Research is generally about finding or searching out something that can aid in the solution of any problem. It is a systematic inquiry aimed at providing information to solve managerial problems (Anyanwu, 2016). The primary purpose of research is to inform action, to prove a theory, and contribute to developing knowledge in a field or study. It remains a tool for building knowledge and for facilitating learning. Other significance of research according to Anyanwu (2016) portrays research as a means to understand various issues and increase public awareness. Marketing research remains an aid to business success, since every decision is guess work without research. Research can shed light on' issues the business did not even know existed, and can raise questions the business hadn't realized even needed answers.
Marketing Research (MR) is the function that links the consumers, customers, and the publics of the organization to the marketer through information, and this information is used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. The biggest advantage of undertaking MR is getting consumer feedback, to understand the consumer, to know whether the business idea envisioned is already existent in the market probably in the form of another product or service. MR is what helps marketing decision makers' shift from intuitive information gathering to systematic and objective marketing investigation (Ekerete, 2003). MR means the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of marketing data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation. It is the process of examining the buyers, the product these buyers want, and where they are currently interested in getting it. This remains that this is an effective way to learn more about the customers, competitors and the entire marketing publics. Marketing research strengthens the business research in product development, pricing strategies, promotional strategies, and distribution strategies, understanding the target market and their characteristics to serve them better. According to Ibekwe (2008), MR needs not be underestimated and remains the simplest way for a business to keep up with market trends and maintain a competitive edge by sizing up business opportunity. Moreover, MR can be carried out at various stages of a business life cycle, from pre-launch and beyond. Having a greater understanding of the market from the very start will enable the marketer to create a sound business strategy, and to establish and grow a business brand into one better than the competition. Marketers should be able to understand what their market is able to do, and what they prefer to do. It is therefore fundamental for a business through marketing research to understand the target market, pondering to know: What is the total addressable market? What are all of your targets' demographics? What are their psychographics? What do they need or want? Do they want to buy your product? Where do they spend their time and why? Very importantly, marketing research is conducted to known: What organizations or businesses really want to find out? What are the processes that need to be followed to chase the idea? What are the arguments that need to be built around a concept? What is the evidence that will be required for people to believe in the idea or concept?
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Marketing Research and Digital Era
Online marketing research is an electronic transaction and has similar features of a new innovation because, it is a shift from the traditional face to an online mediated research transaction. It means performance information gathering acts over the internet through an online research website (Sekaran and Rogers, 2013). An online MR means that the researcher is willing to send and retrieve information through the internet (Klomsiri, 2010).
Online researches are research transaction that are controlled and coordinated via the internet. It is an internet mediated research activity. It is a branch of electronic transaction that allows the target audience to access, evaluate and respond to questions online without physically being present or interfacing between the researcher and the respondent. In the advanced countries, the number of online research are increasing in geometric progression. The experience and prospect of online research in Nigeria are not the same considering their positive apt of being the internet aspirers in the world (World Internet Statistic Report, 2012). Even with the online research industry still at the nascent stage and facing logistics issues, bad network, high cost of data, poor power provision, poor access to technology, this is a potential channel for the marketing researcher to actively engage the customers and consumers (respondents).
The world according to Heraclitus is in a continuous flux that is, Omni Flux in all things. These changes could also affect the nature of business data collection. Information technological changes have manifested since the last decade of the 20th century. The significant ones include the internet information (Internet Research). Also the influences of technology have led to changes in the technology adoption model which manifested in the changes in the researchers habit in the developing nations like Nigeria. According to AAB Nigeria (2013), the question is therefore whether the marketing researchers are ready for this. Can marketing researchers embrace online data collection or online research like citizens of developed countries? Can an online research deliver appropriate decisions? Nigeria being a developing country has numerous issues affecting the growth of existing industries let alone the acceptance and success of a relatively new industry such as online research.
In spite of this, Nigeria still occupy the position of the most populous black nation in the world with a big market potential for online MR. However, amidst all these difficulties, some Nigerian online researchers are assumed to be doing well. They have been able to convince their target audiences to trust them and embrace online research (Philip Consulting, 2015).
