Transcript Market Research - University of Pittsburgh

Market Research
Professor Lawrence Feick
University of Pittsburgh
Outline
•
•
•
•
•
Definition: what is market research?
Examples of market research problems
Who does market research?
Glossary: types of data, studies, variables
Focus on focus groups, surveys,
observation, experiments
• Sampling
• Market research in 1998
What is market research?
• Collection and organization of information
to be used for marketing decision making
Examples of market research
problems
•
•
•
•
•
•
Target market selection
Product studies
Pricing studies
Distribution studies
Promotion studies
Sales research
Who does market research?
• Managers or market researchers in the firm
producing the product (clients)
• Market research firms (suppliers)
• Advertising agencies (agencies)
• Organizations that produce market research
information as a byproduct of other
activities
The Largest Market Research
Firms 1997
Firm
1997 Revenue 1997 Rank
A C Nielson Corp
$1,392MM
1996 Rank
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
6
6
5
(20% US)
IMS Health
$981MM
(40% US)
IRI (Information
Resources Inc.)
$456MM
Nielson Media
$359MM
(80% US)
(all US)
VNU Marketing
Info. Services
$285
Research
International
$268MM
(75% US)
(9 % US)
Source: Advertising Age May 25, 1998
Market research suppliers:
types of services
• Custom research
• Syndicated research
A glossary of research terms
• Types of data
• Types of studies
• Type of variables
Types of data
• Secondary data
– collected for another purpose
– there is always relevant data available
– sources of secondary data
• Primary data
– collected to answer the current question
Types of studies
• Quantitative
– quantity data: amounts, means, percentages
– surveys, experiments, observation methods
• Qualitative
– richness, depth of understanding
– directional, not quantified results
– depth interviews, focus groups
Types of variables
• Independent variable
– a variable that has an effect on another
– a predictor or explanatory variable
• Dependent variable
– a variable that is affected by another
• Examples:
– purchase patterns and income
Focus on: Focus Groups
Focus groups
•
•
•
•
Most frequently used qualitative method
Involves moderated group discussion
Typically 1.5 hours
Example usage: product concept testing,
name tests
Focus on: Surveys
Surveys
• Data collected by asking questions
• Art and science of asking questions
• Descriptive technique that yields:
– averages: potato chip consumption
– relationships: is potato chip consumption
related to age? to income?
Interviewer-administered
questionnaires
• Personal interview surveys
• Telephone surveys
Self-administered questionnaires
• Mail surveys
• Fax surveys
• Computer surveys
Comparing methods of collecting
survey data
Criterion
Response rate
Cost per completion
Complicated questions
Ability to probe
Avoid question bias
Avoid interviewer bias
Protect respondent
anonymity
Mail, fax Telephone Personal
Radisson Hotels Customer Satisfaction Survey
Radisson Hotels Customer Satisfaction Survey
Architectural Digest
1998 Rate Card
Survey: First page
Architectural Digest
1998 Rate Card
Survey: Last page
Focus on: Observation
Observation
• Data collected by recording information
• Avoid bias from contact that influences
responses
• UPC scanners, Nielson Media’s black
boxes, hidden cameras
Focus on: Experiments
Experiments
• Involve manipulated independent variables
– provide insight into cause and effect
• Data collected with surveys and observation
• Package design tests, ad copy tests, test
markets
Sampling: an aside
• Population
• Census versus sample
• Types of samples
– probability samples
– nonprobability samples
• Sampling and statistics
Market research in the late 1990s:
linked data
• Supermarkets loyalty cards
– purchase data from scanners
– demographic data from membership
– tailored promotions to members, neighborhoods
• Reader’s Digest direct mail system
– tailored mailings based on expected response
and expected profitability
– uses purchase data, survey data, purchased lists
Market research in the late 1990s:
single source data
• Uses a consumer panel
• Combines:
– demographics from surveys
– observed black box data
– observed scanner data
• Provides linkages among:
– customer demos, media habits, purchases
• Split cable experiments
Market research in the late 1990s:
brand anthropology
• Developing new ways to understand brand
meaning in consumers
– collages
– thick description
– in-home observation
Market research: the bottom line
• Market research defined--reprise
– Collection and organization of information to
be used for marketing decision making
• Market research, to be useful,
– focuses on manager’s problems
– answers the right questions
– affects decision making