Advance Marketing Management

Final Examination

Hazel C. Gascon
DBA

1. Differentiate needs, wants and demands.

Needs, wants and demands are 3 important terms in marketing. No matter

how similar they might seem, there are more differences in these terms that
you might think. There are many layers within them and they play a vital role
in arriving at segmenting the TG, targeting a particular target group and most
importantly defining a sharp positioning for a brand.

a. Needs - is the basic human requirements like shelter, clothes, food, water,
etc. which are essential for human beings to survive. If we extend this further,
other needs are education, healthcare or even a social thing, for example,
belonging to a certain society or self-expression. One can say that the products
which fall under the needs category of products do not require a push. Instead
the customer buys it themselves. But it’s actually not true. in today’s world
with thousands of brands competing in the same categories with identical
offerings satisfying the same needs, even the “needs category product” has to
be pushed in the consumers’ mind. Example of needs category products or
sectors – Agriculture sector, Real Estate, Healthcare etc.
We all know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which categorizes needs into
5 levels starting from physiological needs at the bottom and going up to self-
actualization needs. But what’s important as a marketer to know which level
of need is your brand targeted to. Let’s look at some of the examples of brands
which are targeting different levels of needs

1. Physiological Needs – Food companies (Nestle, Pepsi, Coca Cola)

2. Safety Needs – Insurance companies (ICICI Prudential, Tata AIG, HDFC

Life)

3. Social Needs – Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

4. Esteem Needs – Luxury brands (iPhone, Mercedes, Estee Lauder)

5. Self-actualization needs – Non-Profit organizations and NGOs (UNICEF,

Teach for India)

In marketing, there is another way to categorize needs. There are basically five
types of consumers’ needs:

1. Stated Needs – As the name suggests, in this case, the consumer

explicitly states what he wants.

2. Real needs – This is more specific. So when the consumer wants a

phone to remain connected to his friends, family and colleagues, the actual
need be a phone with high battery backup and not high camera resolution.
3. Unstated needs – The consumer also expects warranty and other sorts
of after sales service when buying a phone which he might not say
explicitly.

4. Delight needs – The consumer would like the phone manufacturer or

the dealer to give him some free gift or a promotional item (phone case,
tempered glass, free SIM etc.), but he doesn’t clearly express that he wants
something with the phone.

5. Secret Needs – These are the needs which the consumer feels
reluctant to admit; for example the consumer wants the phone for his
status symbol but he feels uncomfortable to admit that status is important
to him.

b. Wants - are a step ahead of needs Wants aren’t essential for humans to
survive, but it’s associated with needs Simply put, A want is a
product desired by a customer that is not required for us to survive. So,
want is the complete opposite of need, which is essential for our survival.
Wants aren’t permanent and it regularly changes. As time passes, people
and location change, wants change accordingly.

Wants are directed by our surrounding towards reaching certain needs.

Therefore, human’s wants can be varied depending on each individual’s
perception, environment, culture, and society. For example, an Indian
needs food but he may want a Dosa or Paratha while an American may
want Burger or Sandwich.

c. Demands
 Wants turn to be Demands when a customer is willing and having the
ability to buy that needs or wants. The basic difference between wants and
demands is desire. A customer may desire something but he may not be
able to fulfill his desire. Consequently, for people, who can afford a
desirable product are transforming their wants into demands. In other
words, if a customer is willing and able to buy a need or a want, it means
that they have a demand for that need or a want. You might want
a BMW for a car or an iPhone for a phone. But can you actually buy
a BMW or an Iphone? You can, provided you have the ability to buy them.

Many people want a BMW, but only a few can buy one. So, it’s very crucial
that one must measure not only how many people want their product, but
also how many are willing and have the ability to buy it.

2. Differentiate quantitative from qualitative research.

Qualitative Research Quantitative Research

It helps understand human behavior to find

It aims to compute numbers and perform
the way people think and analyze their
statistical analysis.
experiences.

