Marketing Research

BY:
M.Aravind – 1610009.
K.Chellam – 1610016.
S.Deepak Ganesh – 1610018.
T.Dhanalakshmi – 1610020.
Definition of Marketing Research:

 Marketing research is the systematic collection and analysis of data relating to sale and distribution of
financial products and services.
 Market research is an early step in the marketing process, and includes an analysis of market demand for a
new product, or for existing products, as well as appropriate methods of distributing those products.
 Techniques in market research include telephone polling and focus group interviews to determine customer
attitudes, pricing sensitivity, and willingness to use delivery alternatives.

 Marketing research refers to gathering and analysis of information about the moving of goods or services
from producer to consumer. Marketing research covers three wide areas:
Market analysis
Product research
Consumer research
 According to the Marketing Research Association (2000), Marketing’ Research is defined as follows-
“Marketing Research is the function which links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer
through information- information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems;
generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve
understanding of marketing as a process.”

 Marketing research is a $1.3-billion-dollar-a-year industry. The industry is growing at over 10 percent a

year, with profits running at a similar level. Marketing Research provides, analyzes, and interprets
information for manufacturers on how consumers view their products and services and on how they can
better meet consumer needs.

 The ultimate goal is to please the consumer in order to get, or keep, the consumer’s business.

 Market research is different from marketing research. Market research is a systematic study if facts about
market only – who, what, where, when, why and how of actual and potential buyers.
Scope of Marketing Research:

 The scope of marketing research stretches from the identification of consumer wants and needs to the
evaluation of consumer satisfaction.
 It comprises of research relating to consumers, products, sales, distribution, advertising, pricing and sales
forecasting.
 A clear view of the scope marketing research may be obtained by the following classification of marketing
research activity.

 In order to take decisions any marketer would constantly monitor such information and obtain a continuous
feedback of the trends in the market. As such, marketing research is an effective tool for measuring the
consumers’ aspirations, trade channel behaviour, competitive actions etc.

 It provides a linkage between the corporate environment and the marketing organization. Marketing research,
thus, may be viewed as an important tool used as an aid for tackling problems in marketing.
Features of Marketing Research:

 Intensive Study- It involves systematic and intensive study of a marketing problem.

 Scientific Approach- Marketing research adopts scientific method and objectivity in the solution of a
marketing problem.
 Decision Tool- Marketing research is a tool for decision-making and control in the marketing of goods.

• With the emergence of the marketing concept, marketing research has recorded fast growth and
development.
• We should remember that marketing concept emphasises customer orientation.
• We have integrated plans built up around customer need and desires and designed to produce customer
satisfaction.
Objectives of Marketing Research:

 Marketing research helps the marketing executive in the formulation of all marketing plans, policies,
programmes and procedures, to attain the marketing goals.
 When the above said plans, policies and programmes are translated into action, marketing research is used
for evaluation purposes

 Further, the function of marketing research acts as an insurance cover for the survival and growth of the firm.
Marketing research finds out for the produces.
(i) Where are his consumers?
(ii) What they want?
(iii) When they want it and?
(iv) Where and how much they are willing to pay for it?

 In short, marketing research helps producers, distributors and advertisers to avoid mistakes either in
manufacturing or marketing or to that extent, it can minimize business failures.
Functions of Marketing Research:

The basic task of marketing management is that of preparing plans, executing them and controlling operations
to achieve the most profitable allocation of company resources to current and future market opportunities.
Market research aids the management in these efforts.
 The emergence of buyer’s market requires continuous need of marketing research to identify consumers’
need and ensure their satisfaction.
 The ever expanding markets require large number of middlemen and intensive distribution. Marketing
research could help identify and solve the problems of middlemen and distribution.
 There is always a change in the market conditions and the requirements of consumers. Marketing research
enables to anticipate and meet any such changes.
 Marketing research can help bring about prompt adjustments in product design and packaging.
 It can help find out effectiveness of pricing.
 It can help find out the effectiveness of sales promotion and advertisement.
 It can help identify the strength and weakness of sales force.
 The impact of economic and taxation policies on marketing could also know through marketing research.
Marketing Organisation:
Marketing organization is the framework for planning and making marketing decision that are essential to
marketing success. It is the vehicle for making decision on all marketing areas such as product, price, place and
promotion. Marketing organization is a group of marketing persons working together towards the attainment of
certain common objectives. Marketing organization provides a system of relationships among various marketing
functions to be performed by coordinating among marketing people.

