Market research and the information gathered are important to Britvic to establish the products that are most likely to be successful in the market place. The research can also be used to identify the need for new product development corresponding to the change of trend in demand for customers. In the case study we can see that Britvic created Tango clear, to launch this product Britvic would have carried out market research to establish the target consumer, the price to sell at, the packaging, where to sell it and which flavors would be most appealing. This would all affect the decision to introduce the new product to the market place.
The main reason for any business to carry out market research is to determine if there will be a demand for your product or service. Market research can either be primary or secondary. Primary research is new research carried out to answer specific issues or questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or small groups. Secondary research or desk research makes use of research previously collected for other purposes and is publically available. This includes published research reports, surveys or the Internet. To obtain and analyze this information, a business can use two techniques: Qualitative research, quantitative research or a mixture of both.
Qualitative research is based on opinions, attitudes, beliefs and intentions. Qualitative research aims to understand why customers behave in a certain way or how they respond to a new product. The opinions are often obtained from small numbers of people and the findings are not necessarily statistically valid. Such data can however highlight potential issues or problems the product could face when entering the market. Qualitative data is commonly collected through focus groups and interviews.
Quantitative research is based on larger samples and is