These research methods are ideal when It helps generate numerical data and hard
there is no fixed set of questions, and the facts using statistical, logical, and
discussion is useful to explore issues. mathematical techniques.

The time consumed for planning is less as The time consumed for planning is more as
compared to the analysis phase. compared to the analysis phase.
Qualitative Research: Qualitative research is used to gain an understanding of
human behaviour, intentions, attitudes, experience, etc., based on the
observation and interpretation of people. It is an unstructured and exploratory
technique that deals with highly complex phenomena. This kind of research is
usually done to understand the topic in-depth. It is carried out by taking
interviews with open-ended questions, observations that are described in
words, and so on.

Benefits of Qualitative Research

 Unlike quantitative research, which relies on numerical data, qualitative

research relies on data collected from interviews, observations, and written
texts.
 It is often used in fields such as sociology and anthropology, where the goal
is to understand complex social phenomena.
 Qualitative research is considered to be more flexible and adaptive, as it is
used to study a wide range of social aspects.
 Additionally, qualitative research often leads to deeper insights into the
research study. This helps researchers and scholars in designing their
research methods.

Quantitative Research: Quantitative research method relies on the methods

of natural sciences, which develops hard facts and numerical data. It
establishes the cause-and-effect relationship between two variables using
different statistical, computational, and statistical methods. As the results are
 accurately and precisely measured, this research method is also termed as
“Empirical Research”. This type of research is generally used to establish
generalised facts about a particular topic. This type of research is usually done
using surveys, experiments, and so on.

Benefits of Quantitative Research

 Quantitative data is interpreted with statistical analysis. The type of

statistical study is based on the principles of mathematics, and it provides a
fast, focused, scientific and relatable approach.
 Quantitative research creates an ability to replicate the test and results of
research. This approach makes the data more reliable and less open to
argument.
 After collecting the quantitative data, expected results define which
statistical tests are applicable and results provide a quantifiable conclusion
for the research hypothesis.
 Research with complex statistical analysis is considered valuable and
impressive. Quantitative research is associated with technical
advancements like computer modeling and data-based decisions.

3. What are the steps in a customer value analysis?

Customer value analysis is a process of identifying, understanding, and

evaluating the value that a company's products or services provide to its
customers. It is a tool used by businesses to gain insights into their customers'
preferences, needs, and behavior, and to identify areas where the company
can improve its products or services to better meet those needs.
Customer value analysis typically involves several steps, including:

1. Identifying the key attributes of the product or service that are most
important to customers.

This may be identified by asking a group of representative customers of

the target segment(s). You may ask them what they look for in a
product and how they select a particular seller. You should record their
responses to help you identify your company’s position in the minds of
your target buyers.

2. Measuring the perceived value of the product or service by asking

customers about their satisfaction levels, likelihood to recommend, and
willingness to pay.

To assess the importance of different attributes that customers

consider important, you may request them to rank the attributes in
order of ascending value. By averaging their rating, you can decide
which attribute is most important, which comes next to it, and so on.
3. Analyzing the data to identify areas where the company can improve
the value of its products or services.

On the third stage, you may ask your respondent customers to

compare your company’s performance with that of your competitors
with respect to each of the attributes they consider important.
 4. Developing strategies to address the identified areas of improvement,
such as improving product quality, offering better customer service, or
lowering prices.

Were respondent customers are requested to compare the company’s

performance with that of the major competitors against each of the
attributes of customers value. It helps the company identify its position
with respect to its major competitor. This helps the company to decide
whether it should raise its price, reduce it, or keep the price
unchanged.
Customer value analysis is important because it helps companies understand the
specific needs and preferences of their customers, and enables them to design
products and services that better meet those needs. This can lead to increased
customer loyalty, higher sales, and improved profitability.

4. What are the factors influencing buying behavior?

Consumer behavior is the actions and decisions that people or households make
when they choose, buy, use, and dispose of a product or service. Many
psychological, sociological, and cultural elements play a role in how consumers
engage with the market.

