5 Must-Do Steps to Conduct Market Research for Small Businesses

Before staring a business, understanding your customers, markets, competitors and other aspects are important. You may have great ideas, but it must meet with the demands of the consumers. For ensuring the strategies are viable, a market research must be conducted to identify the opportunities, target audience, and other information.

5 Things a Market Analysis Must Inform You

To leverage a product/service, learning about what is there or what would be in store for future that every small to large businesses must be aware about. Here are some characteristics a marketing analysis should convey.

1.      Who: You must know who are customers, their gender, age, lifestyle choices, and income bracket. Get details about audience size, behavior, purchasing patterns, sector etc. Also know about the industry, the key players, and competitive landscape.

2.     What: All the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the products or services must be known. What products the consumers prefer or buy the most? What are the annual or monthly sales of competitors? What is the production size, import export ratio? What is the amount of investment and assets required?

3.     When: Duration of business activity is the most important. You should understand the best points of running a trade relating to time, season, occasion etc. or the moment to make maximum profits. The market research reports will allow you to get all the plans in place to customize the brand. Where:

4.     Where: The location of customers should be understood. Are consumer preferring a retail physical location or purchase the services/products over the internet? Where is the sales coming from? Where is the business not working out?

5.     Why: Just launching a company, service, product is not enough. It must have an element of unique selling proposition, and cater to consumer need; otherwise there would be no possible progress. You have to employ accurate industry analysis to find out why certain competitors are doing well than others, and how you can too drive the market.

Steps of Conducting an Effective Market Research

There are several sources from where you can get trustworthy business information. If you do not have an in-house to team to perform the analysis, then hire a professional market research company. Most of these firms are expert in gathering knowledge for the best of client requirements. Look for a budget-friendly agency that serves the following services at least.

1.      Primary and Secondary Data: The agency must use both primacy and secondary data to evaluate your business possibilities. Industry experts, trade exhibitions, published materials, previous researches on similar initiative, raw surveys or interviews on consumers or probable customers must be performed.

2.     Reliable Sample Surveys: The sample size of people must be those willing to utilize your product/service or those using the same of competitors. A sample size must be decided and followed by face-to-face or online interviews, feedback sessions, free trials to the service in question to derive market research and analysis.

3.     Quantitative & Qualitative Research: A quantitative research data will give figures and numbers required to support a business motive. For e.g. percentage count of the consumers providing positive or negative feedback, number of people interested in product, or innovation. The qualitative data will inform about the experience of customers, their behavior and preferences.

4.     Competitors Watch: The market research company should also offer complete details of competitor profiles and their activities. This information will assist you to evaluate what is syncing in with customers needs and demands, and the progressive development plants adopted.

5.     Advice on Marketing Strategies: After putting together information, you can use the services of analysts’ team to strategize a business development plan. Utilize insights and summaries from the industry analysis to formulate and execute promotional, marketing, and sales efforts.

Global Natural Organic Personal Care Products Market Unwinds at 9.8% CAGR till 2020

Growing demand among common people for natural skin/hair care and cosmetic products is widening scope of the organic personal care market to 2020, and is expected to touch USD 15.98 billion in the forecast period. Several technological innovations are being targeted at developing affordable product lines from firms such as Amway, Aveda Corporation, Estee Lauder, and The Body Shop. Consumer perceptions towards such products are positive, as they desire environmentally sustainable cosmetics.

Focus of manufacturing organic cosmetics is not only deriving natural products, but reducing pollution via lessening use of petroleum based materials. The approval from FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture, and several other human safety, and health regulatory bodies have given a boost to production of personal care products industry. Now, people wish to utilize hair and skin care items that are free of chemicals. The consumers have changed their lifestyle to a more health conscious way.

Advantages of Non-Chemical Skin Add-On

For the past few years, consumers’ disposable income has also increased, which is another reason for major developments in organic and natural cosmetics demand. As per industry analysis, the organic skin care products segment can witness 9.8% CAGR rise in 2014 to 2020.

The natural ingredients in cosmetics not only protect skin but also offer anti-oxidation facilities, which help enhance skin immunity. One of the challenges to producing such sustainable products is the high manufacturing cost.

Global Market Expands for Natural Beauty Products

In 2013, the natural cosmetics had USD 1.80 billion as revenue, with major users from Brazil, India, and China. A rise of awareness about harmful chemical substances effects have declined the demand for chemical products, and fueled the replacement by organic care items instead.

Key manufacturers are based at U.K, France, and Germany. North America is powering the global market. Other accelerating factors are Kyoto and Montreal Protocol in the Canada and U.S. which restrictions emissions of greenhouse gases.

Acquisition of Organic Cosmetic Firms

Some aspects promoting production and use of natural cosmetics are both small and large scaled organizations concentrating on providing organic cosmetics, especially with such strong domestic markets in North America and Europe.

Major companies are undertaking mergers and acquisitions to increase their dominance in FMCG sectors such as The Body Shop and Kiehl’s being acquired by L’Oreal in October 2013, and 2000 respectively. Additionally, Burt’s Bees was acquired by Clorox in October 2007.

7 Market Research Methods to Know Best Places of Beginning a Business

We all know that research and analysis of the market, competitors, industry, on basis of our goals will help jumpstart a business. But, often people/organizations fall short in launching techniques at appropriate moment, and required tools or methods used in the process. Here are few steps you can utilize to strengthen market research reports in knowing the best sections that increment our brand value and business.

1.      Create a Bucket List

The more questions you have, the better. Even the silliest and simplest of queries related to the business can be a turning point for your company. Jot them down in sequence depending on the priority. State your goals, ideas and requirement in crisp words.

2.     Have Discussion with Experts

Before beginning to send out research team or hire agencies for the purpose, have a talk with company and industry experts about the points included in the bucket list. Opinions of professionals will surely act as add on. With their help and advice, you can build a better industry analysis. 

3.     Allocate Investments Intelligently

After having a run over the important aspects, it is time to allocate funds. Invest in areas which are the building blocks for the company. Essentially these are the fixed costs. But, managing the variable costs smartly will also have a say as to the length of the bills. Hire a financial expert, if needed.

4.     Plan a Strategy

Decide how to go about with the tools developed. Who will perform the tasks and when that will be done? Are you going to outsource the market research reports, panel of professionals, or deploy internal team for it? What is the location from where the surveys etc. will be done?

5.     Decide on Tools and Techniques

Using the correct marketing research method is necessary to cut down resource wastage. There are several quantitative and qualitative tools (traditional and new media) that you can explore. Online forums, surveys, group studies, face to face interviews, sensory captures, polls, questionnaires etc. are few to mention.

6.     Keep Improvising

While the studies are being conducted, you will gather a huge amount of data. Some outcomes would appeal more to your interest than others. You will come to know which industry analysis is profitable to the company, and the steps that can be eliminated for good. Here you can understand the strengths, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses to your business. It is important to improvise based on the findings.

7.      Apply the Results

Just knowing and keeping on the study will not lead anywhere. Along with improvising, you will have to apply the findings to fulfill the business requirements. After all, the whole intention behind market research reports and such massive efforts are to reach a stable and profitable conclusion. Never stop knowing what the customers need, demand, and what the competitors are doing, which are the niches, and unique selling points to your business.

If you follow the above mentioned methods, you will get a good headway to meet the best places to know where to begin a business. There may be few add on and subtractions to the mentioned techniques, and industry analysis, depending on the needs. But, these tips can surely warm up a start-up or a company, which requires to get back in the throttle to surpass the competitors.