[M2: EXPLAIN THE LIMITATIONS OF MARKETING RESEARCH
USED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SELECTED
Zainab Hussain ORGANISATION’S MARKETING PLANS]
Businesses use primary research when they want to develop more products that are according
to their customers’ needs. But it can be seen as a very time consuming process as there has to be
surveys done and questions asked. Businesses don’t have enough time and financial resources
to question and research on the whole population so that is why they use sampling.
Sampling is a process that helps a business to ask a small number of people questions that they
think would match the total population in the best way. The population would be everyone in
the country but those who would be interest in buying a certain product. This is done so that
they can analyse the figures and make decisions according to that, which would all ultimately
benefit the business.
Firstly, the most obvious drawback of market research is the validity of the data that has been
received, as it may not always be reliable. For example, if H&M hire Mintel to do some research
for theme, there would not be 100% guarantee that the firm will give them good feedback. H&M
cannot entirely rely on this firm’s outcomes as there is no assurance that any of the results
would be honest or even trustworthy. The information that they present may be out of date or
just not as representative, so it’s not tailored for H&M’s purposes.
There are also many drawbacks that are linked with primary research, for example, if H&M
gather first-hand information it would turn out to be quite costly. H&M would have to buy
certain materials and pay people to carry out the actual research. Plus, they would have to
recruit someone to review and have a look at the data that has been collected and then end it
with a conclusion that would inform H&M about what they need to do. This entire process is
seen as very time consuming because every single thing has to be planned out thoroughly, and
that is why secondary research is seen to be an easier source of data.
If H&M use a questionnaire, sometimes those who are answering might not want to disappoint
the business and might say biased answers, just to please the business as they are being paid.
This can give H&M a false image as they will think that the customers are satisfied with the
products, but this wouldn’t entirely be true.
Secondary Research is the type of data that you get from another place, for example this could
be a bank report. An advantage of this would be that you don’t have to do the research by your
own self and it would have a range of information from a big group of people. A disadvantage for
this would be that it can cost a lot of money which would be a bad this for H&M because they
would want money going somewhere else. The data might be as specific for the intended
product and audience plus it could be seen as inaccurate and maybe it might not be up to date. If
H&M spend over £25,000 on their market research, then I would definitely suggest that H&M
should have a group of people in the market research department that can find information
from several different places so that it will make the information more accurate.
H&M need to make sure that they have the same, consistent questions so that they can ask a lot
of people the same question just to get a good view of the overall data. They also need to make
sure that all the information that is collected is accurate and up to data, which should cover a
wide range of people.
USED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SELECTED
Zainab Hussain ORGANISATION’S MARKETING PLANS]
Businesses use primary research when they want to develop more products that are according
to their customers’ needs. But it can be seen as a very time consuming process as there has to be
surveys done and questions asked. Businesses don’t have enough time and financial resources
to question and research on the whole population so that is why they use sampling.
Sampling is a process that helps a business to ask a small number of people questions that they
think would match the total population in the best way. The population would be everyone in
the country but those who would be interest in buying a certain product. This is done so that
they can analyse the figures and make decisions according to that, which would all ultimately
benefit the business.
Firstly, the most obvious drawback of market research is the validity of the data that has been
received, as it may not always be reliable. For example, if H&M hire Mintel to do some research
for theme, there would not be 100% guarantee that the firm will give them good feedback. H&M
cannot entirely rely on this firm’s outcomes as there is no assurance that any of the results
would be honest or even trustworthy. The information that they present may be out of date or
just not as representative, so it’s not tailored for H&M’s purposes.
There are also many drawbacks that are linked with primary research, for example, if H&M
gather first-hand information it would turn out to be quite costly. H&M would have to buy
certain materials and pay people to carry out the actual research. Plus, they would have to
recruit someone to review and have a look at the data that has been collected and then end it
with a conclusion that would inform H&M about what they need to do. This entire process is
seen as very time consuming because every single thing has to be planned out thoroughly, and
that is why secondary research is seen to be an easier source of data.
If H&M use a questionnaire, sometimes those who are answering might not want to disappoint
the business and might say biased answers, just to please the business as they are being paid.
This can give H&M a false image as they will think that the customers are satisfied with the
products, but this wouldn’t entirely be true.
Secondary Research is the type of data that you get from another place, for example this could
be a bank report. An advantage of this would be that you don’t have to do the research by your
own self and it would have a range of information from a big group of people. A disadvantage for
this would be that it can cost a lot of money which would be a bad this for H&M because they
would want money going somewhere else. The data might be as specific for the intended
product and audience plus it could be seen as inaccurate and maybe it might not be up to date. If
H&M spend over £25,000 on their market research, then I would definitely suggest that H&M
should have a group of people in the market research department that can find information
from several different places so that it will make the information more accurate.
H&M need to make sure that they have the same, consistent questions so that they can ask a lot
of people the same question just to get a good view of the overall data. They also need to make
sure that all the information that is collected is accurate and up to data, which should cover a
wide range of people.