It is a multi-stage process that involves identifying problems, collecting data,

exploring options, making a decision to buy, and evaluating the experience
afterward. Consumers may be impacted during these stages by things including
personal views and values, social conventions, marketing campaigns, product
features, and environmental conditions.

Consumer behavior in marketing

Consumer behavior is important in marketing because it explains how consumers

make decisions about what products to buy when to buy them, and from whom
to buy them.

Marketers can develop effective marketing strategies that target the right
consumers with the right message at the right time by understanding consumer
behavior.

Here are some examples of how consumer behavior affects marketing:

 Segmentation - Consumer behavior research helps marketers behavioral

segments markets. Marketers can modify their marketing messages and
strategies to better appeal to each demographic by recognizing these
segments.
 Product design - Understanding consumer behavior can also aid in product
development. Marketers can create products that better meet consumer
needs and preferences by analyzing customer requirements and tastes,
leading to increased sales and customer satisfaction.
 Pricing Strategies - Marketers can use consumer behavior data to
determine the price points at which customers are willing to pay for a
 product, as well as the pricing strategies most likely to appeal to each
market segment.
 Branding - Consumer behavior research helps in the development of
branding strategies. Marketers can create brand messages and strategies
that resonate with consumers and build brand loyalty by understanding
consumer attitudes and perceptions of brands.

