Marketing research methods and applications

Marketing Research

Secondary Research Use for Research in Motion Strategic Planning

In defining research strategies specifically for Research in Motion (RIM), the senior management team of marketing, market research, product planning and sales would first define what the major challenges and problems the company is facing, and then prioritize them in order of importance and urgency of getting resolved. From this prioritized list, deadlines would next be defined. As this process of prioritizing problems to be research and resolved often have very short time frames for completion, secondary research data is commonly relied on first. The primary reason RIM would first consider primary research is to be able to quickly get the information they need to solve the most urgent business problems. The urgency to get a resolution to the highest priority problems necessitates ROM relying extensively on secondary research sources to get their most immediate and urgent problems resolved.

In addition to the urgency of solving these most urgent market- and selling-based problems, another factor is the cost. Secondary research is typically less expensive than completing an entire primary research study. In addition, publishers of secondary research, especially in the high tech industry, are very focused on customer service and often provide custom cuts of the data used to generate the reports for a small fee. The goal of these publishers is to gain more customers, and with RIM being so dominant in its market arena, secondary research publishers would welcome the opportunity to sell them additional reports.

A third factor that favors RIM using extensive secondary research is the potential to benchmark their own marketing, sales, product development and services efforts in the future based on the figures that secondary research publishers rely on to produce their reports. For example, Gartner Group, one of the leading industry analyst firms in the telecommunications sector, has a subsidiary named Dataquest, which primarily focuses on shipments and market share figures. By using the secondary data from Gartner/Dataquest, RIM can create a specific set of benchmarks in terms of their market share relative to industry leaders, and also perform extensive analysis of how their strategies are delivering increased sales relative to competitors. In addition, there is the company International Data Corporation (IDC), which also specializes in market share information specifically for the telecommunications marketplace, and their figures are considered to be the most authoritative in the area of market sizing. By using both sources, Gartner/Dataquest and IDC, RIM will be able to intermediate the total available market for their next generation devices, and also be able to troubleshoot where and how their marketing strategies are being effective at increasing market share or not.

In summary, secondary research is highly effective with time constraints, cost constraints, and the needs for unbiased measures of performance are required to benchmark the performance of one company against another. Very often companies such as RIM in fast-moving markets do not have enough time to complete a primary research project, and therefore must rely on secondary data to assist in solving their business and marketing challenges.

Primary Research: Vancouver, BC Bakery and Party Shop Analysis

In the development of a new business, it is critical to understand the customers' preferences, needs, wants, in addition to their perception of the proposed new business and its potential value to them as consumers. In short, primary research is critical for finding out just what is the most important to new prospects for a new business that defies any previous traditional categories. In the development of a business plan and the eventual launch of a bakery and party shop in Vancouver, British Columbia, the proposed bakery and store needs to create its own highly unique, highly differentiated position in the local marketplace. Instead of relying on trial-and-error to define its unique value proposition, the stores' founders need to test not only the concept itself, but also the messaging and unique value that potential customers will receive from the store. In addition to defining the unique value proposition, it is critical for the founders to also understand relative market positioning in terms of price, quality level, and the potential for expanding into smaller but highly profitable markets including ethnic foods as well. To validate the store concept, its unique value proposition, and also define the store's market positioning, primary research is critical for the launch of the business to be successful.

The strategic factors of validating the store concept, unique value proposition and market position also need to be supported with primary research into what customers would like to purchase in the store in the way of pastries, cakes, and other desserts. As many of these types of foods are purchased for special occasions, there is also the need for measuring just how many events that typically occur in the projected customer bases' lives during any given year to further estimate market size. Not only does the number of cakes and desserts need to be forecasted, but the flavors and type of cakes and pastries as well. In short, primary research must assist in the primary strategic positioning of the store, validate the store concept, define the market position in terms of pricing and quality levels define the menu and its contents as best as can be measured as well.

In contrast to secondary research where time and costs are typically the major constraints that force companies to use published market research data, the formation of a new business is one is best managed as a longer-term, more thoroughly researched, and more deliberate research strategy. As the risks are much higher when initially starting a new business the need for primary research is most critical to ensure there is a very high level of understanding of just what customers need in terms of a new store, its position, and the role of pricing as a differentiator. In addition, the menu of the proposed store needs to be very accurately tested and validated before the initial opening of the store, as both the bakery items, party items and overall store branding and messaging must all be consistent with one another.

In summary, primary research is critical for minimizing the risk of launching a new store concept, which includes the need for validating branding, messaging, market positioning, pricing and quality perceptions, menu selections and options, and event-driven sales all are understood before the store actually opens. Knowing these elements through primary research will significantly increase the stores' chances for success.

Specific Detail on the Vancouver, BC Bakery and Party Shop Analysis

In defining a highly unique market position for the proposed store concept, the dominant demographic trends in Vancouver, BC needs to be also evaluated. Using the source BC Stats (2005) the demographic landscape is analyzed in this section. What becomes immediately apparent from the analysis of the demographic data of the Vancouver metro area is the exponential increase in the Chinese immigrant population in addition to South Asian as well. As BC Stats (2005) titles this area Visible Monitories, the following graphic is also labeled by this specific name, and is shown below.