Comprehensive analysis and forecasting of commodity markets by marketing methods. Test tasks in the discipline Methods for identifying demand at the stage of market research

To get started, release new products, maintain stable demand, increase sales, an enterprise needs information about the business environment, competitors and consumers. The purpose of market research is to obtain as complete information as possible about the subjects and objects of the market, external factors and trends for decision-making in the field of production and sale.

What areas does market analysis include

To make a decision on the possibility of entering the market of goods or services, a detailed market research is necessary:

  1. Determining its type.
  2. The study
  3. Analysis of the conjuncture.
  4. Selection of target segments.
  5. Positioning.
  6. Forecast of sales volumes.

If the market entry has already taken place, the enterprise is operating successfully and making a profit, regular market research is still necessary. It may be incomplete, and include only information that is of interest at the moment, which will allow you to maintain and strengthen your position, to foresee possible changes in demand.

Determining the type of market and its structure

At the very beginning of research or products, you need to decide on the type of market:

  • local, national or global;
  • monopolistic, oligopolistic, with free competition;
  • market of goods, services, raw materials, labor, capital, innovations, securities;
  • wholesale or retail.
  • consumer or producer market; in the first case, the position of buyers is stronger than that of sellers, in the second - vice versa;
  • market of consumers or enterprises (buyers are firms);
  • closed or open.

In addition to defining the type of market, it is also necessary to characterize it. The market may be developing or fading, limited by legal regulations or economic conditions.

The next step is to identify the division of consumers into segments, to study the needs of individual groups. Market research at this stage aims to prepare information to identify the most attractive segments for a particular product or service.

Market Analysis

Research of the market of goods (services) necessarily includes the study of the conjuncture. This work consists in defining and analyzing:

  • market indicators;
  • market shares occupied by different enterprises;
  • indicators of demand for a product or service;
  • indicators of supply, production;
  • pricing.

Assessment of the market situation is not limited to the study of the internal features of the market. It is important for marketing to determine how conditions will change. Therefore, market research includes an analysis of external factors: the political, economic, cultural, social situation in the country, global trends in similar markets, new technologies, the state of the labor market, and the legal framework.

It is extremely difficult to assess the influence of external factors and their intensity. To do this, it is necessary to determine a set of the most important indicators and consider their impact on the market under study.

Identification of target segments

After conducting and studying its conjuncture, the time comes to select target consumer groups. To determine the attractiveness of a particular segment, there are such criteria:

  • intensity of competition;
  • ease, accessibility of attracting customers;
  • possibility of influence;
  • segment size;
  • similarity of consumers from this group;
  • the growth rate of the number of representatives of the segment.

There can be several target segments. Each company strives to increase sales, but there is a limit to the possibilities. To determine the optimal number of segments that an enterprise can serve, two methods of market development are used:

  1. The concentrated method implies a phased development of segments.
  2. The dispersed method consists in an attempt to master the entire market of a product or service and further rejection of unpromising segments.

Market research involves regular analysis of developed segments, potential customers already interested in the product and undeveloped "territories".

Positioning

The study allows you to determine what competitive advantages a given product or service has or may have. Positioning means finding your place in a market that already has similar or similar products.

Research, analysis and the most professional marketing will not help to make the product more attractive in the eyes of the consumer if it does not satisfy their needs. And they grow and change, so it is necessary to respond to these changes in time, to ensure that the competitiveness of the product on the market does not decrease.

Positioning can go in one of two directions:

  • filling a market niche, the needs of which are not satisfied by competitors;
  • entering the market with the same or very close to one of the competitors' advantages.

Sales Forecast

The study of commodity markets will be incomplete without determining the forecast indicators for the development of the market and a particular enterprise. It is the forecast that is the guideline for decision making. The needs and desires of consumers, the entry of new products on the market, the actions of competitors, external factors - all this is in constant motion and changes the conditions on the market.

If a forecast is not made in time and appropriate decisions are not made, then market research will become useless. In the long term and in business planning, 3 forecasts are made at once: optimistic, most probable and pessimistic. For a complete picture, you can study the influence of certain factors on forecast indicators. For example, if you strengthen the sales system, how much money and time will be needed for this and how it will help increase sales and profits.

The sales volume forecast is the final stage of market research and helps to properly organize financial flows, manufacturing process, marketing activities.

Topic: "Marketing Research"

1. The systematic collection and analysis of data on problems related to the marketing of goods and services is called:

1) panel;

2) hypothesis;

3) marketing research;

4) random sampling;

5) non-random sampling.

