1. The necessity of market research:
Market research is an essential business tool and a must in a competitive market where there are so many products competing for customer acceptance and/or usage. Therefore, the better you understand your market and your potential customers, the better your chances of success. Understanding your target customer base in a locality and their buying habits will help you find the right way to successfully market your product.
Through market research, you may be able to generate ideas for developing a new product and choose the right positioning strategy for that product in a particular market. For example, through research, you may discover that a particular food flavor is popular in one market but considered unique in another, and this would be necessary marketing information if your business strategy is related to that area.
Research will provide you with crucial details that will help you from identifying your niche market to planning an effective export marketing strategy. Research will save you from wasting money and effort on false hopes, especially if you are exporting for the first time. On the other hand, it is important to note that market research is not a guarantee of business success, but it will help you avoid many wrong decisions.
Market research can help:
Helps to find the largest markets for your product, fastest growing markets, market trends and prospects, conditions, business practices and opportunities for your product in the market.
Allows you to effectively narrow your vision and efforts to a certain area or scope. From there you can set priorities for a specific target market and plan for future markets on a longer-term level.
Helps you identify the best “tricks” to introduce your products. After a period of time, say a year, through research you can evaluate your efforts as well as those of your trading partners and make necessary adjustments in each market.
Helps to understand competitors, including their strengths and weaknesses, mistakes and reasons for their success.
Can help generate ideas for new product development.
Help strengthen serious business relationships with partners through interest and understanding of their markets.
Market Research – The “Proactive” Approach
Market research helps you stay informed about the latest developments in your target market, allowing you to make quick marketing decisions. In a fast-changing international business environment, you need such a proactive approach and it is a real competitive advantage.
Even in periods of slow population growth, new trends and target groups emerge, such as the growing number of seniors or single-person households. Both groups seek convenience products. Through market research, you can determine the size of these groups and how they differ from country to country, and anticipate their concerns and cater to them.
A “proactive” approach will lead to success by quickly responding and introducing products that are designed to suit each of the above customers in terms of size, style, etc.
Market research - indispensable content in export marketing strategy
Market research is more than just collecting data and statistics. All collected data needs to be analyzed and transformed into relevant information. This information is the basis for forming your marketing strategy and tools.
Like the planning process, market research is cyclical. First, when you review the initial data, you find that some issues need further research. You conduct research, then add new information to your information system. So market research is not a stand-alone process, but an integral part of your export marketing strategy. It is an ongoing process.
Market research requires strong commitment
Market research requires an investment of time and money. Many companies still export on a “self-financing” basis, that is, they start exporting and then reinvest the profits from selling their products in that market. This is not the case with market research. Here, you need to invest some money in market research before introducing your product and this will save you from paying a high price for mistakes in the target market later.
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