Market Research
Business: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 4.1.1
Market Research
Market research is the process of collecting and processing information about the market that a business operates in. Market research gathers information on:
Demand
- Market research into customers’ demands is important for business success.
- Insights into customers’ wants and needs can help a business to improve the product, spot market opportunities and stay competitive.
- Insights into overall demand trends can help the firm spot opportunities for growth and potential threats from new products/technology.
Competition
- Market research into competitors can help a business understand the major threats in the market and then prepare the business to deal with these threats.
- Market research for established fashion labels like H&M would identify the threats that come from online platforms like ASOS or Boohoo.
Target market
- Market research into a business’ target market will give the company insights into their customers’ wants and needs and how they are changing over time.
Qualitative and Quantitative Research
Businesses can benefit from both qualitative and quantitative research.
Qualitative research
- Qualitative research generally collects information about opinions and views rather than things that can be quantified.
- For example, research into whether customers think the customer service at Waitrose is good is qualitative research.
Quantitative research
- Quantitative research collects factual information on things that can be quantified and recorded easily.
- For example, research into the number of cans of Coca Cola sold in the UK last year is quantitative research.
Test yourself on Market Research
Which of the following does market research not gather information on?
What type of research would gather information about how customers felt about the service at a bar?
Types of market research data