Scope of Marketing Research (MR) - Branches / Areas of MR

Branches / Areas / Scope of Marketing Research

The scope of marketing research is very wide and comprehensive. It includes

1. Product Research

Product means the goods and services which are sold to the consumers. It includes consumer products and industrial products. Product research studies the individual product. It studies the making and marketing of the product. It studies the colour, size, shape, quality, packaging, brand name and price of the product. It also deals with product modification, product innovation, product life cycle, etc. The product is modified (changed) as per the needs and wants of the consumers. Therefore, the product will not fail in the market.

2. Consumer Research

Consumer is the person who purchases the goods and services. The consumer is the king in the market. Consumer research studies consumer behaviour. It studies the consumers needs, wants, likes, dislikes, attitude, age, sex, income, location; buying motives, etc. This data is used to take decisions about the product, its price, place and promotion.

3. Packaging Research

Packaging research is a part of product research. It studies the package of the product. It improves the quality of the package. It makes the package more attractive. It makes the package more convenient for the consumers. It reduces the cost of packaging. It selects a suitable method for packaging. It also selects suitable packaging material.

4. Pricing Research

Pricing Research studies the pricing of the product. It selects a suitable method of pricing. It fixes the price for the product. It compares the companies price with the competitor's price. It also fixes the discount and commission which are given to middlemen. It studies the market price trends. It also studies the future price trends.

5. Advertising Research

Advertising research studies the advertising of the product. It fixes the advertising objectives. It also fixes the advertising budget. It decides about the advertising message, layout, copy, slogan, headline, etc. It selects a suitable media for advertising. It also evaluates the effectiveness of advertising and other sales promotion techniques.

6. Sales Research

Sales research studies the selling activities of the company. It studies the sales outlets, sales territories, sales forecasting, sales trends, sales methods, effectiveness of the sales force, etc.

7. Distribution Research

Distribution research studies the channels of distribution. It selects a suitable channel for the product. It fixes the channel objectives. It identifies the channel functions like storage, grading, etc. It evaluates the competitor's channel.

8. Policy Research

Policy research studies the company's policies. It evaluates the effectiveness of the marketing policies, sales policies, distribution policies, pricing policies, inventory policies, etc. Necessary changes, if any, are made in these policies.

9. International Marketing Research

International marketing research studies the foreign market. It collects data about consumers from foreign countries. It collects data about the economic and political situation of different countries. It also collects data about the foreign competitors. This data is very useful for the exporters.

10. Motivation Research

Motivation research studies consumers' buying motives. It studies those factors that motivate consumers to buy a product. It mainly finds out, Why the consumers buy the product? It also finds out the causes of consumer behaviour in the market.

11. Market Research

Market research studies the markets, market competition, market trends, etc. It also does sales forecasting. It estimates the demand for new products. It fixes the sales territories and sales quotas.

12. Media Research

Media research studies various advertising media. The different advertising media are television (TV), radio, newspapers, magazines, the internet, etc. Media research studies the merits and demerits of each media. It selects a suitable media for advertising. It does media planning. It also studies media cost. It helps in sales promotion and to avoid wastage in advertising.