Methods of Market Research Report

Methods of market research

Primary or secondary data

We decided to use primary data for our product; this was carried out through a questionnaire, this is primary data as it is information gathered directly from the public. However we did use an element of secondary data, as we looked at research of other proteins to see if there was anything similar in the market at the moment, as secondary research is based on reports, studies that others have completed or published.  We found out there was nothing similar, so our product was right underway. Our questionnaire that we carried out was very qualitative data, this is because it was open questions that asked a specific question but allowed the public to elaborate on their answers and expand on what they can say. However we used a few closed questions, which just gave our public a choice of answers we wanted them to pick from, such as; yes, no, maybe etc.

For our product testing, we would go into different sports clubs, and get involved with different athlete that had a different specific sport for them. This would then give us an indication if our product is going to be a big success in the current market, or not. To be able to test this we would need to get the athlete of different fitness components to try out these different supplements in our to see how they work and react.

Market research

The market research we carried out was that we identified the trends that are currently already in the market, and see how they have done over the time they have been in competition with other products. Also we looked at competitive analysis, and researched if there was anything else in the market, that could come close to our upcoming product. Another main element of market research we looked into was the price analysis, having a look at how much other things were going for in the market and making our price decision off that, as we didn’t want to make this product to overpriced, and not make any money however we didn’t want to put the price too low and not make any profit.

The sample size of people that we are going to give our questionnaire to is a high number of the public. Up to 200 people individuals. For example, a wide variety of different gyms, sports clubs, and individual athlete’s in order to gather different information from a variety of different people, of different abilities and working towards different fitness components for their specific sport.

The location of our market research will be carried out in Kingston upon Hull, and East Riding of Yorkshire. This is because we feel they’re the only places that are appropriate to ask as this is where our product will be launched and sold. So carrying out our market research far out of the way isn’t appropriate as it is not in their area where it is going to be sold.

The time we will carry out our market research will be day time, during the week, heading towards about 5-6 o’clock when everybody has left work and have headed to gyms, also weekend days when people have gone to the gym and training. We would also elaborate and ask people on weekday nights at sports clubs, when people go training and go to different sporting arenas to their hobbies.  

We will find out from our market research whether it is accurate or not, and if the individuals we have asked are telling the truth, by giving it to people and giving them their own time to answer the questions, for example going into sports clubs/gyms/and leisure centres and leaving the questionnaires there for people to answer, and leaving them behind after they have filled them out, also giving it to people when they’re sat in the changing rooms at gyms, or sat in the foyer at gyms waiting to work out, or even wait to be picked up or leave etc. this will give us an indication that ur feedback we’re receiving is accurate as we are not putting pressure on the public to answer the questions to our face, and they won’t feel like they need to give us the answer we want, they will answer truthfully and accurately on their own accord. 

We asked a range of different questions within our survey, for example we asked a couple of Likert questions, such as; ‘how much on average do you spend on sports equipment per month’, from this we gave a range of different answers, these where £10 or less, £11-25, £26-50 and £51+. This is a Likert scale type of question as when responding to a Likert questionnaire item, respondents specify their level of agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agree-disagree scale for a series of statements. Thus, the range captures the intensity of their feelings for a given item. Trendowicz, A. (2013). We always used closed questions, for example one of our closed questions that required a response  where; ‘Are you an individual that consumes protein supplements, if no; would you consider using protein if it was made specific to your individual sport or fitness components? Yes or No, if no; would you considering using protein if it was made specific to your individual sport or fitness components? Yes or no? We always used a closed question to end our survey, this was; ‘Do you personally feel like there would be a place in the market for this type of product.’ These are closed type of questions because it is a question format that limits respondents with a list of answer choices from which they must choose to answer the question. Mohamma, A. (2010)

Cost