Marketing Research  Manufacturers, Traders, Suppliers

Marketing research is concerned with the collection and inquiry of data as well as with the observation, analysis and transmission of data and findings which are requested by companies, consumer associations and authorities in certain marketing situations. Marketing research is used to better understand and assess a marketing problem. A systematic approach involves the following five steps:
- the definition of a marketing problem and research goals
- the design and elaboration of a research plan
- the data collection and the creation of a database
- data analysis and information
- presentation of findings and results


Concretely, the instrument of marketing research is used to obtain information in sales analyses, trend observations, market structure analyses, analysis of competitor products, estimation of sales potential for new products, in studies on pricing policy and sales promotion measures.Marketing research and market research should not be confused. While large companies often have their own marketing research department, small and medium-sized enterprises must - for cost reasons - make use of other information options such as the use of online information services, observation of the competition, student surveys in order to obtain the desired data.

Despite the increasing importance of marketing research, numerous companies fail to use them correctly and sufficiently. Reasons for this are, for example, too close a view of marketing research itself, insufficient qualification of the personnel employed for this, difficulties in understanding or a balanced cost-benefit ratio.