1.2 Market Research

Identify trends in the market

Customer feedback

Competitor analysis

Ideas for new product development

Meeting consumer needs

Aid pricing strategies 

Market research into competitors can help a business understand the major threats in the market and then prepare the business to deal with these threats.

Market research for established fashion labels like H&M would identify the threats that come from online platforms like ASOS or Boohoo.

Market research into customers demand is important for business success.

Insights into customers’ wants and needs can help a business to improve the product, spot market opportunities and stay competitive.

Insights into overall demand trends can help the firm spot opportunities for growth and potential threats from new products/technology.

Some businesses opt out of field research and rely instead on the know-how and instincts of the entrepreneur to ‘guess’ customer requirements. They do this because market research costs time and money. Existing business can make use of direct customer contact to help them identify changing fashion and market trends.

Primary research (field research) involves gathering new data that has not been collected before. 

Secondary research (desk research) involves gathering existing data that has already been produced.

Factual information is called quantitative data. Information collected about opinions and views is called qualitative data.