These factors are namely Psychological, Social, Cultural, Personal, and Economic
factors.
1. Psychological Factors
Interestingly, human psychology is actually an integral factor that influences
consumer behavior although these factors aren’t exactly easy to measure. A few
integral psychological factors driving the behavior of consumers are:
 Motivation
Motivation becomes a considerable defining factor influencing a person’s
buying behavior. A popular motivation theory is Maslow's theory of
hierarchy of needs in which he developed a model that lays the foundation
for 5 different levels of human needs where he lays the base with
psychological needs and moves on to safety needs, social needs, esteem
needs and finally heading to self-actualization needs. Amongst these
requirements, our basic requirements and security needs are generally put
above all needs.
 Perception
Our perception is shaped when we gather information regarding a product
and examine it to generate a relevant image regarding a certain product.
 Whenever we see an advertisement, review, feedback or promotion
regarding a product, we form an image of that item. As a result, our
perception plays an integral role in shaping our purchasing decisions.
Being in the times where we are gathering constant information by
simultaneously surfing through the Internet, watching TV, and exploring
through our cell phones, the perception we gain through all these resources
plays a definite role in regulating our consumer behavior.
 Learning
Every time we purchase a product we get a deeper knowledge about it
through experience. This learning mainly depends on our experience,
knowledge, and skills.
This learning can either be cognitive or conditional. While in cognitive
learning, we use our knowledge for finding satisfaction and fulfilling his
needs with the item we purchase, conditional learning is where we get
constantly exposed to a situation, enabling us to respond towards it.
 Attitudes and Beliefs
We’ve all got certain attitudes or beliefs that consciously or subconsciously
prompt our purchasing decisions. For instance, while your friend who
believes caffeine is adverse for one’s health may prefer tea, you who believe
that caffeine energizes us, may prefer coffee. Our attitude and what we
believe influence our behavior towards a product and also play a key role in
shaping the product’s brand image. So understanding a consumer’s attitude
and belief becomes useful for marketers to design their marketing
campaigns.
2. Social Factors
We are all social animals so of course our purchasing decisions are impacted to
some extent by the people around. We are constantly working on imitating other
human beings, longing to fit in our surroundings. As a result social factors
influence our buying behavior regarding items. Some of these factors include :
 Family
Our families actually have a considerable role to play in impacting our
purchasing behavior. We form an inclination or aversion towards certain
products from our childhood by observing our families use that product and
persist in using those products as we grow up.
 Reference Groups
Reference groups are basically groups of people with whom we associate
ourselves. These include clubs, schools, professional or playgroups,
churches, and even acquaintances or a group of friends, etc. The people in
the reference groups normally have a common pattern of purchasing and an
opinion leader who influences them in terms of their buying behavior.
 Roles and status
We are all of course influenced by the role that we hold in society. The
higher position we hold, the more our status affects what and how much we
purchase. For instance, the CEO of a company and a normal employee would
have a varied buying pattern.
3. Cultural factors
We all have our values and ideologies that are shaped by the values and
ideologies of the society we exist in and the community we belong to. Our
behavior is consciously or subconsciously driven by the culture followed by that
particular community.
A few significant cultural factors include :
 Culture
Our cultural factors are basically basic requirements, values, wants
behaviors, and preferences that are observed and absorbed by us from our
close family members as well as other significant people around us.
 Subculture
Amongst a cultural group, we have several subcultures. These groups share a
common set of values and beliefs. They can consist of people from varied
nationalities, religions, caste, and geographies. An entire customer segment
is formed by this customer segment.
 Social Class
Each society all over the globe is defined and known by some form of social
class. This social class is determined collectively by our family backgrounds,
occupation, education, and residence location. Our social class is another
component holding the reins for consumer behavior.
4. Personal Factors
Alongside social, psychological, and cultural factors, we all have factors that are
personal to us that influence our choices. These factors vary from person to
person, introducing varied perceptions and behavior.
Some of these personal factors include:
 Age
Age is one of the primary factors that impact our preferences. The vibrant
and flashy purchasing choices of a teenager would obviously differ from
 what an elderly person purchase. Meanwhile, we have middle-aged people
who are naturally more focused on purchasing properties, houses, or
vehicles.
 Income
Our income impacts our purchasing behavior. The higher our income, the
more purchasing power we hold and vice versa. Higher disposable income
compels us to spend more on luxurious items while a lower or mediocre
income makes us spend more on our basic needs like education, groceries,
and clothing.
 Occupation
Our occupation largely steers our purchasing decision machine. We all tend
to purchase the items that are relevant or suitable for our profession. For
instance, a businessman would have different clothes purchasing pattern in
comparison to an artist.
 Lifestyle
Our way of life is one of the most powerful influencers that controls our
choices. Our lifestyle dominates our buying behavior quite significantly.
Suppose we are on a diet then the products we purchase will also
complement our diet, from food, weighing scale to using protein.
5. Economic Factors
The purchasing quirks and decisions of the consumer largely rely upon the market
or nation’s economic circumstances. The more that a nation is prosperous and its
economy stable, the larger will be the money supply of the market and the
consumer’s purchasing power.
A strong, healthy economy brings purchasing confidence while a weak economy
reveals a strained market, marked by a weakened purchasing power and
unemployment.
Some significant economic factors include:
 Personal Income:
Our personal income is the criteria that dictate the level of money we will
spend on buying goods or services. There are primarily two kinds of personal
incomes that a consumer has namely disposable income and discretionary
income.
 Family Income:
Our family income is actually an aggregate of the sum total of the income of
all our family members. This income also plays a considerable role in driving
consumer behavior. The income that remains after meeting all the basic life
necessities is what is then used for buying various goods, branded items,
luxuries, durables, etc.
 Income Expectations:
It's not just our personal and family income that impacts our buying
behavior, our future income expectations also have a role to play. For
instance, if we expect our income to rise in the future, we would naturally
spend a greater amount of money in purchasing items. And of course, in
case we expect our income to take a plunge in the near future, it would have
a negative influence on our expenditure.
 Consumer Credit:
The credit facilities at our behest also impact our purchasing behavior. This
credit is normally provided by sellers, either directly or indirectly via banks
 or financial institutions. If we have flexible credit terms as well as accessible
EMI schemes, our expenditure on items is likely to increase and in less
flexible credit terms would result in the opposite.

