Marketing involves a range of processes concerned with finding out what consumers want, and then providing it for them. This involves four key elements, which are referred to as the 4Ps. A useful starting point therefore is to carry out market research to find out about customer requirements in relation to the 4Ps.

1. Click to add text
Principles of Marketing
Marketing Research links consumer
Ahmad Idrees

2. Contents
Topics discussed in these slides are:
 Marketing Research
 Basics of Consumer Behaviour
– Buyer Decision Process
– Stimulus-Response Model

3. Marketing Research
.
Definition
The planning, collection, and analysis of data
relevant to market decision making
and
communication of the results of this analysis
to management.

4. Marketing Research
.
Marketing Research links consumer and public to
the marketing manager through an exchange of
information.

5. Why to Conduct Marketing Research
 It helps in changing the marketing mix to match
newly emerging patterns in competitive and consumer
 It informs about new opportunities
 Provides important link to customers
 Helps reduce risk in decision making
 Helps managers to understand their customers
wants and needs so they can develop appropriate
strategies.

6. Uses of Marketing Research
 Measurement of Market Potential for Future
 Analysis of current market share
 Sales Analysis
 Product Testing
 Forecasting
 Study of Business Trends
 Study of Competitor's Products
 Study of Consumer's Purchase Intention etc.

7. Marketing Research Process
 Problem Definition and Research Objectives
 Developing Research Plan
 Implementation
 Analysis and Reporting of Findings

8. Types of Research
PRIMARY Research
Primary Research is the process of gathering information directly from
individuals.Normally the person who obtains data is the researcher
himself/herself. Otherwise, it can be done by hiring a third party.
It can be accomplished through various methods, including
questionnaires, interviews ,telephone interviews and focus groups.

9. Types of Research
SECONDARY Research
Secondary research is research that is carried out with already existing data. It
uses materials as books, magazines, journals, newspapers
,government publications among others.
In secondary research the researcher does not need to go in the field since all
the information collected has been documented already.

10. Basics of Consumer Behaviour
Buyer Decision Process
Buyer decision process is the decision making proces undertaken
by consumers in regard to a market transaction
before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service.
More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of
selecting a course of action from multiple alternatives/options.
Common examples include shopping and deciding what to eat.

11. Buyer Decision Process
There are 5 stages which a consumer often goes through when
he/she around their Purchase. These stages also exist because
of normal human psychology.
These 5 stages are :
Problem/Need Recognition- This is the first stage in which the
consumer recognizes that what is the problem or need and
accordingly a consumer identifies the product which would be
required by the consumer.
Information Search- In information search, the consumer searches
about the product which would satisfy the need which has been
recognized by the consumer in the stage previous to this one.

12. Buyer Decision Process
Evaluation of Alternatives - In this stage, the consumer evaluates the different
alternatives that consumer finds during information search. The consumer has
to evaluate and understand which product would be properly suited for the
consumer.
Selection/ Purchase-In this stage the consumer purchases the product that
he/she has selected.
Post Purchase Behavior/Evaluation-After the purchase ,the consumer might be
satisfied or can go through post purchase dissonance in which the consumer
feels that buying the other product would be better.
A company should really take care of it, taking care of post purchase
dissonance will spread good words for the product and will also increases the
chance of frequent repurchase.
Remember : The Laptop Purchase Exampe we discussed in the class.

14. Stimulus -Response Model
Marketing and other stimuli: A consumer is confronted with a stimulus in the
environment. This stimulus could be of two kinds;
a) One that is presented by the marketer through the marketing mix or the
4Ps, product, price, place and promotion;
product: attributes, features, appearance, packaging etc.
price: cost, value, esteem (prestige)
place: location and convenience, accessibility
promotion: advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity, direct marketing.
b) The other that is presented by the environment, and could be
economic, technological, political and cultural.

15. Buyer’s black box: The stimulus that is presented to the consumer by
the marketer and the environment is then dealt with by the buyer’s
black box. The buyer’s black box comprises two sub components,
the buyer’s characteristics and the buyer decision process.
The Buyer’s characteristics influence how he or she perceives the
stimuli; the decision-making process determines what buying
behavior is undertaken.

16. Buyer’s Response
The buyer’s response outlines all of the decision points that need to be
made on the part of the customer. This includes the following:
 Product choice
 Brand choice
 Dealer choice
 Purchase timing
 Purchase amount/frequency

17. Diagram