2. To specify the problem and formulate on its basis the goals and objectives of marketing research, enterprises use:

1) exploratory research;

2) descriptive research;

3) primary research;

4) empirical research;

5) casual research.

1) survey data;

2) experimental data;

3) primary data;

4) external secondary data;

5) internal secondary data.

4. The marketing manager of an insurance company should not include in the section essential information to develop an effective campaign to promote a new insurance service for individual clients, the following:

2) consumer requirements for new types of services;

3) the number of phone calls to customers on the offer of the company's services;

4) the number of customer orders received by insurance agents;

5) all of the above is important.

5. New facts and figures that are collected specifically for the research project are called:

1) survey data;

2) factors for decision making;

3) research data;

4) secondary data;

5) primary data.

6. Poll cannot be conducted:

1) by phone;

2) by observation;

3) individually;

4) by mail;

5) via the Internet.

7. The company conducts an experiment to determine how much a new product offered to the market can increase sales. In this case, the sales volume is:

1) dependent variable;

2) independent variable;

3) the object of research;

4) control group;

5) experimental group.

8. Market conditions cannot be defined as:

1) a certain relationship between supply and demand, both for individual goods and their groups, and for commodity and money supply in general in the market or in its segment;

2) socio-economic, trade-organizational and other conditions for the sale of goods that develop in a certain period of time and in a specific place;

3) the result of the interaction of factors and conditions that determine the structure, dynamics and correlation of demand, supply and prices for goods and services;

4) the most favorable conditions for the manufacturer for the sale of goods of a certain group in a specific place and in a given period of time;

5) a set of factors and parameters that characterize the current state of the economy in the current period.

9. The market is being studied in order to:

1) successfully enter the competition;

2) reducing the risk of not selling products;

3) take advantage of the favorable market conditions;

4) developing tactics for the company's behavior by choosing from a variety of potential markets those that may be priority for the enterprise and its products, where commercial success can be achieved more effectively;

5) All of the above are correct.

10. The study of the activities of competitors is carried out in order to:

1) follow successful competitors: produce the same products, use the same strategy, etc.

2) avoid competition by producing products that are different from those of a competitor and developing their own strategy;

3) navigate in matters of prices for goods;

4) be competitive in the new market;

5) identify unmet customer needs.

11. The database "Business Panorama", which contains data on more than 36 thousand enterprises in the CIS, is an example:

1) internal secondary data;

2) survey data;

3) external secondary data;

4) experimental data;

5) primary data.

12. What type of question is this: “Please mark your gender: _male, female”?

1) open;

2) multivariant;

3) Leikert scale;

4) dichotomous;

5) none of the above.

13.Laboratory experiments differ from field experiments:

1) manipulation with dependent and independent variables;

2) cost;

3) representativeness of the obtained data;

4) the possibility of control over each stage of the experiment;

5) different environment in which the experiment is being performed.

14. A research method that involves multiple surveys of an interested group of buyers or monitoring the development of sales in a certain group of trade enterprises at regular intervals is called:

1) panel;

2) hypothesis;

3) marketing research;

4) random sampling;

5) focus group.

15. The study of the distribution system is carried out within the framework of:

1) studying consumer behavior;

4) market research;

5) analysis of production costs and profits.

16. Objectivity, as the principle of conducting marketing research, is:

1) the clarity of setting research objectives, the unambiguity of their understanding and interpretation, as well as the choice of research tools that provide the necessary reliability of the research results;

2) detailed planning of each stage of the study, high quality of all research operations, achieved due to the high level of professionalism and responsibility of the research team, as well as an effective system for monitoring its work;

3) the need to take into account all factors and the inadmissibility of accepting a certain point of view until the analysis of all the information collected is completed.

17. The way to communicate with the audience during the experiment is:

1) Internet;

3) telephone;

4) telefax;

5) personal contact.

18. The method of collecting information by establishing contacts with the objects of study is called:

2) imitation;

3) experiment;

4) observation;

5) panel.

19. The advantage of the experiment is:

1) exclusion of distortions caused by the contacts of objects with researchers;

2) its simplicity and, consequently, relative cheapness;

3) the ability to quickly analyze a variety of options for marketing actions and choose the best one on this basis;

5) practically unlimited scope of its possible application.