 Liquid Assets:
Even the liquid assets we’ve maintained influence our purchasing behavior.
In case you are wondering, these are the assets that get promptly converted
into cash such as stocks, mutual funds, our savings or current accounts. If we
have more liquid assets, there is a greater likelihood of us spending more on
luxuries and shopping items. Lesser liquid assets meanwhile result in lesser
expenditure on these items.
 Savings:
The savings generated from our personal income are also regulating our
buying behavior. For instance, if we take the decision of saving more from
our income for a certain period of time, our expenditure on goods and
services would be lesser and for that period and if we wish to save less, our
expenditure on such items would increase.

5. What are the benefits of running a Marketing analysis?

Marketing analytics provides businesses with a competitive edge by enabling
data-driven decision-making, optimizing campaigns, and enhancing customer
experiences. By harnessing the power of marketing analytics, businesses can
gain valuable insights into market trends, customer behavior, and competitor
strategies. This knowledge empowers businesses to make informed
 decisions, refine their marketing strategies, and outperform their
competitors.

Market analysis is a detailed assessment of your business’s target market and

the competitive landscape within a specific industry. This analysis lets you
project the success you can expect when you introduce your brand and its
products to consumers within the market. Market analysis includes quantitative
data such as the actual size of the market you want to serve, prices consumers
are willing to pay, revenue projections, and qualitative data such as consumers’
values, desires, and buying motives.

Conducting a market analysis can benefit you in several ways by helping you to:
 Spot trends and opportunities in your industry
 Differentiate your business from competitors.
 Reduce the risks and costs of launching a new business (or pivoting an
existing one)
 Tailor products and services to your target customers’ needs
 Analyze successes and failures.
 Optimize your marketing efforts.
 Reach new market segments.
 Monitor your business’s performance.
 Pivot your business in new directions.

In researching this topic, you may come across terms with similar meanings,
including market research and marketing analytics. Here are some distinctions:
  Market research is the process of gathering information about a target
market, including its customers’ needs and behaviors, in order to market
products to it effectively.
 Marketing analytics is the process of studying the metrics of specific
marketing efforts, such as landing page sign-ups and social media
engagement, in order to increase return on investment.

6. Explain the demographic segmentation.

Demographic segmentation is a method of splitting your subscribers based on
factors like gender, age, location, income, and more. Doing this makes it easier
to understand your various types of customers as well as their particular needs
and interests. Demographic segmentation helps you tailor your marketing
efforts to the unique characteristics of each group. When you understand the
diverse demographics within your audience, you can create targeted and
personalized campaigns that resonate deeply with specific segments.

This level of personalization fosters stronger connections with your customers.

This leads to increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and improved
business success. Now that we’ve defined demographic segmentation, let’s
look at some common demographic segmentation variables used in E-
Commerce Marketing.

You can gain the following benefits by implementing the right demographic
segmentation variables for your business:

 Higher customer retention: When customers are getting the right kind of
information and recommendations, they feel valued and understood.
 People are much more likely to stick with a brand that knows their needs,
so your customer retention rates are likely to increase with effective
segmentation.
 Effective marketing campaigns: By identifying your key customers and their
needs, you’ll be able to create marketing campaigns that are tailor-made for
them. This will result in better delivery statistics, higher engagement, and
ultimately, more revenue.
 Lasting customer relationships: Reaching out with personalized messaging
helps to build long-lasting relationships with customers. Not only are they
more likely to stick around in the long-term, but they’ll be happy to
recommend your brand to their friends and families too.
 More personalized products and services: When you properly understand
your target customer’s needs and preferences, you can offer the kinds of
products that you know will resonate with them.
 Appropriate product pricing and distribution: Similarly, knowledge of
customer income and location allows for more accurate pricing and
distribution services.

7. Explain the 5 Products Levels.

The model considers that products are a means to an end to meet the various
needs of customers, and asserts that there are three ways in which customers
attach value to a product:

 Customer Need: the lack of a basic requirement.

