Key Sources and uses of secondary data
Secondary data, gotten without any field work, is called desk research and it comes from published sources as well as talking to experts.
Used for:
- Market sizing – how big is the market
- Trends – statistical information
- Company profiling – determining who your customer or competitors are
- Products – information gleamed about products
- Prices – published price of products
- Distribution – how products go through the value chain
- Promotions – advertising of products
Sources are:
- Internal data within organizations
- Libraries
- Trade associations
- Government departments
- Exhibitions
- On-line databases
- Internet
Internal Sources
Always start with what you have already. Often data sits on shelves that could be useful.
Sources of sources
How to Find Information- Business: A Guide to Searching in Public Sources by Nigel Spencer is a good book resource. Pocket Book series by the Advertising Association is a good series for reference as well.
• The Marketing Pocket Book
• The European Marketing Pocket Book
• The Media Pocket Book
• The Lifestyle Pocket Book
• The Regional Marketing Pocket Book
Good Web Sites for Researchers
Many research web sites will let you read some early parts of reports from which much can be gleamed. You can also decide to buy them or not.
- www.marketresearch.com
- www.ft.com - Financial Times web site
- www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ – (US) CIA Factbook
- www.geographic.org
Company Data
The Yellow Pages collects information on small businesses and gives free listings to them in their guides. These can be a source of information on companies to market to. Kompass and Din & Bradstreet’s are other good sources. Trade organizations also have specialized directories.
Government Statistics
Statistical information is available often from official government web sites that can give markets by categories, population, education, etc. In the US www.census.gov and www.commerce.gov can give these types of information.
Trade and Industry Bodies
Every trade has some organization to represent it. They produce some publication that can be a good source of information.
Market Research Reports
Specialized companies carry out research that they expect people will need. They then sell it all who need it and keep the price down.
The Press
The general, business and trade press as well as normal new sites all have searchable archives and can be used to find information. www.ft.com is a good site for this.
The Key Uses of Primary Research
Understanding Market Size and Brand Shares
Market size can come from desk research and/or studies of the area conducted by you. Mixed with survey information on products and testing it can be determined how purchases could affect the company bottom line.
Consumer Perceptions and Behaviors
Researchers test consumers attitudes to their products to show loyalty. Cluster analysis can determine consumer groups that have a need to be met.
Product Development
Large budgets for market research is spent on new products to determine what consumers need.
Pricing
Test markets can be set up to see what consumers are willing to pay for a product.
Promotions and Branding
What marketing tools work on consumers and how can we make them work better.
The Methods of Data Collection
Face to Face Interviews
The traditional method to collect data is face to face. They can be conducted on the street/mall or in homes. Street interviews can be influenced by a number of outside factors including weather and the nearby population. Home interviews allow for demographical populations to be more balanced as well maybe use computers to make the research easier.
Telephone Interviews
With the use of computers and scripts, information can be collected quickly and in a wider area by using a phone to collect necessary data.
Self-completed Questionnaires
One of the most widely used and least amount of returns generated are self-completed questionnaires. Completion values go up when there is a strong relationship between a supplier and customer. An offer of reward often helps. There are many companies that offer rewards for completing surveys and allow for a target testing of particular demographics.
Observation
First used in Brittan during the Second World War it allowed for a pulse on the nation. It is non-intrusive and it just involves listening/watching and writing. In current day, the mystery shopper is one way of checking service levels without letting employees know they are being watched. Footfall or number of people passing an area is another observational tool.
Hall Tests and Clinics
Because of the need for a controlled environment, a facility (hall) can be rented that allows for people to be brought in for market testing. These will be done for at least 3 to 4 days to get a large enough sample of people. Clinics are similar but are usually people brought in to be shown new products in a clinical condition.
Focus Groups and Depth Interviews
Focus groups are 6 to 10 people led by a moderator who are led through discussing a product so that ideas get bounced around freely in a way that face to face interviews would not let happen.
Depth interviews are used when a focus group could contaminate individual thoughts of users or when the subject could be highly sensitive.
Desk Research
As talked about earlier, much information is available by just doing some simple desk research.
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