development of its marketing plans.
Describe how Taylor Wimpey uses market research to contribute to its
development plans
Market research is where a business collects information that is valuable to their development
in order to help them find out whether or not there is a market for their product or service.
The information collected then helps the business owner make wise and profitable business
decisions.
There are two types of research that can be conducted: Primary Research and Secondary
research which can then be made into qualitative or quantitative. Primary research is
data/information that has been collected by a business first-hand and has not been gathered
before.
Internal primary research could be Taylor Wimpey’s sales figures for the services they
provide. These collected sales figures can then be used to make huge decisions that can
impact Taylor Wimpey hugely. For example, if the sales figures show that Taylor Wimpey is
making a huge profit, they can make a decision upon whether or not they should expand the
business. Another source of internal primary research could be the data held of their
customers. This could be used by Taylor Wimpey in order to find out whether or not they
need to aim their marketing at a specific gender, age or location in order to increase their
customer base. External primary research could be questionnaires and surveys given out by
Taylor Wimpey to their customers in order to find out whether they need to develop in their
customer service department or develop in another area of their business. Another external
source of primary research could be focus groups. For example, Taylor Wimpey could ask a
specifically ‘chosen group’ of their clients on how their attitudes are to the service they
provide and also in how they market their services. These opinions from the focus group can
then be used by Taylor Wimpey in order to develop upon certain services such as marketing.
Another external source of primary research could be mystery shoppers. A mystery shopper
is an individual hired by Taylor Wimpey to go visit competitor’s businesses as a normal
customer and collect information such as the prices they have set or how customer-friendly
their staff are.
Secondary research uses data/information that has been previously collected either from
within the organisation (internal data) or by another organisation (external data).
External secondary research could be newspaper reports for example on competitors. This
research can then be used by Taylor Wimpey to somewhat determine competitor performance
and decide upon whether or not prices can be changed to be lower possibly because a
competitor with previously lower prices has just been reported in a newspaper article as going
bust. Another external source of research could be websites such as that of a competitor. This
can be used by Taylor Wimpey in order to find competitor prices and determine whether or
not their own prices need to be cheaper or be increased slightly to gain a higher profit intake.
Page 1 of 5