Market research, segmentation and positioning

Primary and secondary research

Primary data is collected for this purpose: surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, test marketing. It is up-to-date and specific but slow and expensive. Secondary data already exists: government statistics, trade journals, internal sales records. Cheap and fast, but collected for someone else's question and possibly out of date.

Sampling

Random gives every member an equal chance and avoids bias, but needs a full list of the population. Quota fills set numbers from each group — cheap and fast, but the interviewer chooses who, which introduces bias. Stratified samples in proportion to the population's structure. A small sample is cheap and unreliable; the question to ask is always whether the sample is big enough and representative enough for the decision being made.

Qualitative versus quantitative

Quantitative answers how many; qualitative answers why. A business that only counts never learns the reason behind a fall in sales, and a business that only listens to focus groups mistakes eight loud opinions for a market.

Segmentation, targeting, positioning

Segment by demographics, geography, income, behaviour or lifestyle; target the segments the business can serve profitably; position the product in the customer's mind relative to rivals — usually shown on a market map with two axes such as price and quality. A gap on the map is only an opportunity if enough customers actually want that combination and the business can deliver it.

Market share and growth

$\text{Thị phần}=\dfrac{\text{doanh số của doanh nghiệp}}{\text{doanh số toàn thị trường}}\times100$. Sales can rise while share falls — that is the classic data-response trap.