M1
Website Monitoring (Understand Customer Behavior):
Most if not all businesses will have some kind of online presences that aides them and their
consumers in some way. This could be in that they make browsing and buying products easier for the
consumers and that the business itself gets a better idea of what the consumers want. This can be
done through a method such as website monitoring. Website monitoring is a piece of software a
business can use to analyze the activity on their website. This will give them information such as
what customers are clicking on, where they spend the majority of their time on the website and
what products they’re buying. Website monitoring is a secondary market research method so the
data may not always be accurate but nevertheless it provides valuable insight into consumer activity.
The data gathered through website monitoring can be used to stock more of what consumers are
buying, and to advertise the most sold products.
EPOS (Buying Patterns):
EPOS stands for Electronic Point of Sale and is simply the hardware used by stores to check out
products. EPOS systems can be used in a multitude of different businesses varying from small
takeaways to high end supermarkets. EPOS is a valuable method to identify buying patterns because
whenever a product is checked put through the system, it is identified and stored for the managers
or higher ups to analyze later on. Analysis of this data can tell business owners what products are
selling the most and can sometimes be indicators of new or upcoming sales trends. Identifying sales
trends early gives the business an advantage as they have more time to prepare and stock the items
that are in trend. Also, EPOS is a primary research method which means it is largely accurate.
Surveys (Preferences):
Not all consumers are the same, they will all have different preferences, opinions and experiences
that differ from each other in some way. A business can get ahead of its competition if it can easily
and accurately identify the preferences of their target market, this will give them insight into what
products the customer prefer, what they like and dislike about the company, as well a many others. A
primary research method that can be used to identify consumer preferences is surveys. Surveys can
be conducted either through the post or face-to-face, although face-to-face usually has a higher
response rate and provides more accurate data. These surveys can have questions that relate to what
customers like about the company, as well as what they don’t, it can also include specific questions
about certain products and how they think it can be improved. Surveys are a good method to use
because it is not necessary to wait for the data to be readable, instead this can be done straight away
by simply looking at the answers provided. Unfortunately, surveys can be quite time consuming and
are pretty costly if they don’t pay off.
Surveys (Satisfaction):
If a business really wishes to make it big, they have to consider their customers and their level of
satisfaction, without doing this, they may remain ignorant to practices or inadequate services that
are providing low levels of customer satisfaction. This then leads to less consumer interest and lower
overall income from sales. A business can use surveys to identify the levels of consumer satisfaction
through a series of questions that ask them to talk about previous experiences etc. Surveys are an
effective method of measuring customer satisfaction because they are able to ask specific questions
that relate to the business and can be sent to the public via post as well as face-to-face.
Website Monitoring (Understand Customer Behavior):
Most if not all businesses will have some kind of online presences that aides them and their
consumers in some way. This could be in that they make browsing and buying products easier for the
consumers and that the business itself gets a better idea of what the consumers want. This can be
done through a method such as website monitoring. Website monitoring is a piece of software a
business can use to analyze the activity on their website. This will give them information such as
what customers are clicking on, where they spend the majority of their time on the website and
what products they’re buying. Website monitoring is a secondary market research method so the
data may not always be accurate but nevertheless it provides valuable insight into consumer activity.
The data gathered through website monitoring can be used to stock more of what consumers are
buying, and to advertise the most sold products.
EPOS (Buying Patterns):
EPOS stands for Electronic Point of Sale and is simply the hardware used by stores to check out
products. EPOS systems can be used in a multitude of different businesses varying from small
takeaways to high end supermarkets. EPOS is a valuable method to identify buying patterns because
whenever a product is checked put through the system, it is identified and stored for the managers
or higher ups to analyze later on. Analysis of this data can tell business owners what products are
selling the most and can sometimes be indicators of new or upcoming sales trends. Identifying sales
trends early gives the business an advantage as they have more time to prepare and stock the items
that are in trend. Also, EPOS is a primary research method which means it is largely accurate.
Surveys (Preferences):
Not all consumers are the same, they will all have different preferences, opinions and experiences
that differ from each other in some way. A business can get ahead of its competition if it can easily
and accurately identify the preferences of their target market, this will give them insight into what
products the customer prefer, what they like and dislike about the company, as well a many others. A
primary research method that can be used to identify consumer preferences is surveys. Surveys can
be conducted either through the post or face-to-face, although face-to-face usually has a higher
response rate and provides more accurate data. These surveys can have questions that relate to what
customers like about the company, as well as what they don’t, it can also include specific questions
about certain products and how they think it can be improved. Surveys are a good method to use
because it is not necessary to wait for the data to be readable, instead this can be done straight away
by simply looking at the answers provided. Unfortunately, surveys can be quite time consuming and
are pretty costly if they don’t pay off.
Surveys (Satisfaction):
If a business really wishes to make it big, they have to consider their customers and their level of
satisfaction, without doing this, they may remain ignorant to practices or inadequate services that
are providing low levels of customer satisfaction. This then leads to less consumer interest and lower
overall income from sales. A business can use surveys to identify the levels of consumer satisfaction
through a series of questions that ask them to talk about previous experiences etc. Surveys are an
effective method of measuring customer satisfaction because they are able to ask specific questions
that relate to the business and can be sent to the public via post as well as face-to-face.
