Why is market research so important?
For your products and services to be well-received by consumers, you must know who your target consumers are and what it is they are looking for. Market research helps provide you with this essential information from your competitors and existing products. No one wants to launch a product that simply gets swept away by other similar ones. Finding your niche or targeting consumers un-fulfilled needs is key to success.
Those who already have existing products and services may already have a wealth of information that can help to understand consumers. In turn, they reveal key aspects relevant to launching a new product or service. Assessing key trends and anticipating the market are just one of the elements of market research. If there’s a gap in the market, then you want to be the first to know about it. Even for those already established, keeping in touch with the customers’ needs as well as market trends can give you an edge over your competitors.
Where do you begin – How to plan market research
It all begins with a plan. Knowing what you are trying to accomplish and what information you will need for your product/service launch is a great start. There are things you can do yourself such as speaking with potential customers or performing your own analysis of your topic. Of course, there are also ways to outsource your market research that helps to offer an outside opinion that’s truly unbiased, allowing you to gather rich qualitative and quantitative data.
By completing effective market research, you can hope to develop new and effective marketing strategies. Solve your business’ biggest challenges, investigate expansion opportunities, and identify how to tap into these opportunities. In this effort, we reached out to deal with Groundswell Innovation, a goal-driven company with 12 years of experience in helping companies make a return on investment.
Our work with Groundswell Innovation
Groundswell Innovation is a Northern Powerhouse Partner and being based in Preston, alongside a proven track record of success with previous clients, helped us to choose them as a means for market research. Having worked alongside other manufacturing businesses and well-known companies such as Visa Europe, BT Openreach and the Public Sector, we were confident in their abilities.
We were fortunate enough to work alongside Groundswell Innovation to help us understand and achieve our goal for an upcoming product*.
The exceptional team helped to provide us with rich qualitative data (conducting 12 interviews with Mobility Healthcare Professionals) and quantitative research conducted by two students from Lancaster University – a great partnership that not only benefits local companies but local students.
The research exceeded our expectations and was well executed within the tight deadline.
“I think it’s crucial to work with a company like Groundswell who understand what your objective is, because they will work to reach (and exceed) your expectations and execute the deliverables on time… And any work that they do will be fully backed up and fully researched.”
Nikita, Production Manager at Xyfil.
The questions we wanted answering through market research were:
- How best can we commercialise our new product?
- Is there a clear space for it on the market?
- How do we create a clear and credible ‘go to market’ plan?
And we were not disappointed by the evidence-based strategy provided by Groundswell Innovation. By helping us to define the key messages of the product and providing competitor’s analysis plus feedback, we’ve been able to take a decisive step forward with the future of this new product.
Here at Xyfil, we pride ourselves in also being able to help our customers through their journey in the market. With our 10+ years of experience in the market, alongside valuable insights gained from working with partners like Groundswell Innovation, you can rest assured that we will take your brand from concept to reality and all the way to market.
*Please note, the product cannot be named due to its commercially confidential nature.
Get to know us more and meet the team over on LinkedIn.