How the Internet is Changing Market - Research Paper Example

How the Internet is Changing Market Research? Introduction The activities related to marketing research help a business organization to retrieve potential information from the external market scenario that helps the business managers to render effective decisions to gain a larger market share. Marketing manager of the company with the help of the required data can effectively work to alter the present marketing mechanisms that would help create the market for sales of new products through the identification of newer marketing channels. Henceforth marketing research is observed to be a bridge between the ultimate consumer and the business management which links the two parties through an information network. Through marketing research the business manager can both identify potential opportunities and also can effectively monitor existing sales and marketing activities to render needed changes (McDaniel and Gates, 5). The development of internet technology has helped the market research firms to gain potential information both related to primary and secondary data. Business companies can effectively retrieve large amounts of potential databases and secondary information pertaining to the market for their products and services through the use of internet which in turn helps save business costs (Blythe and Zimmerman, 60). Marketing Research Techniques The marketing research activities are based on a number of techniques to gain potential information from the marketplace. Activities of primary research which enables the use of primary tools can conduct interviews on groups of people or on specific individuals. These interviews conducted over focus or target groups are conducted either personally or through telephones or by rendering mails. Again the data can be gathered by the researcher through the conducting of experiments where control over the data variables is rendered through effective observation. After the division of the population into focus groups questionnaires are designed to conduct interviews to help retrieve potential data. After collection of potential data the same can be tested using statistical tools or hypothesis is conducted on the same to help retrieve potential inferences (Isikli, 84-88, Jakubiak, et. al. 7-11). Use of Internet Research Techniques in Marketing Research With the advent of internet technology several firms like Procter and Gamble have gained considerably. It is because the development of internet has helped the company in building a test market wherein the company can launch new products and services to help reach a large number of consumers spread along large geographical areas and territories. These consumers can render potential ratings to the new launches on gaining required information and also renders their personal information on the same. These ratings and personal information serve as potential databases to the consumer goods company which in earlier times had to be gathered through building of a market research team that would roam about the market place to gather potential business data. This activity of the business company would have led to the increase of business costs and would also require a large amount of time to be expended on the same. Hence with the advent of internet technology these business companies which survived on the basis of considerable information retrieved from the market place to help reduce the cost of gaining the same. Again the use of internet based technology in regards to marketing research activities also helps the consumer goods company in gaining large amount of secondary data that is used by the company later on to train the sales and organizational staff. Secondary data generated from the internet can be potential information in regards to the competitor’s position and their marketing strategies as well as changes in the external market scenario. The above primary and secondary techniques developed based on the emergence of internet technology have helped the business companies to be the forerunners of the future (Malhotra and Dash, 857). The internet is found to be a huge repository of large amounts of secondary information which thereby helps the market research team to gain potential databases from the external marketing environment. Management of information being one of the important goals of marketing research activities the use of internet gains considerable popularity. Moreover the marketing researcher can take effective business decisions pertaining to segmentation of the market based on demographic and other functional profiles depending on the use of internet technology (Burns and Bush, 146-147). The internet is also being used by the market researcher to conduct online surveys of large number of respondents which helps saves both cost and time. Survey based on internet helps the market researcher to gain hold of large sampling population for conducting effective study. Further the advent of surveys based on internet has helped the market researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of the psychology of the sampling population such that confidentiality is restored. Internet based marketing research techniques focus on the creation of online focus groups or target population who are invited to chat with the marketing research firm or can also render potential ratings on products and services through the websites created for the purpose. Similarly the creation of blogs in internet medium has also helped the marketing researcher gain the views of the target group. The association of internet in regards to market research activities has led to the reduction of biasness through the considerable increase in the rates of responses received and also of the enhancement of the factor of honesty (Hewson et. al, 80-82; Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 146-149). Conclusions Marketing research activities carried out by a concern help the business organization to get a feel of the external marketing environment. Information generated through the help of market research activities using the mailing of questionnaires or conducting interviews on personal or through use of telephones help the market researcher to understand the changes in consumer demand and also the strategies pursued by the firm’s competitors. With the development of internet technology the level of market research has undergone far flung changes. The use of internet tools like chat machines and blogs has helped the market researchers to acquire large number of respondents that helps in gaining considerable ratings and reduction of biasness related to such. References McDaniel, Carl, D., and Gates, Roger H. Marketing research essentials. United States of America: Taylor & Francis, 1998. Blythe, Jim, and Zimmerman, Alan, S. Business-to-business marketing management: a global perspective. North Yorkshire: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2005. Malhotra, Naresh, K., and Dash, Satyabhusan. Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 5/E. Pearson Education India, 2008. Burns, Alvin C., and Bush, Ronald F. Marketing Research. Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2007. Isikli, Emin. No date. Marketing Research Methods and Tools. July 12, 2011 Hewson, Claire et. al. Internet research methods: a practical guide for the social and behavioural sciences. SAGE, 2003. Lamb, Charles W., Hair, Joseph F., and McDaniel, Carl. Mktg 4 (with Marketing Coursemate with EBook Printed Access Card). United States of America: Cengage Learning, 2010. Jakubiak, Susan Cowan et. al. Using market research to improve management of transportation systems. Washington D.C.: Transportation Research Board, 1990. Market Research Needs relating to Innovation of Products Contents Introduction 1 Marketing Research Techniques 1 Use of Internet Research Techniques in Marketing Research 2 Conclusions 4 References 5 Introduction 9 Marketing Research Techniques related to Product Innovation 9 Conclusions 10 References 12 Introduction Business corporations tend to interrelate large amount of market research activities in regards to the innovating new products and services. Considerable amount of market research activities conducted in relation to the innovation paradigm helps in understanding the potential of the market before launching new products and services. It thereby helps in judging the feasibility of the market in readily adapting the newly launched products and services (Midgley, 212). Marketing Research Techniques related to Product Innovation A marketing research technique used in regards to identification of the viewer’s opinion relating to launching of new products is gathering of individuals from various fields to help render useful suggestions for solving a problem. This approach known as the Synectic approach helps in development of new ideas to help in the development of the product. In another market research method a focus group can be generated to help gain a strategic understanding of the consumer psychology in relation to the existing products so that potential developments can be generated in the new ones. Both the above market research models earn effectiveness in regards to generation of new concepts and ideas. Another market research technique which helps in evaluation of consumer psychology relating to new products is the Gap Model which depends on the formulation of perceptual maps. Through the use of perceptual maps the positioning of the existing products is done based on the level of consumer perceptions (Midgley, 212-213,215-216). Other strategic level market research activities related to product innovation consist of the forecasting models of technology which helps identify the potential opportunities, threats in the firm’s external area and correlates such to the strengths and weaknesses related to idea generation. Finally a test market is generated through the evaluation of lead consumers and samples of the products are rendered for tests. Such process is adhered to the implementation stage which confers whether the product to be launched would help satisfy the demands of the consumers. The advertisements of the products can also be tested along a certain target market to evaluate its effectiveness in effectively promoting the product to the mass consumers. After the products have been launched increased amount of market research activities can be conducted based on questionnaires to help understand the consumer feedback in regards to the same. This would help the companies to understand the potential pitfalls related to the new launches so that the same can be revised (Bullinger, 57-59, 62-66). Conclusions The business organizations in order to sustain their position in the competitive marketing environment work to formulate new products and services. These products and services help the business company to gain a larger number of consumers. However the business corporations need to conduct considerable amount of market research that helps the product developers to understand and evaluate the changes in consumer demands to help produce products accordingly. Market research activities conducted are found to have relation to the different stages of product development process to the initial launching of the product and also gaining of considerable feedback on the usage experiences of the same. References Midgley, David. Innovation and new product marketing. London: Taylor & Francis, 1977. Bullinger, Angelika. Innovation and Ontologies: Structuring the Early Stages of Innovation Management. Germany: Gabler Verlag, 2008. Read More