evaluate customer satisfaction
7

8. Problem-Identification Research
 Research undertaken to help identify problems which
are not necessarily apparent on the surface and yet
exist or are likely to arise in the future.
e.g. market potential, market share, image, market
characteristics, sales analysis, forecasting, and trends
research.
Problem-Solving Research
 Research undertaken to help solve specific marketing
problems.
e.g. segmentation, product, pricing, promotion, and
distribution research. 8

9. 9
Define the problem and research
objectives
Develop the research plan
Collect the information
Analyze the information
Present the findings

10.  What is problem definition?
A broad statement of the general problem and
identification of the specific components of the
marketing research problem
 Tasks involved in Problem definition
 Discussions with decision makers
 Interviews with industry experts
 Secondary data analysis
 Problem should not be too broad or too narrow
10

11. Marketing Research
Problem
Broad Statement
Specific
Components
The initial
statement of the
marketing
research problem
that provides an
appropriate
perspective on
the problem
The second part of
the marketing
research problem
definition. The
specific components
focus on the key
aspects of the
problem & provide
clear guidelines on
how to proceed
further.

12. Broad statement:
The marketing research problem is to determine the relative
strengths and weaknesses of Keels Super, vis-à-vis other major
competitors, with respect to factors that influence store patronage.
Specific Components
1. What criteria do customers use when selecting supermarkets?
2. How do customers evaluate Keels and competing supermarkets in terms of
the choice criteria identified in question 1?
3. Which supermarkets are patronized when shopping for specific
product categories?
4. What is the market share of Keels and its competitors for specific
product categories?
5. What is the demographic and psychological profile of the customers of
Keels? Does it differ from the profile of customers of competing
supermarkets?

13.  Marketing researcher has to develop the most
efficient plan for gathering needed
information and discover what that will cost
 Components of the research plan
◦ Data sources
◦ Research approaches
◦ Research instruments
◦ Sampling plan
◦ Contact methods
13

14. Data sources
 Secondary data
◦ The data that were collected for another purpose and
already exist somewhere
◦ Before collecting primary data , it is the practice to look
first at Secondary data
 Primary data
◦ Primary Data is data collected for the first time for, the specific
purposes of particular marketing research study being conducted.
◦ The collection of primary data is often referred as “Filed Research”
◦ Primary data is generally collected after a thorough analysis of
secondary data, when information collected from the secondary
data are not sufficient for marketing decision making
14

15. Secondary Data
Ready to
Use
Requires
Further
Processing
Published
Materials
Computerized
Databases
Syndicated
Services
Internal External

16. Primary Data
16
Quantitative Methods Qualitative Methods
• Surveys
1. Questionnaire
2. Telephone/ postal/ email
surveys
• Experiments
1. Lab
2. Field
• Observations
1. Human (Mystery shoppers)
2. Mechanical ( CCTV, One way
windows, Electronic
encounters)
• In-depth interviews
• Focus groups
discussions
• Case studies

17. Research approaches
 Observation
◦ The recording of behavioral patterns of people,
objects, and events in a systematic manner to
obtain information about the phenomenon of
interest
 Focus groups
◦ A gathering of 6 to 10 people carefully selected for
demographic, psychographic, or other
considerations and convened to discuss various
topics at length for a small payment
17

18. Group Size 8-12
Group composition Homogeneous, respondents,
prescreened
Physical setting Relaxed, informal atmosphere
Time duration 1-3 hours
Recording Use of audiocassettes and
videotapes
Moderator Observational, interpersonal, and
communication skills of the
moderator

19. 19

20. Research approaches contd.
 Surveys
◦ Obtaining information is based on the questioning of
respondents
◦ Can be conducted through online, by phone or in person
 Behavioral data
◦ Study the customer behavior using store scanning data,
catalog purchases and customer databases
 Experiments
◦ Capture cause-and-effect relationships by eliminating
competing explanations of the findings
20

21.  Research instruments
◦ Research instrument is the tool to be used for collecting
primary data. Once the research approaches are selected,
the next element is to select the research instruments.
21
Research approach
• Survey
Research Instrument
• Questionnaire

22. Sampling Plan
22
Determine the sampling frame
Select a sampling technique
Determine the sample size
Execute the sampling process

23. Contact methods
 Mail contacts
 Telephone contacts
 Personal contacts
 Online contacts
23

24.  This is the implementation stage of the marketing
research plan
 In collecting data the question would be to decide,
whether the data will be collected in house by the
researcher himself or will it be outsourced to an
external research agency.
 In-house Marketing research
In–house marketing research will usually performed
by the marketing department
 External research agency / Omnibus
24

25. Transform raw data into information that is useful for
marketing decision making.
Analysis of information is based on the type of
information (Quantitative or qualitative)
 Tabulation of data
 Develop frequency distributions
 Averages and measures of dispersion
 Advanced statistical techniques
e.g. Multiple regression, cluster analysis
 Nowadays the computer enables sophisticated
analytical procedures to be used, and data will be
edited and coded so as to be entered into the
computer systems.
Ex : Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
25

26.  Interpret the findings
 Draw conclusions
 Report to the management
 Marketing researcher has to play a proactive,
consulting role in translating data and
information into insights and
recommendations for management
26

27.  Shift from production to marketing-orientation
 Declining cost of unit information (digital age)
 Increase intensity of competition
 Globalization
 Technology and commercialization
27

28. Careers in marketing research
Vice President of Marketing Research
• Part of company’s top management
team
• Directs company’s entire market
research operation
• Sets the goals & objectives of the
marketing research department
Research Director
• Also part of senior
management
• Heads the
development and
execution of all
research projects
Assistant Director of Research
• Administrative assistant to director
• Supervises research staff members
Senior Project Manager
• Responsible for design, implementation, &
research projects

29. Analyst
•Handles details in execution of
project
•Designs & pretests questionnaires
•Conducts preliminary analysis of
data
Junior Analyst
•Secondary data analysis
•Edits and codes questionnaires
•Conducts preliminary analysis of
data
Fieldwork Director
•Handles selection, training,
supervision, and evaluation of
interviewers and field workers
Senior Analyst
• Participates in the development of projects
• Carries out execution of assigned projects
• Coordinates the efforts of analyst, junior analyst, & other personnel in
the development of research design and data collection
• Prepares final report
Statistician/Data Processing
•Serves as expert on theory and
application on statistical
techniques
•Oversees experimental design,
data processing, and analysis
Careers in marketing research