Экономические науки/6. Маркетинг и менеджмент

Khan N., Akhmetova Z.

Al-farabi Kazakh national university Kazakhstan

The marketing research's role in the study of economic market conditions

Marketing information's collection and analysis is the most important and principal instrument of receiving reliable data about marketing environment components' condition. And the choice of analysis methods must be made according to the research's goals. The efficacy and credibility of research and its final results will depend on this. Well organized and thought-out research is the key to success in the market.

Very often, especially in Kazakhstan and many other countries of the former Soviet Union, production of goods and services begins without sufficient market information. Producers don't want to incur additional expenses on the "unnecessary" researches specifying all characteristics of the production focused on requirements' satisfaction and as a result they lose immeasurably more.

Marketing research is a complex of actions assuming collecting, registration and analysis of information (about clients, competitors, prices and other components of the market) for the purpose of administrative decisions-making process simplification. First of all these researches are necessary to obtain information because reliable information allows: to reduce risk of decision-making that may lead to a failure, to make decisions for the optimal development of the company. Their potential of ensuring market success reaches 80%. And also researches considerably reduce uncertainty while making important marketing decisions that allows to distribute economic potential effectively. [1]

The relevance of market researches in Kazakhstan is defined by the increasing marketing role in the system of the market subjects relations, and in human life, namely:

• the real orientation of the Kazakhstan economy's development on the way of the adjustable market relations;

• the increasing interest in marketing as to means of life support and development of the market subjects;

• the formation in consumers consciousness of a new market way of life, which inalienable component is marketing;

• the market mechanisms' penetration into the social - cultural sphere.

These tendencies of human society development emphasize the relevance of marketing as a section of economic science and expand the need of more developed system of marketing and allocation of its infrastructure components..

As a rule, the need of market research arises in cases, when:

• the firm didn't achieve the set marketing goals;

• the firm yields a position to the competitor;

• the firm is going to diversify the activity;

• any other cases when managers are at a loss in a choice of actions or assume considerable investments.

Research's goal-setting is first and most important stage of its carrying out. Generally the aim of research always consists in obtaining information that is capable to reduce risk level during making administrative decisions.

The main goals of marketing research can be:

First, the analysis of market capacity concerning conditions of any goods or service sale. This refers to the possible volume and conditions of sale, price levels and the ability to accept an offer by potential customers.

Secondly, the analysis of competitors behavior in the market, namely: trends of work, potential and general pricing strategy.

Thirdly, the goal of market research is trade area studying during which the territory that is represented optimum from the view of sales - their volume and cost of a product - is defined.

As for classification, market researches may have the following character:

• Exploring, i.e. to be aimed at collecting the preliminary information intended for more exact problems definition and check on hypotheses.

• Descriptive, i.e. to be consisted in the simple description of different aspects of a real marketing situation.

• Casual, i.e. to be aimed at hypothesis substantiation defining the maintenance of the causal-investigatory relationships.

Methods of market research are divided into two big groups: quantitative and qualitative.

The first group gives the answer to the questions "who" and "how many". It provides to marketing specialist exact numerical data. Example: how many people visit an outlet on weekdays. Information received by such method is statistical data. It gives the chance to analyze expediency of goods distribution, for example, in concrete shopping center.

These methods include: personal and telephone interviews, monitoring (i.e. the analysis of the prices, the product range, product sales in retail points).

Qualitative methods give the answer to the questions "how" and "why". They give opportunity to define real motives of purchase, consumers' needs and views. These methods assume open questions therefore the results turn out very various. Example: ask the client a question " How do you rate the services quality?" or "What would you like to see in our shop?". The findings help to define how to improve the production of goods, or indicate which particular product is worth emphasizing during advertizing campaigns. These methods include focus groups, expert and in-depth interviews, mystery shopper method.

Information that is collected during research, divided into primary and secondary.

Secondary information is the data previously collected for the purposes other than the purposes of concrete market research. As data sources use editions of the national and regional institutions, the periodical press, books, bulletins of computer networks, internal profit and loss reports, previous researches reports.

Primary information is the data obtained as a result of the field researches which are specially conducted for the solution of a specific marketing problem. For data collection it is necessary to develop a specific plan, which should include preliminary decisions about research method, research tools, methods of communication with the audience.

"Always start with secondary information, and only when it is emaciated or the return from its use is reduced, go to primary data". [3]

Thus, the choice of market research methods first of all depends on the specifically current situation. The main choice criterion is receiving the greatest range of information on the studied problem. The best option is to use various methods, focusing on a concrete kind.

The ability to foresee desires of consumers in the market demands not so much the developed intuition as the developed marketing service in a company. Competently conducted market research and developed marketing plan essentially increase the company's profitability.

References:

1.Беляевский И.К. Маркетинговое исследование: информация, анализ, прогноз. - М.: Финансы и статистика, 2007. - 320 с.

2. Дурович А.П. Практика маркетинговых исследований. Книга 1. - Минск: Издательство Гревцова, 2008. - 256 с.

3. Черчилль Г. А. Маркетинговые исследования. — СПб: Издательство «Питер», 2000. — 752 с.