 Customer Want: a specific requirement for a product or service to meet
a need.
  Customer Demand: a set of wants plus the desire and ability to pay to
have them satisfied.
Customers will choose a product based on their perceived value of it and are only
satisfied if the product’s value to them meets or exceeds expectations. If the
product’s actual value falls below expectations, they will be dissatisfied. An
explanation of Kotler’s Five Levels follows below:

1. Core benefit: The core benefit is the basic need or want that the
customer satisfies when they buy the product. For example, a hotel
provides a bed to sleep in when a person is away from home.
2. Generic product: The generic product is a basic version of the product
made up of only those features necessary for it to function. In this
example, a hotel would provide not only a bed, but a few additional
items such as sheets, towels and a bathroom.
3. Expected Product: The expected product includes additional features
that the customer might expect. In the hotel example, the sheets, towels
and bathroom would be clean.
4. Augmented Product: The augmented product refers to any product
variations or extra features that might help differentiate the product
from its competitors and make the brand a clearer choice amongst the
competition. This could be additional amenities such as a helpful
concierge service or tourist guides available to hotel guests.
5. Potential Product: The potential product includes all augmentations and
improvements the product might experience in the future. This means
that to continue to surprise and delight customers the product must be
constantly improved. In the hotel example, this could mean gifts,
 chocolates, or luxury bath products that will make the customer happy
and choose that product over others in the future.
The greatest advantage of Kotler’s Five Product Levels Model is that it enables an
organization to identify how to satisfy the needs and wants of the customer, in
order to help differentiate itself from its competitors.

8. Explain the different types of Retailers.

A retailer is a person or a business that sells small quantities of goods to

customers for actual use.

 Retail is a channel of distribution

 Retailing is a business process
 Retailer is a business or person

Importance Of Retailing

Retailing is important for the creators, customers, as well as the economy.

Retail stores are the places where most of the actual sales to the customers take
place. They act as both a marketing tool for the brands and a support tool for the
customers to exchange and communicate important information.

Besides this, retailing is a great asset to the economy. It provides jobs, adds to the
GDP, and acts as a preferred shopping channel during the holiday season.

Retailing Types
Retailing can be divided into five types. Here are the types of retailing that exists
today:

 Store retailing: This includes different types of retail stores like

department stores, speciality stores, supermarkets, convenience
stores, catalogue showrooms, drug stores, superstores, discount
stores, extreme value stores etc.
 Non-store retailing: Non-store retailing is a type of retailing where
the transaction happens outside conventional shops or stores. It is
further divided into two types – direct selling (where the company
uses direct methods like door-to-door selling) and automated
vending (installing automated vending machines which sell offer a
variety of products without the need of a human retailer).
 Corporate retailing: It involves retailing through corporate channels
like chain stores, franchises, and merchandising conglomerates.
Corporate retailing focuses on retailing goods of only the parent or
partner brand.
 Internet retailing: Internet retailing or online retailing works on a
similar concept of selling small quantities of goods to the final
consumer, but they serve a larger market and don’t have a physical
retail outlet where the customer can go and touch or try the product.
 Service retailing: Retailers not always sell tangible goods; retail
offerings also consist of services. When a retailer deals with services,
the process is called service retailing. Restaurants, hotels, bars, etc.
are examples of service retailing.
9. What are the criteria for Staffing Venture Team?
Corporate and startup employees differ on fundamental levels. In fact, they
differ so much that corporate managers often would not even interview a
candidate that is high ranking by our criterions. This is why we decided to sum
up the main learnings corporates need to be taught when staffing a new
venture or startup.

1) Entrepreneurs are not always successful

One out of ten startup makes it past A-Round. That does not necessarily mean
those founders of the other nine are bad entrepreneurs or digital leaders.
There are many reasons why a startup can fail and not all are to blame on the
founding team. When hiring for startups that needs to be acknowledged. Also,
do not underestimate the learnings closing down a company teaches a young
manager, learnings that sometimes take decades to learn in traditional
industry companies. Look past the success of the company and understand the
role the specific person had in its course.

