Marketing Research
According
to American Marketing Association, “Marketing Research is
the function that links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer
through information-information used to identify and define marketing opportunities
and problems, generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions; monitor
marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.”
Marketing
Research is systematic problem analysis, model building and fact finding for
the purpose of important decision making and control in the marketing of goods
and services.
Marketing
Research is a well-planned, systematic process which implies that it needs
planning at all the stages. It uses scientific method. It is an objective
process as it attempts to provide accurate authentic information. Marketing
Research is sometimes defined as the application of scientific method in the
solution of marketing problems.
Marketing
Research plays a very significant role in identifying the needs of customers
and meeting them in best possible way. The main task of Marketing Research is
systematic gathering and analysis of information.
Advantages of Marketing Research
Marketing research has several advantages. They are:
1. Marketing research is used to measure market potential,
characteristics and share of markets for a company.
2. Companies can use marketing research to evaluate new product
opportunities and product acceptance and to test existing products relative to
the competitor’s products.
3. It helps to make better advertising decisions.
4. It helps to evaluate the effectiveness of marking activities
and draws attention to a potential problem.
5. It helps the manufacturer to adjust his productions according
to the conditions of demand.
6. It helps marketing of goods in efficient and economical way by
eliminating all types of wastage.
7. It helps a dealer to find out the best way of approaching
potential buyers.
8. It helps to find out defects in the products and take
corrective steps to improve the product.
9. It guides a dealer in planning, advertising and promotion
effort.
10. It helps to assess the effectiveness of advertising programmes.
11. It helps in evaluating the relative efficiency of different
advertising media.
12. It facilitates to evaluate the selling methods.
13. It helps to minimize the risks of uncertainties.
14. It helps in exploring new markets for its products.
15. It guides a firm in making sales forecasts for products.
16. It helps to explore new uses of existing products.
17. It is quite helpful for a firm to launch a new product.
18. It helps the firm in knowing general conditions prevailing in
the market.
19. It helps in determining pricing policies and pricing strategy
of competitors.
20. It reveals the causes of consumer resistance, etc.
Limitations of Marketing Research
Following
are the main limitations of Marketing Research:
- Marketing
Research (MR) is not an exact science though it uses the techniques of
science. Thus, the results and conclusions drawn upon by using MR are not
very accurate.
- The
results of MR are very vague as MR is carried out on consumers, suppliers,
intermediaries, etc. who are humans. Humans have a tendency to behave
artificially when they know that they are being observed. Thus, the
consumers and respondents upon whom the research is carried behave artificially
when they are aware that their attitudes, beliefs, views, etc are being
observed.
- MR is not
a complete solution to any marketing issue as there are many dominant
variables between research conclusions and market response.
- MR is not
free from bias. The research conclusions cannot be verified. The
reproduction of the same project on the same class of respondents give
different research results.
- Inappropriate
training to researchers can lead to misapprehension of questions to be
asked for data collection.
- Many
business executives and researchers have ambiguity about the research
problem and it’s objectives. They have limited experience of the notion of
the decision-making process. This leads to carelessness in research and
researchers are not able to do anything real.
- There is
less interaction between the MR department and the main research
executives. The research department is in segregation. This all makes
research ineffective.
- MR faces
time constraint. The firms are required to maintain a balance between the
requirement for having a broader perspective of customer needs and the
need for quick decision making so as to have competitive advantage.
- Huge cost
is involved in MR as collection and processing of data can be costly. Many
firms do not have the proficiency to carry wide surveys for collecting
primary data, and might not also able to hire specialized market experts
and research agencies to collect primary data. Thus, in that case, they go
for obtaining secondary data that is cheaper to obtain.
- MR is
conducted in open marketplace where numerous variables act on research
settings.
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