What is market research really and why is it such a huge emphasis for so many people?, one might ask. Can't you just create a good product that will attract it's own market? Do businesses really spend that much time doing something so boring? Yes, No, Yes. The fact is that with out market research a business will fail and this is the most common misunderstanding for the thousands of small businesses that leap up in this country every year and then die out almost as quickly.

So why is it so important? Well, probably the best answer is that everybody is doing it. Back in the days when market research on this scale was not possible stores had a better chance and could “learn” what the market was that they were going to cater to, in order to survive. They didn't know it but they were in fact carrying out market research on a very much smaller scale. Now a days you have to be on your game from the get go or you will not survive (make a profit soon enough) because other stores that do better to cater to the market will steal your customers.

What is market research? Well this is a good question but maybe too broad. In simple terms it is the study of a group of people that you are planning on targeting to learn their buying habits and their needs so that you can most perfectly be the answer to those needs. It takes everything into consideration and even will divide out subpopulations within a larger population or submarkets within a larger market to target. It takes into account the time of the year, the season, the economy of the area and nationally, etc. Basically it is knowing what the buyer wants in order to be their supplier and therefore is guaranteeing yourself success (sales!).

So how does a store accomplish this? Well that too depends on a lot of factors. How big is the population you are looking at? What sector are you in? What kinds of resources do you have up front? Who are your competitors? If you are small with a limited budget you aren't going to be able to do a more large scale market research with a famous researching firm. You are going to have to rely on self generated data collection whether that be on the internet or through surveys or through study of other stores in your sector and their success—trying to improve on the good and eliminate the bad.