Cambridge O Level Business Studies · Syllabus 7115 · Marketing
Market Research
What is Market Research?
The systematic collection, recording and analysis of data about a market, its customers and its competitors, used to inform business decisions. It can estimate market size, identify customer needs and segments, test products, assess competitors and forecast demand, and it reduces the risk attached to a decision without ever removing that risk.
This definition is part of the Marketing chapter in Cambridge O Level Business Studies.
Market Research in context
The marketing mix is the combination of product, price, place and promotion that a business decides together, because each element shapes what customers expect of the others and any inconsistency weakens the whole offer. Market segmentation splits a market into groups with similar needs, letting a business choose between a small specialised niche and a broad mass market rather than trying to serve everyone at once. Market research, whether primary data collected for this decision or secondary data that already exists, reduces the risk in these choices without ever removing it, because a sample is not the same as the whole population.
Questions students ask about Market Research
What is the difference between marketing and advertising?
Marketing is the process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs profitably, and includes market research, segmentation, product design, branding, pricing and distribution as well as promotion. Advertising is only one method inside promotion, which is itself just one of the four Ps. Treating marketing as a synonym for advertising means designing a campaign for a product the research was never used to shape.