(MR) applications of market research.ppt

Marketing research plays a crucial role in guiding business strategies and decision-making by providing valuable insights into consumer behavior, market trends, and competitive dynamics. Its applications are diverse, including identifying new market opportunities, refining product development, optimizing pricing strategies, and enhancing promotional efforts. By analyzing data on customer preferences and buying patterns, companies can tailor their offerings to better meet consumer needs and improve customer satisfaction. Additionally, marketing research helps in assessing market demand, measuring brand performance, and predicting future trends, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and stay ahead in a competitive landscape.

1. Marketing Research:
Applications
•Segmentation and market research; consumer
market research; customer profiling
•Product research
• Price research
• Promotion research
•Placement research

2. Understanding the market
•Penetrated Market
–Current number of users of a product or a service and the sales
volume generated by them.
•Potential market
–Those people who have an interest in buying the product or the
service
•Available Market
–Those people in the potential market having an ability to use
the product/service.
•Served or Target Market
–The market that the firm can effectively compete in

3. Segmentation and market research
•“Segment”
–refers to a unique group of customers or potential customers who
share some common characteristics that differentiate them from
others.
•Segmentation of the consumer market may be based on:
–Demographic variables
–Geographic variables
–Geo-demographic variables
–Psychographic variables
–Behavior patterns

4. Segmentation
•Geographic segments:
–Based on consumers geographic location including streets,
towns, cities, provinces, countries, regions, continents, trading
and/or political blocks, such as, ASEAN etc.
•Demographic segments:
–based on variables such as age, sex, level of education, marital
status, family lifecycle, job type and level of income etc.
•Geo-demographic segments:
–based on variables such as house-type and locations, for
example, people who live in high-rise apartment complex

5. Segmentation
•Psychographic segments
–developed on the basis of the psychological profile of
people and includes variables such as attitude, lifestyle and
personalities of people.
•Behavioral segments
–based on behavior pattern of people such as consumption
behavior such as heavy user, medium user, light user etc.
and on the basis of other benefit enjoyed.

6. Segmentation in Industrial,
organizational and Business-to
Business Market.
•Different variables that may be used in these
markets include:
–Customer type
•Type of product or service, standard industrial
classification code may be used
–Customer location
–Size
•In terms of sales, number of staff etc.

7. Product research
3 main aspects
–Idea Generation
•Includes alternative specifications for product
concepts utilizing end user analysis or problem
analysis.
–Screening: Evaluating new-product ideas
•Refers to initial screening of consumer reactions
to new product concepts. Not effective for
products that are radically innovative and for
products that require significant changes in the
consumption pattern.
–Consumer product/market testing
•involves testing the product in the market

8. Idea generation
•Focus groups and direct observation provide insights for
product development.
•Secondary data, Group discussion, Brainstorming [ on a
given problem]
•Problem Inventory Analysis -->Examining Customer
complaints
•Attribute based customer surveys
–Involves listing all the product attributes and then
systematically modify one or more of them to see
what would improve the product.
•Imitation, Acquisition, licensing

9. Screening
Purposes of concept testing:
•Determine customer attitude
towards the product concept or
idea.
•Measure customers’ reaction
towards the product’s
attributes, e.g.. packaging,
color, size, etc..
•Predict the trial rate of the
intended product
•Determine whether the product
concept warrants further
development and provide
guidance on how the concept
might be improved or re-defined
Data collection methods include:
•Focus group discussion
•Survey Research
–Questions are to be
formulated carefully to
capture and effectively
communicate the spark of
an idea.
•Demonstration

10. Product/Market Testing
•Product and market testing provides a more detailed assessment of a
new product's chances for success.
•Includes technical testing, preference and satisfaction testing,
simulated test markets and test markets to evaluate potential
success/failure and define important marketing elements.
–Uncovers product shortcomings
–evaluate commercial products
–evaluate alternative formulations
–uncover the appeal of the product to various market segments
–gain ideas for other elements of the marketing program

11. Approaches to measure performance
of the test product
•Three Approaches:
–Testing against a standard product
•Test Product --> brand leader
–Horse Racing Alternative
•Several test products are developed for testing against
one another to determine which one attains the
highest level of consumer acceptance.
–Testing against a historical standard
•Test product --> Performance of a successful product
which may not be involved in the test. A seldom used
technique.

