Primary Research is a form of research where the data is collected directly from a respondent. Market research is done to understand an area in-depth. Understanding the marketing environment is a must. Market research helps in finding out how the market is. Being aware of what’s going on in the market is called Market Intelligence. The areas that are considered a part of market intelligence are-
- Product Position- The position they have in the market favourable, unfavourable or neutral? Primary Research answers these question, so that the marketing efforts can be designed based on the position to brand, product or service.
- Market segmentation- Understanding the market segment is a must, the product or service needs to be positioned accurately in the dynamic market. Research finds out if the product should be marketed to seniors, working professionals or teenagers. This also helps in tailoring the message.
- Consumer Behaviour- Understanding a consumer’s behaviour is a must, their personality, their attitude, motivation and other intrinsic factors. Primary Market research is one on one research.
Management consultants help with primary market research. As a type of research primary market research takes a lot of time, by hiring a management consultant they would be able to conduct an in-depth research which would provide conclusive and empirical results.
Primary market research has several steps, this steps need to be clearly defined at demarcated, the following are the six major steps-
- Defining the problem statement- The problem must be clearly stated i.e. what are you trying to find out or prove. An example could be finding out the sales forecast for a period of a month. The time and place needs to be clearly defined.
- Method of data collection- The method needs to be defined and followed spot on. Whether the method adopted is going to be a survey or an interview. If a survey is selected, is going to be a telephonic interview or an online survey. The method needs to be defined in the beginning, so that the questions can be devised.
- Sampling technique- Defining the sampling technique is a must, random, stratified, cluster or some other technique. A mix of techniques must be avoided, for primary market research the company must use stratified sampling. As a technique for data collection, stratified sampling the researcher divides the entire target population into different subgroups, then selects the final group or sample. This method is adopted when the population size is vast, complete enumeration cannot be possible when the sample size is large.
- Analysis of data- After the process of data collection, the data must be interpreted through statistics. The researcher must define the software they are using to interpret the data. The statistical measures they are going to use to prove the problem statement.
- Error checking: This step is very crucial, the researcher must check if the data is entered accurately, if a hypothesis is stated it needs to be proved or disproved at this stage. The data or evidence must be corroborated at this stage.
- Research Report Writing- All the chapters of the research must be combined, the charts, tables and other forms of pictorial representation must be written at this stage. The Interpretation of the research findings is finished at this stage.
Management consultants can conduct in-depth works of research. Market analysis in general takes time and primary market research is more tedious, companies must hire management consultants to carry on this task. The steps are many and each step takes a lot of time, the end result is that market research answers many questions that companies are asking.