The importance of market research

Market research is, in very general terms, a means for providers of goods and services to keep themselves in touch with the needs and wants of those who buy and use the goods and services.

It involves the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of information relating to the transfer and sale of goods and services from producer to consumer, together with systematic problem analysis, model building and fact finding for the purposes of improved decision making and control in marketing goods and services.

A huge range of companies and organisations carry out market research, answering questions (among many others) like:

• Why have the sales of my breakfast cereal decreased over the last few months?
• If I launch this new pasta sauce, will anyone buy it?
• If we build our new swimming pool here, will people be able to get to it easily enough, and will they actually use it?
• How much do people understand about our charity and how can we help them to understand more?
• I've got to change one of the ingredients in a drink I make, will my customers notice, and if so will it affect whether they buy the product?

A statistician working in market research can expect to use a multitude of different statistical techniques in order to solve the numerous challenges that are given by clients and researchers.