Marketing Research:

Secondary and Primary Dr Melanie Xue

Research [email protected]
March 2021

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Part 2

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Secondary Research

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Secondary Research
Secondary research is also know as ‘desk research’. That is
because it can be conducted at a desk.

Secondary data is historical in nature and already somewhat

assembled or published.

Before conducting primary research, organisation should ask

themselves is there information already available on the topic
I want to look at? In other words, they should see if others
have studied a topic and if there is a need for them to
conduct primary research.
A Classification of Secondary Data
Further read on:
Secondary data is historical in nature Chapter 4 in Malhotra et al (2017)
Secondary Chapter 3 in Wilson (2011)
and already assembled or published. Data Chapter 3 in Kent (2006)
See reference list

External (published)
Internal

Customer
Databases Syndicated
Services
Social Media

Data Warehousing Government

& Data Mining
CRM & Business/
Database Marketing Nongovernment

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 Example of Secondary Data for the specific RQ
(Using Trend Reports)

http://reports.mintel.com/static/trends/documents/European_Consumer_Trends.pdf

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 External Secondary Data
Data sourced from outside the orgnisation
Government:
E.g. Census of Population report and other data
Office for National Statistics (UK)
National Bureau of Statistics (China)

Business/non-government:
Marketing research reports produced by regulatory bodies,
trade associations, academia and research institutions e.g.
world bank, WARC (world advertising research centre)
Databases e.g. Euromonitors; Business Source Complete (
http://lancaster.libguides.com/az.php?q=business)
News, journals, magazines
Internet: e.g. Google analytics; social media
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG5xBwbje1E

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Where to get data on the Chinese leisure, sports
and fitness market?
Google – News, trends, updates, reports etc. (not the best!)

Government - http://www.stats.gov.cn/

Databases such as Statista – Statistics on demographics, brands, market share etc.; Mintel; MarketLine
Advantage, Global Market Information Databases etc…

Marketing Publications (trade journals/websites) – Adweek, Advertising Age, Brand republic, Marketing
Week

Your own observations – social media, internet forums, google reviews etc.
Syndicated Services
Syndicated services are companies that collect and
sell common pools of data of known commercial
value designed to serve a number of clients
Include:
Surveys e.g. lifestyle, attitudes…
Purchase and media panels e.g. A.C.Nielsen
Homescan; Kantar World Panel; Gfk Behaviorscan

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How Purchase Panels Work?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_5RQyzUZ4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3arbFvSjvQ
https://www.nielsen.com/uk/en/solutions/capabilities/consumer-panels.html

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 Internal Secondary Data
Data within the organization: data about the customers, the customers’ buying
behaviour and the performance of the organization
Customer Databases: basic historical information containing names, addresses, products
purchased, dates of visits, frequency of visits
CRM and database marketing:
 When data is mined and refined this can inform customer relationship management
practices e.g. sending offers to customers e.g. sending discounts on nappies to those
that are buying baby products.
Data warehousing and data mining:
 Data gathered from disparate sources are converted into consistent format and in one
location
 Data mining: powerful computers and software finding patterns in these data
 Data then can be ‘mined’ to identify
o e.g. what products are sold best next to other products? What promotional offers should be given to
which customers? Read: Kent, 2006, p72-76 & Wilson, 2011, p51
Zara and Fast Fashion – Using internal sources
World’s largest clothing retailer

Two weeks to develop and manufacture a new design –

compared to the fashion industry standard of 6 months

Launches over 10,000 new designs each year

Only holds a limited amount of inventory – 6 days worth of

stock

Technology, in-store and online key to their production

choices

‘The most innovative and devastating retailer in the world’ -

Daniel Piette
Benefits and limitations
of Secondary Data

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 Benefits of Secondary Data
Save cost; less expensive to obtain
Time efficient; faster
Easily accessible
Provide high-quality data e.g. Annual Employment Data (www.statistics.gov.uk)
Provide data that an organisation would not be able to collect alone e.g. Population census;
government spending, export figures etc.
Often informs primary data collection; helps interpret primary data with more insights; offers
broader picture of the context (e.g. price sensitivity is explained by age in takeaway pizzas)
Provide a source of comparative data to check on reliability of primary data (e.g. whether the
primary data collected is realistic)
Assist in research design, highlighting aspects such as who to interview, where to interview (e.g. 16-19
years old representing 79% of customers; social media might be a good place to conduct research?)
NOTE: “Examination of available secondary data is a prerequisite to the collection of primary data”.

Source: Malhotra et al (2017); Wilson (2011)

Limitations of Secondary Data
May have limited application/relevance to the problem at hand – ‘a poor fit’
o Philip wishes to know the number of mobile phones sold in China but secondary sources only
publish the total value of mobile phone market in China
The objectives, nature and methods used to collect the data may not be appropriate to the
present situation – non-specific!
o If China Airline wishes to evaluate attitudes towards a new seat design, there might not be
specific secondary data which will provide such information but some general information
about aircraft seats
May lack accuracy: timeliness or dependability may not be known.
o When and how were the data collected? Might be biased.

Source: Wilson (2011); Malhotra et al (2017)

Move onto Part 3

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