Types of marketing research

In the first instance we need to distinguish between ad hoc and continuous research.

Ad hoc research

Ad hoc research focuses on a specific marketing problem, collecting data at one point in time from one sample of respondents. Examples of ad hoc studies are usage and attitude surveys, product and concept tests, advertising development and evaluation studies, corporate image surveys and customer satisfaction surveys. Ad hoc surveys are either custom-designed or omnibus studies.

Custom-designed studies

This type of study is based on the specific needs of the client. The research design is based on the research brief given to the marketing research agency or internal marketing researcher. Because they are tailor-made, such surveys can be expensive.

Omnibus studies

An alternative to the custom-designed study is the omnibus survey in which space is bought on questionnaires for face-to-face or telephone interviews. An interview may cover many topics, as questionnaire space is bought by a number of clients who benefit from cost sharing. Usually the type of information sought is relatively simple (e.g. awareness levels and ownership data). Often the survey will be based on demographically balanced samples of 1000-2000 adults. However, more specialist surveys covering the markets for children, young adults, mothers and babies, the 'grey' market and motorists exist.

Continuous research

Continuous research involves the interviewing of the same sample of people repeatedly. The main types of continuous research are consumer panels, retail audits and television viewer ship panels.

Consumer panels

When large numbers of households are recruited to provide information on their purchases over time, together they make up a consumer panel. For example, a grocery panel would record the brands, pack sizes, prices and stores used for a wide range of supermarket brands. By using the same households over a period of time, measures of brand loyalty and switching can be achieved, together with a demographic profile of the type of person who buys particular brands.

Retail audits

Another type of continuous research is the Retail audit. By gaining the co-operation of retail outlets (e.g. supermarkets), sales of brands can be measured by means of laser scans of barcodes on packaging, which are read at the checkout (see Marketing in Action 4.1). Although brand loyalty and switching cannot be measured, retail audits can provide an accurate assessment of sales achieved by store. A major provider of retail audit data is ACNielsen.

4.1 Marketing in Action

The Ubiquitous Barcode

Barcodes are now placed on every conceivable product. These simple devices have added greatly to the efficiency of marketing information systems, providing retailers and manufacturers alike with valuable pieces of information that help them make better decisions. Through the use of barcoding and scanning, firms can hold huge information databases on their products, which allow them to track sales and, monitor stock levels. For example, by looking at patterns of sales over the course of a day, retailers can establish whether certain products are sold at certain times of the day and adjust stock levels accordingly to optimize the utilization of store space.

But how do barcodes work? Typically a barcode consists of a 13-digit European Article Number (EAN) such as: 97 80077 09613 7.

T hese numbers are represented as black lines against a white background, which helps the scanning process. The first two digits indicate the product's country of origin. The next five digits are a manufacturer's identifier or unique number, which is allocated by the Article Numbering Association (ANA). The next five digits are the product code, which is assigned by the manufacturer.