Master’s Degree student Iaresko I. O.

Poltava State Agrarian Academy, Ukraine

CHALLENGES OF MARKETING RESEARCH IN UKRAINE

Modern commodity markets are characterized by intense competition. So the marketing activities of companies in the market should start with market research.

An integral part of marketing activities refers to providing accurate and timely information about the market structure and dynamics of specific demand, tastes and preferences of customers, to set products and services that more fully meet the requirements of the market than competitors' products and services do etc.

Market research is a chain that connects consumers, retailers, society and a marketer through information used to identify problems or opportunities, development of activities, the definition of market transformation, facilitating a common understanding of marketing [1, p. 24].

Market research allows companies to deeper their knowledge of marketing problems, that is to reduce uncertainty in making marketing decisions. Very often, their primary purpose is the desire to give an adequate description of market processes and phenomena that reflect the company's position and opportunities in the market. Of course, marketing research is used for study market of competitors, customers, products, marketing environment, price of goods, their promotion. The result of marketing research is the development of operation that is used in the selection and implementation of marketing strategies and tactics.

The concept of marketing research is defined by the objective and direction of market research, ication of specific problems with the implementation of this objective is that based on the formulation of the aggregate of individual tasks, develop ment of working hypothesis or assumptions about the nature of the phenomenon.

 According to the International Code of Practice of Marketing and Social Research marketing research objective is to collect and analyze information received regarding voluntary market consumers, producers of goods and services [2].

The main problems associated with the theoretical and methodological aspects of market research in Ukraine and directions for further development of these aspects are:

1. The problem of using qualitative and quantitative research methods.

2. Methods of statistical processing.

3. Working recommendations based on marketing information.

4. Marketing research models of consumer behavior.

There are some problems in the area of marketing research at the enterprise level:

1) Lack of departments and specialists in marketing research.

2) The hidden nature of the demand for market research.

3) A complete lack of understanding connection between marketing information and efficient system of planning production and sales activities.

4) Lack of understanding of the pricing strategy in marketing research.

5) Inability to assess the quality of research results [3].

Most managers of Ukraine not fully understand the usefulness of marketing research. Because of their distrust of the results of research companies they bought a field stage, retaining planning and analysis. Failure to use research results properly leads to negative consequences. So, most customers increasingly expect not only basic information but effective solutions. Now adays on the market there are many agencies that provide marketing research, but lack of sufficient information about them makes entrepreneurs turn to the closes ones which may be incompetent.

Another problem deals with the unreliability and inaccuracy of data. This is caused by the closeness of the customer's business which prevents to obtain the most complete information, often respondent’s refusal to participate in the study or inaccurate information provided by them.

The peculiarity of marketing research as function of marketing communications is concerned with providing companies with market players: consumers, intermediaries, suppliers and competitors.

Market research transforms data (a set of factors) into information (data  selected and systematized according to a specific task). The necessity of using diverse and fairly large volume of information in the marketing

 activity of the company requires a systematic approach to the organization of its obtainment, processing and analysis in the process of making decision.

In Ukraine the interest in online Internet research, conducting online focus groups, is observed the number of companies that use these methods of marketing research gradually increasing [4].

Thus, in a changing and uncertain environment , information obtained in the course of conducting market research will help to make the right decision. Activity of marketing

 department should assist to increase profits through customer satisfaction. Thus, the problem of domestic market research and customer is related not so to the effects of the global recession, but to the internal crisis in the economy of the Ukraine.

Literature:

1. Бернс Э.С. Основы маркетинговых исследований с использованием Microsoft Excel: Пер. с англ. / Э.С. Бернс, Р.Ф. Буш. – М.: Издательский дом «Вильямс», 2006. – 704 с.

2. Международный кодекс по практике маркетинговых и социальных исследований. – Международная торговая палата, 1976.

3. Пилипенко В. Ринок маркетингових досліджень:  становлення і проблеми розвитку/ В. Пилипенко// Маркетинг в Україні. – 2005. – No 5. – С. 16-20.

4. Бойко Р. В., Вознюк Ю. А. Перспективи і проблеми проведення маркетингових досліджень в Україні за умов кризи/ Р. В. Бойко, Ю. А. Вознюк// Вісник Хмельницького національного університету. - 2010, No 4, T. 1, С. 189-192.