Role of Marketing Research (MR)
MR consists of systematically gathering information about people or companies and then analyzing it to better understand a target group of people. The results of this marketing research, help businesses make more informed decisions about the company's strategies, operations, and potential customer base. Understanding industry shifts, changing consumer needs and preferences, and legislative trends, among other things, can shape where a business chooses to focus its efforts and resources.
The purpose of MR is to provide management with relevant, accurate, reliable, valid, and up to date market information. Competitive marketing environment and the ever-increasing costs attributed to poor decision making require that marketing research provide sound information. Sound decisions are not based on gut feeling, intuition, or even pure judgment. Managers make numerous strategic and tactical decisions in the process of identifying and satisfying customer needs. They make decisions about potential opportunities, target market selection, market segmentation, planning and implementing marketing programs, marketing performance, and control. These decisions are complicated by interactions between the controllable marketing variables of product, pricing, promotion, and distribution. Further complications are added by uncontrollable environmental factors such as general economic conditions, technology, public policies and laws, political environment, competition, social and cultural changes. Another factor in this mix is the complexity of consumers. Marketing research helps the marketing manager link the marketing variables with the environment and the consumers. It helps remove some of the uncertainty by providing relevant information about the marketing variables, environment, and consumers. In the absence of relevant information, consumers' response to marketing programs cannot be predicted reliably or accurately. Ongoing marketing research programs provide information on controllable and non-controllable factors and consumers; this information enhances the effectiveness of decisions made by marketing managers.
Marketing Research is therefore very important with economy being competitive with each passing day. Conducting marketing research is one of the best ways of achieving customer satisfaction, reduce customer churn and elevate business. In summary therefore, marketing research:-
- provides information and opportunities about the value of existing and new products, thus, helping the business to plan and strategize accordingly,
- helps in determining what the customers need and want. Marketing is customer-centric and knowing the customers and their needs will help the business to design their product or services that best suit them,
- By understanding the needs of the customers, the business can also forecast their production and sales. One of the most difficult aspects for a production manager is to keep inventory stacked. What is the requirement and how much should be produced to fulfill the needs of the customer? MR helps to determine that.
To stay ahead of competitors, marketing research is a vital tool to carry out comparative studies. Businesses can device business strategies that can help them stay ahead of their competitors Abadom and Chukundah (2013) further considered the following benefits of marketing research:
- Make well-informed decisions: The growth of an organization is dependent on the way decisions are made by the management. Using MR techniques, the management can make business decisions on the basis of obtained results that back their knowledge and experience. MR helps to know market trends, hence to carry it out frequently to get to know the customers thoroughly.
- Gain accurate information: Marketing research provides real and accurate information that will prepare the organization for any mishaps that may happen in the future. By properly investigating the market, a business will undoubtedly be taking a step forward, and therefore it will be taking advantage of its existing competitors.
- Determine the market size: A researcher can evaluate the size of the market that must be covered in case of selling a product or service in order to make profits.
- Choose an appropriate sales system: Select a precise sales system according to what the market is asking for, and according to this, the product/service can be positioned in the market.
- Learn about customer preferences: It helps to know how the preferences (and tastes) of the clients change so that the company can satisfy preferences, purchasing habits, and income level. Researchers can determine the type of product that must be manufactured or sold based on the specific needs of consumers.
- Gather details about customer perception about the brand: In addition to generating information, MR helps a researcher in understanding how the customers perceive the organization or brand.
- Analyze customer communication methods: MR serves as a guide for communication with current and potential clients.
Types of Marketing Research
Two main types of MR could be identified: pure and applied MR. These are further divided into three types of research bearing some characteristic features: Quantitative research, Qualitative research, and Mixed research. Other types of marketing research include: Descriptive, explorative, causal, Longitudinal, Cross-sectional and Action research.
