Market research is required at every stage of the typical marketing process. The process begins with a situation analysis to understand customer needs and the market environment. This informs the development of a marketing strategy, which involves selecting target markets and positioning offerings. Marketing mix decisions then determine the specific product, price, place, and promotion tactics. Implementation and continuous control are needed to ensure customer needs are met over the long term. Market research techniques like surveys, focus groups, and interviews provide valuable customer insights to guide decision making at each step.

1. Explain as to how market research inputs are required at every stage of a typical
marketing process.
1. Since the time of the industrial revolution till until the early 1920's, businesses
concentrated on production – resulting in the production concept. i.e. the business would
focus on those products that it could produce most efficiently and that the creation of a
supply of low-cost products would in itself create the demand for the products. This
concept worked well because the goods that were produced were largely those of basic
necessity and there was a relatively high level of unfulfilled demand. Virtually everything
that could be produced was sold easily by a sales team whose job it was simply to execute
transactions at a price determined by the cost of production. By the early 1930's however,
mass production was common thus leading to competition while unfulfilled demand had
reduced. To ensure sale the products produced by the businesses they began to practice
the sales concept (or selling concept), where in the manufacturing companies not only
produced the products, but also would try to convince customers to buy them through
advertising and direct or personal selling. This concept paid little attention to whether the
product actually was needed by the customer, the goal simply was to sell against
competition from competitors. In both these concepts, marketing was a function that was
performed after the product was developed and produced, and marketing was associated
with hard selling.
2. After World War-II, the range of products increased and hard selling no longer could
be relied upon to generate sales. With increased income, customers could afford to be
selective and buy only those products that precisely met their changing needs, and these
needs were not immediately known. In response, businesses began to realise;
- Focusing on customer needs before developing the product.
- Aligning all functions of the company to focus on those needs.
- Realising a profit by successfully satisfying customer needs over the long-term.
With this realisation, businesses across the globe evolved towards meeting
customer satisfaction, and the organisation as whole began to develop a company-wide
customer focus. Since the existence of the organisation was customer centric, the
businesses adopted the marketing concept which relies upon the philosophy that
companys should analyse the needs of their customers and then make decisions to satisfy
those needs, better than the competition. Towards practicing this philosophy, research
was required to gather information regarding market needs, market size, market segments
etc...
The Marketing Process
3. Under the marketing concept, a company must find a way to discover unfulfilled
customer needs and bring to market products that satisfy those needs. This process
thus comprises of the following steps:-

2. (a) Situation Analysis
(b) Marketing Strategy
(c) Marketing Mix Decisions
(d) Implementation & Control
4. Situation Analysis. In order to profitably satisfy customer needs, the
company must first understand its external and internal situation, including the
customer, the market environment, and it's own capabilities. Furthermore, it needs to
forecast trends in the dynamic environment in which it operates. The external
environment constitutes macro-environmental factors that broadly affect many
companies, while the micro-environmental factors are closely related to the specific
situation of the company including the past, present, and future aspects.
If the situation analysis reveals gaps between what consumers want and what currently
is offered to them, then there may be opportunities to introduce products to satisfy those
consumers. Thus, the situation analysis would bring to light - a summary of problems
and opportunities. From this summary, the company can match its own capabilities with
the opportunities in order to satisfy customer needs better than the competition.
Situation analysis can be undertaken by the following methods:-
(a) 5C Analysis. Company, Customers, Competitors, Collaborators, Climate.
While Company - represents the internal situation; Customers, Competitors,
Collaborators, Climate – represent the external situation.
MARKETING PROCESS
MARKETING RESEARCH
TECHNIQUES
Company: The aspects required to be identified
are:-
Product line
Image in the market
Technology and experience
Culture
Goals
Primary market research
methods like Surveys, Focus
groups, Interviews for the
employees, Secondary
market research data will
provide the required data for
assessment.
Customers
Market size and growth
Market segments
Benefits that consumer is seeking, tangible
and intangible.
Motivation behind purchase; value drivers,
benefits vs. costs
Decision maker or decision-making unit
Retail channel - where does the consumer
Primary market research
methods like Surveys, Focus
groups, Interviews,
Experiments & field trials and
observation will provide a the
required data for assessment.

3. MARKETING PROCESS
MARKETING RESEARCH
TECHNIQUES
actually purchase the product?
Consumer information sources - where does
the customer obtain information about the
product?
Buying process; e.g. impulse or careful
comparison
Frequency of purchase, seasonal factors
Quantity purchased at a time
Trends - how consumer needs and
preferences change over time
Competitors
Actual or potential
Direct or indirect
Products
Positioning
Market shares
Strengths and weaknesses of competitors
Secondary market research
methods will provide market
analysis for a particular
industry.
Certain aspects like market
share, strength & weakness of
competitors might not be
available through secondary
data. In this scenario primary
research methods like Surveys,
Observation techniques like – in
store observation, Mystery
shoppers etc.. can help
Collaborators
Distributors
Suppliers
Alliances
Secondary market research
methods will provide market
analysis for a particular
industry
Climate (or context) - The climate or macro-
environmental factors are:
Political & regulatory environment -
governmental policies and regulations that
affect the market
Economic environment - business cycle,
inflation rate, interest rates, and other
macroeconomic issues
Social/Cultural environment - society's trends
and fashions
Technological environment - new knowledge
that makes possible new ways of satisfying
needs; the impact of technology on the demand
for existing products.
Scenario planning techniques
help to deal with high levels
of uncertainty in important
macro-environmental
variables.
The analysis of the these four
external "climate" factors
often is referred to as a PEST
analysis.

