Using market research before starting out
Discussion
Did any of you do this? It seems the most obvious thing to do before starting a business; to find out if there's a demand for your services/product and what buyers specific needs/requirements are. I've been involved with a few businesses that have started up and at least one should have done this before starting and losing lots of money (not mine). I appreciate that there are online ways of looking at demand but when starting a business where you need to promote a new type of service or product where there is no current demand market research would surely help greatly.
Frimley111R said:
Did any of you do this? It seems the most obvious thing to do before starting a business; to find out if there's a demand for your services/product and what buyers specific needs/requirements are. I've been involved with a few businesses that have started up and at least one should have done this before starting and losing lots of money (not mine). I appreciate that there are online ways of looking at demand but when starting a business where you need to promote a new type of service or product where there is no current demand market research would surely help greatly.
It depends on the type of Market research and type of business.To my mind it's generally a complete waste of time.
If you are asking people nearby ( clipboard in the street type thing) you'll get a certain type of person who can be bothered to stop and answer, they don't normally use the new venture.
People will also say one thing but do another I'm afraid so no, I wouldn't bother.
If you think that you can start a business, write a business plan with all the numbers then see of its realistic to hit it.
you'll generally know though, right? Either you're answering a problem like no-one else has, or you're running with something someone else is already doing, you're just going to do it better/different/cheaper/more expensive
The sort of people who're researched will give feedback on whats hot and what's not, but they dont ever buy anything. In businesses, these are the unicorn hunters who've got a micro point of a feature or service that there's little demand for, otherwise people would've already done it
The sort of people who're researched will give feedback on whats hot and what's not, but they dont ever buy anything. In businesses, these are the unicorn hunters who've got a micro point of a feature or service that there's little demand for, otherwise people would've already done it
It really depends on the idea/product/business.
For things like shops I think it can be quite difficult. In such cases I'd recommend getting a stall at the local market and see if you can sell some of the products you're planning to flog in the shop.
Cafe/restaurant I think would be almost impossible to gain quality market research on before starting out, especially more of a restaurant type business. I did read an anecdote once about a guy buying a dentists practice. On the advice of a friend he chose to sit outside a couple of established dentists in the same area to see what trade they had. Based on this and an estimate of revenue per customer (this was in America), he could see how much revenue he might make if he could compete. A similar idea might work in this instance.
For a services based company, any market research should only ask what people are doing now for said service - never ask a person if they would use product or service X, they'll only be polite and lie. You could place advertisements in various places and track calls to a certain number to see how much demand there is. That would give you a good idea on demand for £100 or less.
For purely product based ideas, use Kickstarter, Indiegogo, quickly built landing pages with traffic driven to them.
I don't think I'd ever want to just punt several thousand pounds at an idea and hope it works!
For things like shops I think it can be quite difficult. In such cases I'd recommend getting a stall at the local market and see if you can sell some of the products you're planning to flog in the shop.
Cafe/restaurant I think would be almost impossible to gain quality market research on before starting out, especially more of a restaurant type business. I did read an anecdote once about a guy buying a dentists practice. On the advice of a friend he chose to sit outside a couple of established dentists in the same area to see what trade they had. Based on this and an estimate of revenue per customer (this was in America), he could see how much revenue he might make if he could compete. A similar idea might work in this instance.
For a services based company, any market research should only ask what people are doing now for said service - never ask a person if they would use product or service X, they'll only be polite and lie. You could place advertisements in various places and track calls to a certain number to see how much demand there is. That would give you a good idea on demand for £100 or less.
For purely product based ideas, use Kickstarter, Indiegogo, quickly built landing pages with traffic driven to them.
I don't think I'd ever want to just punt several thousand pounds at an idea and hope it works!
I would venture research is often vital. Money spent on this can save or make many times more than it cost.
To do it right, you need to ask the right questions in the right way to the right people.....and interpret the answers correctly. For this reason, I would strongly advise the use of a dedicated research company rather than doing it yourself.
A good example of poor research is F1. 10 years ago, they asked fans what they wanted to see more of. The number one answer was 'Overtaking'. The result of this is DRS. It may have delivered what the fans wanted but not in the way it was intended (i.e., cut aero efficiency)
To do it right, you need to ask the right questions in the right way to the right people.....and interpret the answers correctly. For this reason, I would strongly advise the use of a dedicated research company rather than doing it yourself.
A good example of poor research is F1. 10 years ago, they asked fans what they wanted to see more of. The number one answer was 'Overtaking'. The result of this is DRS. It may have delivered what the fans wanted but not in the way it was intended (i.e., cut aero efficiency)
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