2) Not every startup has a big name

Many of our team members are former founders. While all of them are great
entrepreneurs not all of them had success with their startup. But even if we
told you the names of the successful companies you might not know a single
one of them. Not all startups are unicorns and luckily so. In other words, do
not only look for big names like Uber, Amazon or Alibaba, there are many
great startups out there that are rather unknown.
3) Entrepreneurs often spend a maximum of two or three years at a company

It does not matter how much success an entrepreneur has with the current
company, what matters is their value to the company. Many entrepreneurs are
great at building companies but not great at scaling them or leading them
beyond growth. There might be some examples where that worked, but do
not underestimate the surrounding and often invisible teams that help those
publicly known figures. Rather accept that when hiring an entrepreneurial
team, they will stay for a certain time only.

4) There are different phases of a startup that require a different type of staff

Adding to the previous point, we do not recommend to search for a long term
team that does not significantly change over time. On the contrary. In early
phases, you need staff members that work independently and enjoy creative
freedom. Once you reach a point of scaling, that is not the best type of staff
member any more. Now the startup needs people that follow existing
processes to a certain degree and that take pride in small adjustments rather
big changes.

5) Do not overestimate Industry knowledge

Travis Kalanick, Brian Chesky, and Elon Musk have two things in common. They
all are startup legends, that made billions with companies that digitally
disrupted entire industries over the course of just a few years. Another thing
they have in common is the fact that none of them had any long-term work-
experience in the respective industry they successfully transformed. They all
 experienced the need of change out of a customer experience perspective and
build their solutions focused on that.

10. What are the questions that the marketer should ask when
conducting a Market Analysis?

Professionals conducting qualitative and quantitative market research generally

skip this part. The reality is that the decision making for product development or
modification is mostly based on word of mouth, peer suggestion or personal
assessment without taking real factual data into consideration.
Statistical surveying can give you an understanding of your market, your product
or service, your rivals and your audience. Here are 7 market research survey
questions every marketer should ask:

1. Who is currently purchasing your products or services?

A very important question to ask, to understand your customer’s or client’s

purchasing buying behavior and understand what exactly their needs and
preferences are. Once you can identify their purchase pattern and behavior it is
easier to cater to their needs in a better manner.

2. What audience will be interested in purchasing the product in future?

Businesses need to know what type of audience they are willing to target while
launching a new product in the market. The features or the attributes related to
the products should be aforethought to suit the needs of the audience.
3. What are the main reasons for not buying the product?

There are various factors involved when a buyer chooses not to buy your product.
Some of the common issues are price, quality of the product, usefulness of the
product, competitor has a better product and so on.

4. Where would individuals purchase your products or services from?

In this technology-driven world, buyers prefer sitting in the comfort of their home
and use the internet to its optimum potential to shop online. More and more
people prefer shopping online over the traditional brick and mortar store. When
you know the exact source of their purchase, it is advisable to put in efforts to
make the purchasing process smoother.

5. Who is the main competitor?

Knowing your competitors is always advisable while you are in a competitive

environmental analysis. If you know your competition, chances are you will be
better prepared. There may be incidences where even your most loyal customers
can choose your competitors over you for reasons that you might need to explore
further.

6. What are your opinions about various features of our products or service
(packaging, name, features, pricing, advertising)?

According to a study, loyal customers have emotional attachments with products

offered by brands. It is important to know what your buyers feel about the
product and its features or services that offer. Based on feedback, received from
customers, a brand can work on strategies for improving, their packaging,
features, pricing, advertising etc.

7. What upgrades could be made to your products or services to make it better?

This open-ended question can help you gain maximum feedback from your
customers as they will have a suitable platform to express what changes they
expect. Through feedback and comments gathered, it will be easier for you to
work on the upgrades or changes.