• Researching Your Market
• Categories of Market Research
• Getting started
• Marketing Guide
• Business Promotion Idea List

Market Research/Marketing

The market research process

Categories of Market Research
There are five broad categories of market research to help you find out as much as possible about your industry, competition and customers:

1. Market Segmentation
2. Purchasing Power and Buying Habits
3. Psychological Aspects of the Market
4. Marketplace Competition
5. Environmental Factors

Market Segmentation
Market segmentation studies provide information about the characteristics shared by your customers. This data provides answers to questions such as:

Who are my customers? What is the size of their population? What percentage is female? What are their ages, races, income and education levels?

What are their occupations, skills, interests and hobbies? How many children do they have? Do they have pets? Where do they live and work?

Purchasing Power and Buying Habits
Purchasing power and buying habits information uncovers the financial strength and economic attributes shared by your target market. Some questions to be answered include:

What is the average dollar amount spent on purchases or products or services similar to mine? What are the financing needs of my target market? What is their current usage of my services? When do they purchase? Where do they shop? Why do they decide to buy? How often do they buy?

How much do they buy at a time? Do they own or rent their homes? What types of cars do they drive? How often do they eat out? How do they typically spend their disposable income? What methods of payment do they use? How strong is their credit?

Psychological Aspects of the Market
Psychological aspects of the market are information regarding the perceived opinions and values held and shared by consumers in your market. Questions to be answered:

What is the reaction of the market to my programs or services? How does the market compare my company to other businesses? What qualities and characteristics do my customers deem important? Who makes the decisions to buy in the family or company? What are the deciding factors in making a purchase? Do they only want the best for their family?

Are they looking for convenience and time-saving devices? Are they concerned with how they're perceived by others? What are their unmet needs? Do they demand intensive customer service? Are they only concerned with the lowest price? What media (magazines, radio, TV, newspapers, and Internet providers) are they exposed to? What confuses my customers and prospects?

Marketplace Competition
Marketplace competition is information about the other companies within your area of business. Research answers these questions:

Who are my primary competitors in the market? How do they compete with me? In what ways do they not compete with me? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Are there profitable opportunities based upon their weaknesses? What is their market niche? What makes my business unique from the others?

How do my competitors position themselves? How do they communicate their services to the market? Who are their customers? How are they perceived by the market? Who are the industry leaders? What is their sales volume? Where are they located? Are they profitable?

Environmental Factors
Environmental factors information uncovers economical and political circumstances that can influence your productivity and operations. Questions to be answered include:

What are the current and future population trends? What are the current and future socio-economic trends? What effects do economic and political policies have on the target market or my industry? declining?

What are the growth expectations for my market? What outside factors influence the industry's performance? What are the trends for this market and for the economy? Is the industry growing, at a plateau, or

Getting Started

Research will help you with a wide variety of business decisions. You will likely have to make decisions involving:

A good location Sales projections Your product line Your pricing strategy Where you advertise

Offering credit How much capital you require How much floor space you need How much inventory you order How much equipment and supplies you require How many employees you hire, etc.

Business information is required to make sound decisions and to prepare a credible business plan (link to business plan section) and cash flow forecast. A solid research plan is your first step to success.

Where to Find Information
Observe Your Competition
Talk to Your Suppliers
Talk to Your Customers
Surveys and Focus Groups
Hiring Students to Do Surveys

Where to find information
In most cases business information can be gathered at no charge. The following are excellent sources of information on your industry:

Competitors Neighbouring businesses Sales representatives Trade suppliers Business friends and associates Chamber of Commerce/Board of Trade City or Municipal Hall Local Government Agent's office Downtown business associations Trade associations Shopping centre developers Newspapers, radio and T.V.

Internet Various directories Bookstores Small Business BC Victoria Business Information Centre Statistics Canada Trade publications Similar businesses in another city University or community college business schools Advertising agencies Post Office Business section of library Phone book, Yellow Pages

Observe Your Competition
The best way to observe your competition is to get out on the street and study them. Visit their stores, or the locations where their products are offered. Analyze the location, customer volume, traffic patterns, hours of operation, busy periods, prices, quality of their goods and services, product lines carried, promotional techniques, positioning, product catalogues and other handouts. If possible, talk to the customers and sales staff to gather more information.

Consider how well your competition satisfies the needs of potential customers in your trading area. Determine how you fit in to this picture and what niche you plan to fill. Will you offer a better location, convenience, a better price, later hours, better quality, better service?

Talk to Your Suppliers
Speaking with your suppliers can tell you a great deal about how your industry works and what trends are taking place in your market. They may be able to tell you valuable information about pricing techniques and mark ups, about the fastest moving lines and why they are selling, and why some competitors are successful.

Your suppliers can also provide you with information about credit terms.

Talk to Your Customers
Speaking with your customers or potential customers can give you insight into what their real needs are. They can indicate what they look for in your industry, what they think of your competition, what price they might pay and what level of service they like.

Surveys and Focus Groups
Surveys and Focus Groups represent more formal ways of gaining insight from your customers.
If you have a specific information requirement and a definable audience, it is likely that you can undertake a useful survey. Designing a non-biased questionnaire requires attention to detail.
Surveys
There are many good books available on questionnaire design and initiating a survey. If you are depending on the survey to assist with a costly decision, you may want to consider hiring a professional marketing research firm.

A focus group involves getting feedback from a specially picked group using controlled interview techniques. The process usually allows the participants to provide their opinions, come up with new ideas and brainstorm.

Focus groups are invaluable for generating new concepts, getting feedback on proposed advertising or gaining insight into attitudes and opinions about a new product. Focus groups require a skilled interviewer and hand picked participants. Professional firms can be hired to tackle the project for you.

Hiring Students to Do a Survey
BCIT, community colleges and university's have marketing management programs where students can be hired on a confidential consulting basis as part of their curriculum. The students do not have the experience of professional firms, but will often do a reasonable job at a fraction of the cost. You can expect to cover expenses incurred by the students. Course objectives and timing may compromise your requirements.