4. (b) PEST Analysis. Political, Economic, Societal, and Technological.
These contribute towards the macro-environmental factors. The PEST analysis
can be used to determine the ‘Climate’ aspect of 5C analysis.
(c) SWOT Analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
The analysis of the data collected from 5C analysis will assist in determining the
SWOT. The SWOT analysis can be further used to concentrate upon the most
relevant problems and opportunities and to assess how well the company is
equipped to deal with them.
5. Marketing Strategy. Once the best opportunity to satisfy unfulfilled
customer needs is identified, a strategic plan for pursuing the opportunity can be
developed. Market research will provide specific market information that will permit the
company to select the target market segment and optimally position the offering within
that segment. The result is a value proposition to the target market. The marketing
strategy then involves:
(a) Market segmentation: As different customers have different needs, it
is rarely possible to satisfy all customers by treating them alike. Hence need for
Target Marketing is adopted by recognising the diversity of the customers. To
identify diversity of the market, the market segments are broadly classified as –
MARKETING PROCESS
MARKETING RESEARCH
TECHNIQUES
Geographic – Grouped based upon the region Secondary market research
Demographic – Grouped based upon factors like age,
gender, income, education, occupation etc..
Secondary market research like
census data, Primary market
research like survey, Focus
groups, interviews , observation
Psychographic – Grouped based upon lifestyle Primary market research like
survey, Focus groups, interviews ,
observation
Behavioralistic – Grouped based upon customers
behaviour vis-a-vis the product/company.
Primary market research like
survey, Focus groups, interviews ,
observation, Experiments & field
trials.
(b) Targeting - Target market selection. From the data obtained from market
segmentation, the selection of the target market can be identified and accordingly
mass marketing can be undertaken.
(c) Positioning the product within the target market
(d) Value proposition to the target market

5. 5. Marketing Mix Decisions. Target marketing tailors a marketing mix for one or
more segments identified by market segmentation. Marketing mix decisions are
categorised as the 4Ps. They are:-
MARKETING PROCESS
MARKETING RESEARCH
TECHNIQUES
Product development - specifying, designing, and
producing the first units of the product.
Brand name
Functionality
Styling
Quality
Safety
Packaging
Repairs and Support
Warranty
Primary market research and
analysis is instrumental in
obtaining information. For
example, buyer intentions, taste,
requirements wrt after sales
service sales and statistical
demand analysis are useful for
determining these factors.
Pricing decisions
Pricing strategy (skim, penetration, etc.)
Suggested retail price
Volume discounts and wholesale pricing
Cash and early payment discounts
Seasonal pricing
Bundling
Price flexibility
Price discrimination
Primary market research and
analysis is instrumental in
obtaining information.
Distribution contracts
Distribution channels
Market coverage (inclusive, selective, or
exclusive distribution)
Specific channel members
Inventory management
Warehousing
Distribution centers
Order processing
Transportation
Reverse logistics
Promotional campaign development
Promotional strategy (push, pull, etc.)
Advertising
Personal selling & sales force
Sales promotions
Public relations & publicity
Marketing communications budget
Primary market research and
analysis is instrumental in
obtaining information. For
example, buyer intentions,
customer requirements wrt after
sales service sales and statistical
demand analysis are useful for
determining these factors.

6. 6. Implementation and Control. This is the stage when the marketing plan has
been developed and the product has been launched. Given that few environments are
static, the results of the marketing effort should be monitored closely. As the market
changes, the marketing mix can be adjusted to accomodate the changes. Often, small
changes in consumer wants can be addressed by changing the advertising message.
As the changes become more significant, a product redesign or an entirely new product
may be needed. The marketing process does not end with implementation - continual
monitoring and adaptation is needed to fulfill customer needs consistently over the long-
term. To accomplish this, continuous monitoring of the product and its performance in
the market regular surveys, Focus groups, interviews etc...are required to be
undertaken to understand the customer response and future aspirations.
7. Market research is one of the most important features of a marketing process of most of
the companies. There are numerous benefits that are associated with market research. Market
research can help the businesses to communicate with customers. The experience of the
existing clientele of businesses is a valuable source of information. Market research can let the
businesses analyse how well they are catering to the needs and specifications of the customers.
One of the most interesting features of the market research is that it can tell you what are the
modifications that can make your business grow and what are the practices that you should
avoid while doing a business. Market research involves getting feedback from the customers
regarding a product and service. This way the consumers can not only feel important but also
satisfied as you involve them in your marketing process by asking for their feedback in the
process of market research. Market research is done by almost every company so as to analyse
the popularity and effectiveness of a brand launched by them among customers, analyse if the
newly launched product is catering to the needs and specifications of the customers or not.
These questions can be answered by market research and thus facilitates decision
making, reduces uncertainty and highlights consumer problems towards undertaking
effective marketing process.