20. The disadvantage of imitation is:

1) does not allow to unambiguously establish the internal motives of the behavior of objects of observation and the processes of their decision-making;

2) the complexity and laboriousness of creating the model itself;

3) relatively large labor intensity and significant costs for the study;

4) requires qualified performers and large financial costs;

5) the difficulty of reproducing the normal behavior of a socio-economic object in laboratory conditions.

21. Marketing research is:

1) the same as "market research";

2) a permanent system for collecting, classifying, analyzing, evaluating and disseminating marketing information;

3) systematic collection and analysis of data on problems related to the marketing of goods and services;

22. Secondary data in marketing is:

1) verified information;

2) secondary information;

3) information received from outside sources;

4) information from external sources or own information originally obtained for other purposes;

5) none of the above.

23. What type of question is this: “What is your attitude to sweet corn flakes?”:

1) open question;

2) a question with fixed alternatives;

3) dichotomous question;

4) semantic differential scale;

5) Leikert scale.

24. The advantage of observation is:

1) its objective nature;

2) the ability to quickly analyze a variety of options for marketing actions and choose the best one on this basis;

3) practically unlimited scope of its possible application;

4) the possibility of establishing causal relationships between marketing factors and the behavior of the objects under study;

5) its simplicity and, consequently, relative cheapness.

25. The disadvantage of the survey is:

1) does not allow to unambiguously establish the internal motives of the behavior of buyers and their decision-making processes and, therefore, they can be misinterpreted by researchers;

2) relatively large labor intensity and significant costs for conducting, as well as a possible decrease in the accuracy of the information received;

3) requires qualified performers and large cash costs;

4) the difficulty of reproducing the normal behavior of a socio-economic object in laboratory conditions;

5) exclusion of distortions caused by the contacts of objects with researchers.

26. The principle of careful conduct of marketing research means:

1) the need to take into account all factors and the inadmissibility of accepting a certain point of view until the analysis of all the information collected is completed;

2) the clarity of setting research objectives, the unambiguity of their understanding and interpretation, as well as the choice of research tools that provide the necessary reliability of the research results;

3) detailed planning of each stage of the study, high quality of all research operations, achieved due to the high level of professionalism and responsibility of the research team, as well as an effective system for monitoring its work.

27. The analysis of sales volume is carried out within the framework of:

1) the study of consumer behavior;

2) diagnostics of the firm's microenvironment;

3) analysis of the competitive environment;

4) analysis of production costs and profits.

28. The method of collecting information, which provides for the establishment by researchers of control over all factors affecting the functioning of these objects, is called:

2) imitation;

3) experiment;

4) observation;

5) panel.

29. What method of complex market research is the study of various kinds of reference books and statistical literature?

1) desk research;

2) extracurricular research;

3) field research;

4) direct research;

5) indirect research.

30. Analyzing competition, the company must assess the likelihood of new companies entering the market. The appearance of an additional manufacturer on the market contributes to:

1) a decrease in the productivity of the industry and leads to lower prices;

2) a decrease in the productivity of the industry and leads to an increase in prices;

3) an increase in the decrease in the productivity of the industry and leads to an increase in prices;

4) an increase in the productivity of the industry and leads to lower prices;

5) supporting industry productivity and stabilizing prices.

Test answers.


Quizzes - Marketing research with answers - 4.3 out of 5 based on 14 votes

The world's leading brands invest large sums in marketing research, the results of which largely influence the adoption of key management decisions. The cost of such studies starts from 60,000 rubles and more - cosmic sums, especially for small businesses. However, knowing how to analyze the market, you can extract key information yourself.

Kinds

First of all, you need to clearly define goals. The subject of research depends on what kind of information you want to receive. The main structural components of the market analyzed by the entrepreneur are:

  • state of the market (capacity, conjuncture, trends, reaction to new products);
  • share of different companies in the market, their opportunities and prospects;
  • target segments, their behavior and requirements for the product, the level of demand;
  • the price level and rate of return in the industry;
  • free niches in which you can do business;
  • competitors, their strengths and weaknesses.

Speaking about how to analyze the market correctly, it is worth emphasizing that a specific, understandable goal allows you to reduce costs, not waste time processing useless information and immediately choose the most effective methods research.

General market analysis plan

Comprehensive marketing research is usually carried out at the stage of starting or expanding a business. Its goal is to collect as detailed and comprehensive information about a particular niche as possible. How to analyze the market?

Stage 1: Gathering basic information

The "starting point" in conducting a comprehensive analysis is Market Research (actually, studying the market and its prospects). Ideally, it is necessary to analyze the information for the last 3-5 years.