Need for the organization: to be competitive in the market where consumer is the king we need to satisfy the
consumer. So a good marketing organization is required to satisfy the customers. Marketing organization is the
pillar for success for many organizations and provides a framework for the following:

a. Divide and fix authority among the sub ordinates

b. To locate responsibility
c. To establish sales routines
d. To enforce proper supervision of sales force
e. To avoid repetitive duties
f. To enable the top executives to devote more time for planning policy matters
FACTORS AFFECTING MARKETING ORGANIZATION
Factors influencing marketing org can be categorized into internal and external factors .
Internal:
1. Top Management Philosophy: Organizational planning and its working is greatly influenced by philosophy
which can be good or bad eg: Centralization Vs Decentralization
2. Product policy: the width of product line of an org determines its size as the product offerings becomes
increasingly diverse. Eg: There could be a need to move away from straight functional approach to product
group approach.
3. People: The size of the organization is not an important factor in terms of number of people but it is important
with respect to human values which are critical and correct decisions regarding people cannot be made unless
taking into consideration
 Number
 Qualifications
 Capabilities
 Personality
 Attitude
 Fear
 Suspicion
 Ambition
TYPES OF MARKETING ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES

Types of marketing organization structures: The marketing organization of a business can be structured on any of
the following basis:
a. Line and staff organization
b. Functional Organization
c. Product oriented marketing organization
d. Customer oriented marketing organization
e. Geography oriented marketing organization

Line and Staff Organization: In most business forms especially medium size the marketing job is structured
around few line functions and few staff functions i.e. Major staff functions is organized into separate department
and the line function is responsible for sales department. The required coordination between the line and staff
function is managed by the executive at higher level.
 Line and Staff Organization: In most business forms especially medium size the marketing job is structured
around few line functions and few staff functions i.e. Major staff functions is organized into separate
department and the line function is responsible for sales department. The required coordination between the
line and staff function is managed by the executive at higher level.

 Functional: Under the organization the departments are created on the basis of specified functions to be
performed i.e. The Activities related to marketing, distribution etc

 Product Oriented Marketing Organization: Organizations that produce wide variety of products often organize
marketing, training and promotion with respect to a product.

 Customer Oriented Marketing Organization: When the departmentation of sales organization is done on
customer basis it is called customer oriented marketing organization. Deparmtnetation by customer may be
done in enterprise engaged in providing specialized services to different classes of customers.

 Geography/Territory: In a territory oriented marketing organization , the responsibilities for marketing of

various products rests almost entirely with line executives .The territory managers are given varying
nomenclatures like depot manager, district manager, area manager, zonal manager , divisional manager etc.
Marketing Control:
Marketing control is concerned with analyzing the performance of marketing decision, identifying the
problem/opportunities and taking actions to take advantage of opportunities and resolving problems. It is the
sequel to marketing planning. All manager need to exercise control over their decision and marketing
operations.

Specifically marketing performance is measured in terms of market share, sales, profits. Hence most control
measures are designed with these parameters in mind. But today's marketing needs to measure the following.

a) Market share
b) Sales and profits
c) Marketing effectiveness
d) Customer satisfaction
e) Customer perception of the firms and its brands
Marketing Control Process:
 Decide the aspect of marketing operation to be evaluated:
The first step in mcp is deciding about the marketing operation to evaluate.
Eg: effectiveness of media for product advertisement, sales person performance, or performance of company
product
 Establish measurement criterion
In this stage performance standards are decided against which actual performance is evaluated.
Eg: control sales person performance, in this one can measure new accounts obtained, call frequency ratio and
order per call
 Establishing monitoring mechanism
After setting the standards, the next step is to develop monitoring mechanism tools like marketing information
system(MIS). MIS is used to record performance of all marketing areas like monthly sales volume for products.
 Compare actual results with standards of performance
In this stage, results obtained through monitoring process are compared with pre established standards of
performance.
 Analyze performance improvement
If the results/performance are not up to the desired standards, a corrective action is to be taken to enhance the
performance levels. For this performance improvement analysis is to be done.