Do you need market research?
Lots of companies think they don’t. After all, if you’re getting along OK, why take on the extra effort and expense?
The answer is that market research can teach you things about your business environment that you don’t know. And until you do know what you don’t know, experts say, assuming you don’t need to know can be risky.
“Market research can tell you if core assumptions about your customer are correct,” says Pam Zastrow, president of SMS. “That’s essential to merchandising your product well. Otherwise, you can be sending messages that are irrelevant—or worse.”
The right market research can help you:
• Understand your customers’ in-store shopping experience.
• Quantify your potential market.
• See ways to differentiate your product from the in-store competition.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of your messaging.
• Identify unmet customer needs (offering opportunities for new products and services).
• Spot emerging market trends and shifts in direction.
“In the store aisle, you have a couple seconds at most to make an impression on the customer and differentiate your product,” says Zastrow. “Information about what customers want and how they shop can mean the difference between a display that helps sell your product, and one that just holds it up.”
To get started doing market research—or to make sure any research you’re already doing is serving you—here are some suggestions.
Think about your questions. What do you want to know specifically? What information would help you reach your goals? The questions you’re trying to answer will determine the kind of research you’ll need.
Do your homework. Amazing amounts of research already exist. You might be able to find or buy information “off the shelf.” Digging around online will give you a sense of what’s available—much of it for free.
Find a good research partner. If you can’t find anything “off the shelf,” you’ll need customized support. Some companies do general market research; others specialize in consumer behavior, for instance. Many agencies concentrate on certain niches. Look for someone with experience in your industry who already understands your challenges. A good firm will help you define the questions and design the research.
Information on different research firms and their areas of expertise can be found through The Green Book (http://www.greenbook.org/) or by visiting the Marketing Research Association at http://www.mra-net.org/.
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Customer Focus Starts Before the Sale
As long as we’re talking about understanding customers better—are you thinking about all of your customers? In other words, are you considering the experience that your supply chain and distribution channel partners have with you?
To ensure success, you have to satisfy every customer in the value chain, which means everyone who handles your product. So, on the one hand, you want to pay close attention to your customer’s experience in the store. And, on the other hand, you want to consider what it’s like to BE the store, working with you and your inventory.
Manufacturers typically want to concentrate on sales results and numbers to evaluate their success. Yet while such a “business-centric” standpoint is important, it’s equally valuable to be “customer-centric,” or focused on how customers perceive you.
Try visiting and talking with the stores that sell your product. Find out how they like working with your displays. Are displays easy to assemble? How well do they stand up to wear and tear? What’s it like to keep them stocked? If the display isn’t assembled right, that reflects poorly on your brand. And if it’s hard to keep stocked, the display can’t do its job of promoting your product. Consumers rarely buy products they can’t find.
So focus on every customer in your sales process. Shoppers can tell you what they think of your product and your displays—and so can your distribution channel partners. When you make what’s important to customers important to you, you may find your strategic goals changing.
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