Our market research has been the avenue by which companies, in especially Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Ghana seek to collect data systematically that enables to make better decisions. Still, the true value of our market research lies in the way in which all the data obtained is used to achieve a better knowledge of the market consumer.
The primary purpose of IWORKS conducting market research is to understand or examine the market associated with a particular product or service to decide how an audience reacts to a product or service. The information obtained from conducting market research can be used to tailor marketing/ advertising activities or determine consumers’ feature priorities/service requirement (if any).
- Valuable information:we provide information and opportunities about the value of existing and new products, thus, helping businesses plan and strategize accordingly.
- Customer-centric:we help to determine what the customers need and want. Marketing is customer-centric and understanding the customers and their needs will help businesses design products or services that best suit them. Remember that tracing your customer journey is a great way to gain valuable insights into your customers’ sentiments toward your brand.
- Forecasts: By understanding the needs of customers, businesses can also forecast their production and sales. Market research also helps in determining optimum inventory stock.
- Competitive advantage: To stay ahead of competitors market research is a vital tool to carry out comparative studies. Businesses can devise business strategies that can help them stay ahead of their competitors.
Our Research Methods
1. Primary Market Research
(A combination of both Qualitative and Quantitative Research);
Primary market research is a process where organizations or businesses get in touch with the end consumers or employ a third party to carry out relevant studies to collect data. The data collected can be qualitative data (non-numerical data) or quantitative data (numerical or statistical data).
While conducting primary market research, one can gather two types of information: Exploratory and Specific. Exploratory research is open-ended, where a problem is explored by asking open ended questions in a detailed interview format usually with a small group of people, also known as a sample. Here the sample size is restricted to 6-10 members. Specific research, on the other hand, is more pinpointed and is used to solve the problems that are identified by exploratory research.
· Focus groups:
Focus group is one of the commonly used qualitative research methods. Focus group is a small group of people (6-10) who typically respond to online surveys sent to them. The best part about a focus group is the information can be collected remotely, can be done without personally interacting with the group members. However, this is a more expensive method as it is used to collect complex information.
· One-to-one interview:
As the name suggests, this method involves personal interaction in the form of an interview, where the researcher asks a series of questions to collect information or data from the respondents. The questions are mostly open-ended questions and are asked to facilitate responses. This method heavily depends on the interviewer’s ability and experience to ask questions that evoke responses.
· Ethnographic research:
This type of in-depth research is conducted in the natural settings of the respondents. This method requires the interviewer to adapt himself/herself to the natural environment of the respondents which could be a city or a remote village. Geographical constraints can be a hindering factor in conducting this kind of research. Ethnographic research can last from a few days to a few years.
Organizations use qualitative research methods to conduct structured market research by using online surveys, questionnaires, and polls to gain statistical insights to make informed decisions.
This method was once conducted using pen and paper. This has now evolved to sending structured online surveys to the respondents to gain actionable insights. Researchers use modern and technology-oriented survey platforms to structure design their surveys and to evoke maximum responses from respondents.
Through a well-structured mechanism, data is easily collected and reported, and necessary action can be taken with all the information made available firsthand.
2. Secondary Market Research:
Secondary research uses information that is organized by outside sources like government agencies, media, chambers of commerce etc. This information is published in newspapers, magazines, books, company websites, free government and non-government agencies and so on. The secondary source makes use of the following:
- Public sources:Public sources like library are an awesome way of gathering free information. Government libraries usually offer services free of cost and a researcher can document available information.
- Commercial sources: Commercial source although reliable are expensive. Local newspapers, magazines, journal, television media are great commercial sources to collect information.
- Educational Institutions: Although not a very popular source of collecting information, most universities and educational institutions are a rich source of information as many research projects are carried out there than any business sector.
Three key objectives of market research
A market research project may usually have 3 different types of objectives.
- Administrative: Help a company or business development, through proper planning, organization, and both human and material resources control, and thus satisfy all specific needs within the market, at the right time.
- Social: Satisfy customers’ specific needs through a required product or service. The product or service should comply with a customer’s requirements and preferences when consumed.
- Economical: Determine the economical degree of success or failure a company can have while being new to the market, or otherwise introducing new products or services, thus providing certainty to all actions to be implemented