Pure (Basic) research aims to develop knowledge, theories and predictions. The main motivation here is to expand man's knowledge, not to create or invent something. According to Travers, 'Basic Research is designed to add to an organized body of scientific knowledge and does not necessarily produce results of immediate practical value.' Such research is time and cost intensive. It is used to solve a problem by adding to the field of application of discipline.
Applied research aims to develop techniques, products and procedures, designed to solve practical problems of the modern world, rather than to acquire knowledge for knowledge's sake. The goal of applied research is to improve the human condition. It focuses on analysis and solving social and real-life problems. This research is generally conducted on a large scale basis and is expensive. As such, it is often conducted with the support of some financing agency like the federal government, public corporation, World Bank, UNICEF, and others. According to Hunt, 'applied research is an investigation for ways of using scientific knowledge to solve practical problems' for example:- improve agriculture crop production, treat or cure a specific disease, improve the energy efficiency of homes, offices, how can communication among workers in large companies be improved. This type of research can also be called Action Research, interested in the workability of ideas.
Exploratory Research: is used in obtaining preliminary information that will help identify and formulate the problem and hypothesis. It is done to understand what is happening and why something is happening. Some of the most common methods of exploratory research are focus groups, interviews, literature research (library, newspaper, magazines, trade publication and online), and ease analyses. Exploratory research is systematic and flexible and allows the researcher to investigate whatever sources he or she desires. Such research may consist of going to the library and reading published secondary data: of asking questions, salespersons acquaintances for their opinions about a company, its products and services, and prices; or of simply observing everyday company practices. Exploratory research allows the researcher to define the problem more precisely and generates hypotheses for the upcoming studies. It is a type of research design whose primary objective is the provision of insights into and comprehension of the problem situation confronting the researcher.
Descriptive Research: is used to identify the marketing problem and or the potential for a market. This type of research is used to identify the characteristics of the target group or the average user of the product or service. Descriptive research allows for specific predictions and different levels of correlations among variables. Descriptive research provides answers to questions such as who, what, when, where and how, as they are related to the research problem. Who- may be defined as firms (competitors) customers. What- defined as brands, or sizes that are being purchased. Where-places where customers are purchasing products. Why-descriptive research cannot conclusively answer the question of why using descriptive research, but via causal research designs. When and how do the buy?
There are two types of descriptive studies, and they are: cross-sectional study and a longitudinal study. A cross-sectional study involves a sample of the market, population at a certain point in time while Longitudinal designs: is a type of research design involving a fixed sample of population elements that is measured repeatedly on the same variables. The sample remains the same over time, thus providing a series of pictures which, when viewed together, portray a vivid illustration of the situation and the changes that are taking place over time. A longitudinal study involves a panel or fixed sample of element at a certain point in time. An example of a longitudinal study involves the manufacturer, distributor, individual stores, and consumers. Any one of these elements can be replaced with another. In other words, the distributor can be of new management or the department store or a competitor.
In a longitudinal study, there are two types of panels, and they are: continuous panels and discontinuous panels. In most scenarios, panel members are compensated in one fashion or another for their efforts. In a continuous panel, the study relies on a fixed sample of respondents who are measured repeatedly over time under the same conditions. In a discontinuous panel, the study relies on a fixed sample of respondents who are measured, under various conditions over time.
Panel: A sample of respondents who have agreed to provide information at specified intervals over an extended period
- Casual Research: is marketing research done to test a hypothesis; the cause and impact of a hypothesis. For example, causal research may be used in a business setting to quantify the effect that a change will have on its current operations, and what it will have on future production levels to assist in the business planning process.
- Conclusive Research: Research designed to assist the decision maker in determining, evaluating and selecting the best course of action to take in a given situation.
- Cross-sectional Research (Design): A type of research design involving the collection of information from any given sample of population elements only once.
- Single cross-sectional Research (Design): A cross-sectional design in which one sample of respondents is drawn from the target population and information is obtained from this sample once.
- Multiple cross-sectional Research(Designs): is a design in which there are two or more samples of respondents and information from each sample is obtained only once.
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