Entrep Mod. 4 & 5
Entrep Mod. 4 & 5
4 & 5
Market Research or Marketing Research Process
process of gathering
analyzing and interpreting the information about the products or the services to be
offered for sale to the potential consumers in the market.
DATA COLLECTION
most valuable tool in any type of research study.
Inaccurate data collection may cause mistakes and ultimately lead to invalid results.
SURVEYS are the most common way to gather primary research with the use of questionnaires
or interview schedule. These can be done via direct mail, over the phone, internet (e.g. Google)
or email, face-to-face or on the Web (e.g. Skype or Viber).
When designing or constructing your own research questionnaire, remember the following
guidelines.
* Keep it as simple as possible
* Make sure it is clearly appealing and easy to read
* Cluster or block related questions
* Move from complex questions to more specific questions
* Make sure questions are concise and easily understood
* Avoid questions that are difficult to answer
* Make sure response scales used are consistent with categories that are mutually exclusive
INTERVIEW
one of the most reliable and credible ways of getting relevant information from target
customers. It is typically done in person between the researcher/entrepreneur and a respondent
where the researcher asks pertinent questions that will give significant pieces of information
about the problem that he will solve. The interview is also helpful even when the business has
already started because the customers’ feedback provides the entrepreneur a glimpse of what
the customers think about the business.
Interviews normally last from 15 to 40 minutes, but they can last longer, depending on the
participants’ interest in the topic.
In a structured interview, the researcher asks a standard set of questions and nothing more. (Leedy & Ormrod, 2001,
pp.38-39)
Personal interviews are the traditional method of conducting an interview. It allows the
researcher to establish relationship with potential participants and therefore gain their
cooperation. It generates highest response rates in survey research. They also allow the
researcher to clarify indefinite answers and when necessary, seek follow-up information.
• Telephone interviews are less expensive and less time-consuming, but the disadvantages
are that the response rate is not as high as the face-to-face interview, but considerably higher
than the mailed questionnaire.
FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION (FGD) – is an excellent method for generating and screening
ideas and concepts. It can be moderated group interviews and brainstorming sessions that
provide information on user’s needs and behaviors.
ENTREP REVIEWER: MOD. 4 & 5
The following are considerations in the use of focus group discussions in market research:
Marketing mix
whatever you sell or offer you must outline this.
has been around as early as trade existed and that is quite long already. The only
difference is that today everything is well outlined and keeps evolving even further. To get
to the point, marketing mix is a business mechanism used for effective marketing of the
products. There is no hesitation that anyone would benefit from a powerful 7Ps.
is a set of controllable and connected variables that a company gathers to satisfy a
customer better than its competitor. It is also known as the “Ps” in marketing. Originally,
there were only 4Ps but the model has been continually modified until it became 7P’s. The
original 4 P’s stands for product, place, price and promotion.
Eventually, three elements have been added, namely: people, packaging and positioning to
comprise the 7 P’s.
1. PRODUCT
The first P in the Marketing Mix is the Product. Marketing strategy typically
Starts with the product. Marketers can’t plan a distribution system or set a price if they don’t
know exactly what the product will be offered to the market.
Product refers to any goods or services that is produced to meet the consumers wants, tastes
and preferences. Examples of goods include tires, MP3 players, clothing and etc. Goods can be
categorized into business goods or consumer goods. A buyer of consumer goods may not have
thorough knowledge of the goods he buys and uses.
Examples of services include hair salons and accounting firms.
Services can be divided into consumer services, such as hair styling
or professional services, such as engineering and accounting.
2. PLACE
Place is the second P in the Marketing Mix. Place represents the location
Where the buyer and seller exchange goods or services. It is also called as the distribution
channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores or online shops on the Internet.
It is one thing having a great product, sold at an attractive price. But what if:
3. PRICE
The third P in the Marketing Mix is price. The price is a serious component of the marketing mix.
What do you think is the meaning of Price?
In the narrowest sense, price is the value of money in exchange for a product or service.
Generally speaking. The price is the amount or value that a customer gives up to enjoy the
benefits of having or using a product or service. Thus, customers exchange a certain value for
having or using the product – a value we call price. In commerce, price is determined by what (1)
a buyer is willing to pay, (2) a seller is willing to accept, and (3) the competition is allowing to be
charged. With product. Promotion, and place of marketing mix, it is one of the business variables
over which organizations can exercise some degree of control. One example of a pricing strategy
is the penetration pricing. It is when the price charged for products and services is set artificially
low in order to gain market share. Once this is attained, the price can be higher than before. For
example, if you are going to open a Beauty Salon, you need to set your prices lower than those
of your competitors so that you can penetrate the market. If you already have a good number of
market share then you can slowly increase your price.
There are several factors that affect a small business’ revenue potential. One of the most
important is the pricing strategy utilized by you as the owner of the business.
A right pricing strategy helps you define the particular price at which you can maximize profits
on sales of your product or service. You need to consider a wide range of factors when setting
prices of your offerings. The different pricing strategies with its definition can be found in the
table below.
Penetration Pricing – The price charged for products and services is set artificially low in order to
gain market share. Once this is achieved, the price is increased.
Skimming Pricing – A company charges a higher price then slowly lowers the price to make the
product available to a wider market because it has a considerable competitive advantage.
However, the advantage tends not to be sustainable. The high price attracts new competitors
into the market, and the price inevitably falls due to increased supply.
Competition Pricing – A pricing method in which a seller uses prices of competing products as a
benchmark instead of considering own costs or the customer demand. In reality a firm has three
options and these are to price lower, price the same or price higher than competitors.
Product Line Pricing – The practice of reviewing and setting prices for multiple products that a
company offers in coordination with one another. Rather than looking at each product separately
and setting its price, product-line pricing strategies aim to maximize the sales of different
products by creating more complementary, rather than competitive, products. If you offer more
than one product or service, consider the impact that one product’s or service’s price will have
on the others.
ENTREP REVIEWER: MOD. 4 & 5
Bundle Pricing – The act of placing several products or services together in a single package and
selling for a lower price than would be charged if the items were sold separately.
Premium Pricing – Setting the price of a product higher than similar products. The goal is to
create the perception that the products must have a higher value than competing products
because the prices are higher.
Psychological pricing – is the practice of setting prices slightly lower than rounded numbers, in
the belief that customers do not round up these prices, and so will treat them as lower prices
than they really are. This practice is based on the belief that customers tend to process a price
from the left-most digit to the right, and so will tend to ignore the last few digits of a price.
Optional Pricing – The company earns more through cross-selling products along with a
Basic core product. The main product does not have many features (and is priced low) which can
be enhanced through optional or accessory products which are sold at premium by the same
company.
Cost Plus Pricing – involves adding a markup to the cost of goods and services to arrive at a
selling price. Under this approach, you add together the direct material cost, direct labor cost,
and overhead costs for a product, and add to it a markup percentage in order to derive the price
of the product.
Cost Based Pricing – A pricing method in which a fixed sum or a percentage of the total cost is
Added (as income or profit to the cost of the product to arrive at its selling price.
Value Based Pricing – A price-setting strategy where prices are set primarily on consumers’
Perceived value of the product or service.