12. Test Marketing
•Objective:
–To obtain reasonable prediction for performance of a new
product;
–To understand the contributing factors underlying a particular
performance;
–To provide management with the opportunity to pre-test
alternative marketing strategies.
•Only those products, which have shown a good chance of
success in the earlier concept and product development
test, are subjected to test marketing.

13. Typical information gathered
and major design issues in test marketing
•Awareness level;
•Purchase and repurchase rate;
•Users’ experience with the
product;
•Users’ perception of the
product;
•Users’ profile and lifestyles;
•Reasons for not using
products;
•Market share.
Design Issues:
•The number of test markets to
be chosen;
–at least three
–involves cost-benefit analysis
•The criteria used for selecting
test markets;
–a normal and not over-tested
market
•The length of the test.
–six to 12 months

14. Price Research
•Generally undertaken for exploring pricing
approaches for new products or services before
they are launched. Involves
•showing different sets of brands in the same
product category to respondents at different
prices and asking them which one they would
buy;
•presenting different prices for a product/service
to respondents and asking them if they would buy
the product/service.

15. Price Research
•Pricing research may also be conducted using consumer panels. Data
obtained may be analyzed using regression analysis. Regression
analysis can help in sorting out effects of price Vs other variables on
quantities sold.
•Sample survey may also be used in price research. However, this
should be used with care since obtaining a response curve using
survey may be subject to error and bias.
•Other pricing research techniques include:
–Laboratory experiments,
–simulated test markets
–using standard test market

16. Promotion Research
•Objective: To develop advertising appeals.
•Types of research generally undertaken include:
–Psychological or motivational studies
•Generally used within the framework of individual interviews.
Involves talking with people in depth about what a product or
service may mean to them, what feelings are evoked by it, and
discover what it symbolizes to them.
–Sociological studies
•Focus group studies may be undertaken to generate ideas.
–Anthropological studies
•A small number of people may be observed to understand how a
product fits into their lives and what keep them interested in a
particular brand.

17. Verbal Response
Physiological Response
Behavioral Response
Pre-test
Recognition
Recall
Triple Association
Post-test
MESSAGE RESEARCH
Circulation Research
Readership Research
Newspaper as a Medium
Telephone Interview
Audimeter Device
People Meter
Diary Method
Television as a Medium
Radio, Cinema, Internet
MEDIA RESEARCH
ADVERTISING RESEARCH

18. Pre-testing techniques
•Pre-test refers to the test of an ad-message before
releasing the advertisement. Test techniques commonly
used are:
–Verbal responses involving
•Consumer jury method
•Portfolio test
•Qualitative research
•On-the air-test and Theater persuasion test
–Physiological responses involving
•Galvanic skin responses
•Pupil dilation responses and
•Eye movement tracking
–Behavioral responses involving
•In-store persuasion

19. Post-testing techniques
•Most of the pre-testing techniques are applicable to post testing.
Additional ones are briefly described below:
•Recognition Test: Measures the incidence and intensity of reading an
advertisement. Normally involves interview with 100 to 150 qualified
readers of a given issue of a magazine or periodical that carried the
advertisement. Specific questions are then asked to see if they can
remember the ad, its contents and the extent to which they
remembered.
•Recall: Respondents are not shown an advertisement in full in advance
but asked what he/she can remember about the ad.
•Triple Association Test: Used for assessing respondents’ abilities to
associate the product category, the brand, and the copy theme. Two of
these three are read or shown to a respondent who is asked to mention
the third.

20. Placement research
•Determine…
•Types of distribution
•Attitudes of channel members
•Intensity of wholesale & resale coverage
•Channel margins
•Location of retail and wholesale outlets