Reliable and accurate knowledge is the reason for all successful business ventures because it contributes a wealth of information about existing customers and prospective, the industry, and the competition. It enables business owners to ascertain the feasibility of a business before engaging substantial resources to the venture.
Market research provides related data assisting in solving marketing challenges that a business will most likely meet as an essential part of the business planning process. Strategies such as product service and market segmentation are impossible to develop without market research.
Market research involves two types of data:
Primary information. This is research you assemble yourself or hire someone to gather for you.
Secondary information. This type of research is already gathered and organized for you.
When leading primary research, you can gather two basic types of information: specific and exploratory. Exploratory research is straightforward, assists you define a specific problem, and normally involves an unorganized and detailed questionnaire in which long answers are requested from a small group of respondents. The specific research is specific in scope and is used to resolve a problem that exploratory research has recognized. Interviews are structured and formal in approach. Of the two, specific research is extra expensive.