Marketing
research can be defined as the collection, collation and
analysis of data relating to the marketing and consumption of goods
and services.
Primary Research
Primary research is information which does not already exist. In other
words, it has to be collected by the researcher. Most primary
information is gathered by asking consumers questions or by observing
their behavior. The most accurate way to do this would be to ask or
observe all consumers of a particular product usually known as the
population. It is usual to carry out a survey of a sample of people
who are thought to be representative of the total market. There are
various types of primary data's used by organisations which are listed
below.
* Questionnaires-There are certain features that a business must
consider when designing a questionnaire. If it is poorly designed
it may not obtain the results the firm or organisation is looking
for. This was the type of research we actually used in our Young
enterprise and it actually helped use to know what our customers
needed.
* Personal interviews-This involves an interviewer obtaining
information from one person face to face.
* Telephone interview-This method allows the interview to be held
over the telephone.
* Postal surveys- This involves the use of questionnaires sent out
to consumers through post.
Advantages of primary research
* You collect exactly the data elements that you need to answer your
research question.
* You can test an intervention.
* You cam control the data collection process, so you can ensure
data quality, minimize the number of missing values, and assess
the reliability of your instruments.
* Another advantage is that the firm which initially collects it
will be the only organization with access to it.
* Can cover a large number of people or organization.
* Relatively cheap.
Disadvantages of primary research
* Design problems.
* Questions have to be relatively simple.
* Historical low response rate.
* Time delay whilst waiting for responses to be returned.
* Require a return deadline.
* No control over who completes it.
* Problems with incomplete questionnaires.
Secondary Research
This is information collected by other to be re used, that is
information which already exists in some form. There are various
sources of secondary data.
* Internal sources.
* External sources.
Advantages of secondary data
* Little or low cost.
* Less effort.
* Fast and inexpensive.
* Avoid data collection problem.
* Less time taken.
* Sometimes more accurate than primary data.
* Some information can only be obtained from secondary data.
Disadvantages of secondary research
* The quality or reliability of the data may be in question.
* The data may not be precise or specific enough for the current
investigation.
* The data may be out of date.
* May not be reported if required.
* The data may be in wrong format.
* May not be very accurate.
* May not meet data requirements.
Questionnaire results
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The number of males and females who voluntarily filled in the
questionnaire form.
With this we can see more female students
filled in the questionnaire
forms.
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The age group of students who filled in the questionnaire. This
statistics shows more of the students are within the ages 17-19. So
our products should be focused on this particular age group.
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Number of students who will purchase each product, each product is
rated 100, for example 83 out of 100 students are willing to purchase
hats. . This shows more students will purchase more of hats out of the
other accessories products we will be selling. This also tells us we
should sell more of hats than the other products.
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This shows the Frequency at which students will purchase our products.
We can see most people often buy these products every 6 months, this
tells us not to buy too many stocks of these products or we might end
up not selling.
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This represents the location at which student usually buy the type of
product. Most students purchase accessory products from the market,
this statistics will also tell us where our competitors are.
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The amount students are willing to purchase our product. Most students
are willing to buy our products between £6-10.
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This statistics shows where Havering college students reside. With
this we can see most people who filled in the questionnaire come form
Newham.
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These statistics tells us what student find in fashion.
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This shows amount student will purchase a product or amount they can
spend buying a product.
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With this we can see most students who filled in the questionnaire
prefer blue as their favorite colour. With this most of our products
like scarves should be with the colour blue.
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We can see most students preferred material is polyester.
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This statistic shows the time at which students will be available to
purchase our products, as we can see most students will be available
between 2pm-5pm. This should definitely the time our company will be
selling the products, in other to make sales.
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This shows the amount of students who filled in the questionnaire come
to school weekly,
most students come to college at least 5 times in a
week, and this tells us our products should be available for sale at
least 5 times in a week.
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This tells us the days students want the products to be sold. This
tells us most students who filled in the questionnaire come to school
on Tuesdays.
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With this information our company will know the availability of all
students in Havering college, the type of products to be sold, for
example, will the product be sold to adults above ages 19(size) or to
below 19. Will the product be for females or males? So this
information will also know what group of students we will be selling
the products to. However a company producing similar products as ours
is Claire's accessories in which they sell gift products, fashion
accessories like ladies handbags, jewelleries, and headbands.etc. This
store is located at Romford market.
Marketing mix
The marketing mix refers to those elements of a firm's marketing
strategy which are designed to meet the needs of its consumers. There
are four main types of marketing mix - product, price, promotion, and
place. To meet consumers' needs, firms must produce the right product,
at the right price, make it available at the right place, and let
consumers know about it through promotion.
* Products-we must make sure our product is meeting the needs of our
customers. This has to be done by
-How consumers will use the product
-The appearance of the product; sell products with attractive of
favorable colour
* Pricing- Since the products are going to be sold to students we
should make it affordable and we should not maximize too much
profit.
* Promotion- There are numbers of promotional methods in which we
can use including TV advertising, Newspapers and personal selling.
We should choose the type that will be most effective in other to
increase sales.
* Place- This refers to the means by which our product will be
distributed to the consumers. The product must get to the right
place, at the right time. It also means taking into account how
the product will be sold; it should be a place that is convenient
for our consumers.
