Unit 10 - P3/M2 Kojar Ahmed
In this report, I will be talking about what market research methods I will use to determine what 40
or so students at The Cheadle College think of the bottled water industry. I have been asked by a
market research agency to implement various primary and secondary market research methods in
order to get my results, for this report I will be using a questionnaire as my primary method and the
internet as my secondary market research method. By using the internet, I will find out things such as
data records, company reports and sales figures.
A market research agency has asked me to conduct market research that may help them identify
consumer needs, as well as competitor activities and how aware the public is to brands. I will find out
information about these by using a questionnaire and asking students at The Cheadle College what
they think of bottled water, their preferred brands and maybe how often they purchase bottled
water. The data I gather from this market research, whether it be quantitative or qualitative, will be
used by the market research agency to help their client develop a new product, one that will meet
the demand of the market and will address any issues highlighted during the market research
procedure. This new product will be aimed towards that company’s general target market and will
help in attracting new customers which may have previously been using a competitor’s product.
The market research methods I will use are separated into two different categories; primary and
secondary. Primary market research is the more accurate of the two, with it being gathered directly
by the business and being relevant at the time it was gathered. Primary market research is probably
the more useful of the two as well and may provide better results, although it can be slightly more
expensive than using secondary market research methods. The primary market research method I
will use is a questionnaire. This questionnaire will contain questions about the business we are
conducting market research for and will attempt to gain an understanding of how consumers
generally feel about the product, the majority of this market research may be conducted at The
Cheadle College’s reception in order to hand it out to as many people as possible.
The secondary market research method I will use is the internet. The internet has long been a tool
used by businesses to conduct secondary market research as it is easy to use and takes very little
time or effort. I will use the internet to look up competitors and their activities, as well as identify
their data records, company reports and sales figures. Because the internet is a secondary market
research method I may have difficulty finding information that is up to date or accurate, meaning my
results may not be 100% accurate.
Before I conduct any actual research, I must set up certain objectives that need to be met before I
can compile any data. First and foremost, I need to understand consumer behaviour and why or what
influences their decision to buy one product over another, I can understand this using my primary
market research method which is a questionnaire. A questionnaire would be a good method to use
for this because it can specifically ask the consumer why they choose a product, this will provide
accurate results based on which option they choose. It will also be tailored to the product the market
research is about and can ask the consumer whether they will ever consider buying the product or
whether they have purchased it in the past. One major key point that can be gathered by using a
questionnaire is what a product needs to have in order to attract the consumer, this will help the
business model their new product on this data.
I can also use a questionnaire to help identify buying patterns and any preferences a consumer may
have in terms of what they are looking for when purchasing bottled water. This method of market
research can contain questions that include the names of competitors like Evian and Buxton and ask
the consumer to pick which brand they are likely to choose, this helps identify which brands look
more appealing to consumers, and whether it be the look of the product or the product itself that