Market Research

Your potential customers are the key to your business success they must be at the core of how you organise yourself. market research will give you the information you need to get to this point. Market research has 3 functions:

• Information– Customer behaviour patterns,market trends, developments abroad
• Evaluation – Where are we? Where are we supposed to be
• Experimentation – with new products services or markets

Why do market research? Market research is the core of your business and business plan. It is important that you:
• Are aware of market developments
• Find out for yourself whether you can approach people at all kinds of levels
• Find out whether you can sell (if not, you will have to find someone to do it for you)
• Find out whether there is a market for your product/service, how big it is, how it can be reached, etc
• Are well prepared before you commit funds (your own or other people’s) to your business
• Are able to show potential financiers that you have taken the trouble to gather the necessary information
• Are able to show that you know your stuff.

More importantly preliminary market research will advise you whether your proposed venture has any possibility of success. Make your research practical in nature. Theory can be dangerous here.


• Checking how many vehicles in the competitions car park
• Counting the footfall outside your proposed new premises
• Checking how many customers are using similar services or buying similar products
• Checking with all the houses in the area to see if there is a demand for what you intend to supply
• Gathering promotional information sent out by your compeditors
• Where what and how does your competition promote themselves

Market research forms part of the core of the business model and is not something to be forgotten once you are up and running. It is ongoing, daily and current.