Market Research

The definition of market research: study carried out by a company before launching a new product, into the needs, lifestyle, income, etc of potential buyers and to measure the success of similar products that are already available. It may involve interviewing people in the street or giving away sample product.

○1 Market research can be done for both a product and a company. As for a product, it is the first step when promoting a new product. It can find out whether the market accept the product or not. As for the company, market research can find out the customers’ opinion about the after-sales services and corporate image.

○2 There are generally four ways of doing market research, observation, survey, questionnaire and telephone interview.

○3 There are four procedures while doing market research. First, represent suitable questions. Second, record the customers’ feedbacks. Third, gather these statistics. Forth, analyse them and draw a conclusion.

VI. Sales

Ex: How to sell a product effectively in international markets.

○1 Advertising. Choose a media to advertise your products in a foreign country, TV commercials, magazines, bill board, or etc. Make sure it suits the local tastes. Maybe you can try to sell on the net; it will receive the world-wide attention.

○2 Do market research. Find out whether the products are accepted by foreign customers. It can be carried out as surveys, observations, and questionnaires.

○3 Adjust your product to the local tastes. Although the case of your products are the same, you can change some details. Take IKEA, the largest furniture retailer, for example, is doing well in suiting the local taste.

○4 What I want to put emphasis on is franchising. Franchising is a good way to sell your prosuct in a foreign country. As local businessmen understand their own culture best.