A target market is officially defined as “a particular group of consumers at which a product or service
is aimed” this means that my target market will be whoever I aim my service towards, however, due
to the service my business provides, my target market is likely to include almost everyone. Despite
this, there will be certain demographics that I aim my advertising at, such as young people and those
with large amounts of disposable income.
My business will be available to everyone in an effort to maximise profits, although I will also attempt
to attract those with specific traits. One of these could be individuals aged 18-45, or individuals who
are interested in tech. Also, our advertising may be biased towards singles as opposed to married
couples.
In order to identify my target market, there are several sources I can use which may vary in reliability.
These sources come in the form of primary and secondary market research. Primary market research
is defined as “Data collected from its source and generally gathered by a business for its own specific
purposes” Primary market research tends to take the raw data such as information collected through
focus groups or surveys, and interpret the data for a variety of business purposes. The opposite of
this, secondary market research, is defined as “The gathering and analysing of data that was
previously collected to serve a purpose other than the current reason for the research”.
Primary market research is generally considered to be the more reliable of the two, this is because its
gathered directly by the business or a market research company and is tailored to the business.
Secondary market research is considered less reliable because it is second hand data that has been
collected for a different reason, this means it is regularly out of date or inaccurate.
Sales Forecasting is the process of estimating what your business’s sales are going to be in the future.
A sales forecast period can be monthly, quarterly, half-annually, or annually. Methods in which a
business such as mine can forecast its sales include using a regression analysis, a length of sales cycle
and opportunity stage forecasting.
My competition will vary depending on where I set up my business, for example, if I set my business
up in an area where there are many barbershops then I will have more competition and will have to
work harder to attract customers. One of the strengths of my competition is that they have been in
the business longer, so will have already attracted customers who are loyal to that shop, this means it
is unlikely I would be able their steal their customers.
In my current market, which is nearly everyone, I will have to keep an eye out for trends. I can then
use these trends to attract their attention and increase profits for my business. One trend I could use
at the moment is Christmas. I can do this by decorating both the interior and exterior of the store to
make it look appealing.
The only environmental issues I will have to be wary about are where I set up my business. If I set up
my business in an area where there is a large amount of disposable income then my target market is
likely to change to meet these needs. However, if I am in an area with a low amount of disposable
income then I will have to change my prices to meet the demand of my target market.