The key indicator here is market capacity. In simple terms, this is the amount of goods that consumers can buy in a certain period of time - a month or a year. For calculations, the formula is used:

V=A×N

where: V is the size of the market, A is the size of the target audience (thousand people), N is the rate of product consumption for the period.

Based on this indicator, it is calculated what maximum level of sales a company can achieve in a given region.

The next criterion to pay attention to is the level of demand. It is important to take into account the dynamics of the market, whether it is developing or, on the contrary, declining. In the first case, it is necessary to determine its potential and the boundaries of growth, and at the stage of stagnation, to understand how long this will continue.

In addition, they study the factors affecting the market, the share of key competitors in the total sales volume, and the ways of selling products.

Based on the data obtained, it is necessary to identify the main trends and directions of development, as well as analyze the market prospects - what consumers are choosing now and how their preferences may change in the foreseeable future.

Tip: Up-to-date statistics and research results of individual markets in the international and national levels can be found in trade journals and economic reports.

Stage 2: Identification of target segments

So, we know the volume of the analyzed market as a whole. Now it is necessary to determine which groups of consumers bring the company the main profit, what unites them. Different criteria are used to segment the audience - gender, age, profession, income level, social status, interests, etc. Depending on the priorities, the significance of individual factors may differ.

To decide which segments to focus on in the first place, they additionally analyze:

  • volume of each segment (number of potential customers);
  • geographical location;
  • availability of various consumer groups;
  • Estimated costs of time and finances to start the activity.

A competent choice of target audience in the future will save the entrepreneur from unnecessary costs and will allow directing resources to attract the most "profitable" buyers.

Stage 2: Study of external factors

Any market is constantly exposed to outside influences. Modern marketers identify 6 types of external factors that affect organizations:

  • political ( public policy in the areas of transport, employment, education, etc., taxes);
  • economic (inflation rate, loan interest rate);
  • social (population, worldview, level of education);
  • technological;
  • legal (laws regulating the creation and operation of enterprises);
  • ecological.

Some trends appear slowly, they are easy to predict - for example, back in the 70s, protection problems began to be discussed in society environment, and now eco-friendly business has become a global trend. At the same time, the economic situation can change at any moment, and it is simply impossible to say with certainty what will happen in 3-5-10 years.

Stage 4: Analysis of competitors

Speaking about how to learn how to analyze the market, special attention should be paid to the study of enterprises that are already operating in this industry. First of all, you need to learn as much as possible about the companies themselves and their capabilities:

  • technologies that are used in the production of goods and services;
  • availability of patents and unique technological advantages;
  • staff qualification level;
  • access to limited, scarce resources;
  • opportunity for additional investment.

The next step is to study the products and services of competitors. It is necessary to evaluate "through the eyes of the consumer", taking into account both rational and emotional factors.

It remains to systematize the data and objectively compare the main market players. For convenience, we suggest using a simple template.

By filling out the table, you will get a basic understanding of the main market players and their activities, as well as be able to compare their performance with your own.

Stage 5: Price Analysis

To see the full picture, it is necessary to break down all market players into price segments - economy, premium, etc. It is also important to understand the price structure (cost, promotion and advertising costs, margin) and approximately calculate the profit from each sale.

It is aimed at identifying the characteristics of representatives of the target audience of a commercial offer. This type of research may have much in common with or differ from marketing analysis. This depends on whether the market research needs to address the marketing processes already applied to it or to predict the reaction of market representatives to the possible use of a particular marketing strategy.

Main tasks and methods for their solution

The main objective of the study is to identify the characteristics of consumers. It should answer questions about what they want and trust, what they need and what they can do without. Today, the most important criterion has also become the solvency of representatives of those groups of the population that can become consumers.

During practical work first of all, prices for goods that fully or partially correspond to the customer's product range are examined. Various periods are analyzed, their characteristic features are revealed. For example, the very fact that people bought something at a certain price during the year may not make any sense if a new round of the economic crisis led to the bankruptcy of a number of city-forming enterprises. Market representatives will certainly be segmented. Groups are distinguished, united by common characteristics - gender, age, estimated income, geolocation, or attitude to some risk group.

The most difficult process is identifying market trends. It is for this reason that market analysis can use some marketing tools. They can be trial sales or sociological surveys.

Stages of the study

Specific methods of work are directly related to the original goal. In the event of a new business for the region, they are guided by the search for answers to the main questions.

