What Is Market Research?

Market research is the process of gaining information about your market. Preferably, this is specific information about your target market and the key factors that influence buying decisions.

Market research can be casual and limited in scope or as detailed as you need it to be. Its value may be based on the quality, cost, or the amount of time spent to acquire the information.

You will have to determine what form of market research is going to work best for you. Make that decision based on the value you will receive, versus the time and other resources you need to invest to gain access to that information.

Primary market research involves you having direct contact with your customers or the public, through direct questionnaires, focus group surveys and one-on-one interviews. You can undertake Primary market research yourself inexpensively, by recruiting students. Another way is to approach University & College Business Departments to find out if any of the lecturers there would like to give their students the excellent opportunity of carrying out Market Research which would benefit both them and yourself.

You could also make use of Secondary Market Research. The initial information for this research can be obtained through a Primary Market Research, done by you.

Secondary market research is research previously done by someone else on the same or similar product or service. Information on this may be obtained from trade bodies, associations, newspapers, magazines, and government statistic, in this instance, from the Malaysian Statistics Department.