Grow Your Business

There are several ways to approach market research, but what’s important is you know exactly what you want to find out.

“Start with the basics. What answers are you looking for and how important are they?” says Perez. Being clear about what you want not only will lead you to formulating the right questions, but will also point you to the best methodology for gathering answers from the best possible respondents.

Kai Salvino, Satisfind’s director for customer research, says research can be qualitative, which probes the “whys”, and quantitative, which deals with measurable responses. Meth-odologies in qualitative research include focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews, while quantitative research counts the usage, attitude, and image (UAI) study, product test, concept test, pricing study, and brand name testing, among others.

DEFINING YOUR MARKET

If you want to screen a new concept or get insights into what maybe a good idea for a campaign, you may opt to use the qualitative method, but if you want to measure the acceptability of an idea or product using a much bigger sample, you may use the quantitative method.

The qualitative study can be the basis for a quantitative research. For example, you can conduct a focus group discussion first and then do a quantitative survey later to validate the findings from the FGD, says Salvino.

Paulo Lao, strategic marketing lecturer at the University of the Philippines-Institute for Small Scale Industries, says it’s also important to first define the market you would like to penetrate.

“What market is involved? What are the customers’ unmet needs and wants? Is the product or service you’re going to offer better than the ones existing in the market? That’s really the source of business opportunity,” Lao says.

He adds that doing market research on an existing product category is fairly easy as it only involves observing how the entrenched players are doing. “You just need to fine-tune the product or idea to make it easier for you to get into the market,” Lao says.

But it’s a totally different approach when you’re introducing something new. Here, you will need to find out if the market has heard of the product or service, and if it has not, how receptive it would be if the concept were to be introduced.

“Or you could try the strategy of actually introducing the product or a business to a potential group of buyers or customers and accompany that with a survey,” says Lao.

 

• The Internet. The World Wide Web offers a vast source of information when you want to research busi-ness trends, practices, and market sizes both here and abroad. From the basics of starting a business to your target market’s demographics, behavioral, and socio-economic classifications, you can find almost everything with just a click of the mouse.

 

• Syndicated reports. Studies released by research firms like AC Nielsen provide an overview of how certain industries are performing. Available for a fee, these studies show market sizes in terms of value, volume and product usage, and trends and information on emerging markets (such as “housebands” or “metrosexuals”).

 

• Industry reports. You can get insider information on developments and current practices of big players in certain industries (such as banking, real estate, tourism, and pharmaceutical, among others) through regular updates and reports released by various industry associations.

 

• Government agencies. Some have libraries the public can visit to do background research on particular businesses or industries (a good example is the Trade and Industry department’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion). Government agency websites are also goldmines for industry overviews, statistics and trends in the various sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, and fisheries, among others. Visit the www.gov.ph portal to get the links to the websites of the National Statistics Office, National Statistical and Coordination Board, National Economic Development Authority, Philippine Overseas Employment Association, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Tourism, and many others.

 

• Academic papers. Feasibility studies and business plans conducted by undergradu-ate and graduate students of universities and colleges can also be good sources of secondary information if you find a way to access them. Other institutions that focus on advocating entrepreneurship, such as the UP-ISSI, may also have resources on starting specific cottage businesses that you can tap.

 

• Annual reports. Publicly listed companies are required to disclose information relating to their financial performance and overall operations. You may get a copy of their annual reports and financial statements from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• Publications. Books, newspapers, and magazines would normally run articles and special reports on how certain in-dustries or businesses are performing and give indications on market sizes and the businesses’ potential. Compilations like the Top 7000 Corporations can give you a glimpse on who the players are, who are dominating the industry, their assets, personnel, expenditures, and other relevant information.

While desk research will almost always familiarize you with the industry you’re eyeing, you may need to go closer to your subject to get to know them better. This you do through primary research, which involves getting the data yourself. Again, you can do primary research on your own, but you can have professionals do it for you.