I want to learn from the market

Market research is an invaluable tool when you want to sell your product.

Market research can be divided into three types:

• Exploratory
• Descriptive
• Causal

Exploratory research looks broadly at what the problem actually is and identifies different approaches to it.

Descriptive research is very specific. It might, for example, focus on mapping consumption, purchasing habits and patterns, attitudes etc.

Causal research is all about seeking causal explanations. Why do consumers act the way they do? Why do they use one particular justification for what they do rather than another?
For example: Why do people shop on the way home from work and not after supper when they would not have to bring the children with them to the store? Why do people prefer not to go out again once they have got home? Why do so few people take advantage of the queues at the checkout being shorter after supper?

If you want to understand your customers' needs, it is unlikely to be enough simply to ask them straight out. Often customers will respond on the basis of the opportunities they can see in the market today.

If you are developing a sustainable product, it is possible that it will meet a need that consumers do not think can be met. Various methods are available for understanding consumers even better.

These concentrate on two approaches:

• Identifying needs: This is typically done using observation and interview techniques which look at how customers behave. This method reveals not only needs that customers themselves think they have but also, just as importantly, what their actual needs are.
  
  
• Identify business opportunities: Market experience, interviews, statistics and questionnaires can reveal which needs are least adequately met today – and which of them the customer is willing to pay to have met. In this way you can, for example, get a sense of how many consumers are willing to pay extra for your sustainable quality product