  • whether the commercial offer will be in steady demand;
  • what price range is acceptable;
  • what business development strategy can be the most promising;
  • what risks should be taken into account.

When looking for answers to these questions, you need to understand that any useful product or service will sooner or later find its consumer. The problem is what profitability will the company offer them to the public.

If the study is conducted for an existing business

Not always the need for the work of market analysts arises at the time of opening a new enterprise. Sometimes companies that have been operating for more than a year also face situations related to the need to re-examine the characteristics of their market. Most often this is due to the fact that some obvious problems have arisen. They may be:

  • demand for a product that turned out to be lower than predicted;
  • lack of certainty in the competitive position of the company;
  • insufficiently clear understanding of the social portrait of their consumers;
  • search for a method to reduce costs.

In some cases, market analysis may be included in the structure of anti-crisis measures. In any case, it's complicated research work, which should be completely transparent for customers and culminate in the preparation of a package of proposals for the formation of the most effective business development strategy.

Market analysis refers to the collection, collation and analysis of numerical indicators relating to the market and sales. In this way, the sales situation in the past becomes clear and current market trends and problems are identified. The goal is to develop a marketing policy for the coming period.

Market analysis is a tool for preliminary assessment of problems and verification of the position of the enterprise in the market in accordance with its type of business.

Entering the market with a new product is always risky. To obtain real income from the future enterprise, to achieve maximum efficiency, it is necessary to analyze the current market situation. The results of such an analysis will help to accurately form a set of necessary actions, conduct an analysis of competition.

The tasks of this market analysis include:

market and predictive market research;

determination of the market capacity and/or its individual segments;

studying competitors and their strategies;

Study of the possible reaction of buyers and competitors to the introduction of a new product.

Market analysis begins with preparing a detailed assessment of the existing capacity and potential of the market, or the maximum possible demand of the entire market. The second step of market analysis is forecasting the development of future market volume. This is the basis for deciding on the actual or perceived market share of the enterprise. The indication of the market share provides the basis for sales volume planning and therefore for the production program. Market analysis helps entrepreneurs avoid many mistakes and answer questions that arise during the analysis.

Questions can be divided into the following categories:

  • - type of goods, i.e. its physical and chemical characteristics, where it is used, how it is manufactured;
  • - the nature of the market: how big is this industry, what it is, where the bulk of buyers are concentrated;
  • - the size of the market and its prospects, namely, how many products can be sold annually, how many products have been sold annually in recent years, what factors affect the prospects of this market;
  • - pricing: how prices have changed for last years what affects prices, what can affect these prices in the future;
  • - production, i.e. what specifications this product should meet, what should be the packaging of the product, what patent rights must be purchased;
  • - competition - who is the competitor, where they are located, what is their production capacity, what is their strength or weakness;
  • - marketing: through what channels goods are sold, how much of each dollar of working capital is spent on advertising, sales promotion, personal (personal) selling and service.

This set of questions mainly concerns producers of goods, but it can be applied, with a little modification, to the service sector, retail or wholesale trade, and so on.

Market research and analysis can also be defined as a set of actions aimed at studying the processes taking place in the sphere of commodity circulation and designed to ensure a balance in the production and consumption of goods. Despite all the variety of market research, all of them can be divided into targeted and current, due to the regularity of their conduct.

Case studies - a comprehensive analysis of a market problem that is of paramount importance for ensuring effective entrepreneurial activity. They, as a rule, are strictly individual and focused on solving specific problems of the company. To carry out such research, a special working group is created, which, along with the employees of the company, also includes invited experts. The composition of such groups depends on the nature and extent of the problem being solved.

In contrast to targeted ongoing research, most firms conduct fairly regularly. The results of such studies are used in operational work and their main purpose is to determine the current situation and make the necessary management decisions to ensure the balance of supply and demand.

Although the need for market research is generally recognized, the depth of research and its purpose depend on the specifics of the company's work and, above all, are determined by the specific tasks that it faces. In the process of complex market research, the directions of market research are determined.

Especially relevant for each firm is market research when it enters this market with a new product, as well as in the case when the company enters a new market with its product. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that if a certain market strategy is chosen as a new direction for the company, then at each phase of the development of production and sales, needs should be researched, taking into account their priority.

A typical market analysis process involves 4 steps:

  • - determination of the type of data required;
  • - search for this data;
  • - data analysis;
  • - implementation of measures that allow using this data for the benefit of the enterprise.