Marketing Research

There are two types of marketing research. The first is consumer market research. The goal is to study the purchasing habits of consumers. This can be done by tallying up how much of a product is sold, through surveys or through other means. The information gathered from consumers can be used to analyze current marketing campaigns and to create new ones.

The second type of marketing research is business to business (B2B) research, which studies how businesses sell products and services to other businesses. For example, Dell sells computer equipment to two others companies. Someone may be interested in seeing how the other companies found out about the equipment, how Dell marketed its product and how good the market for that product is.

Market research consists of testing the market to determine the acceptance of a particular product or service, especially amongst different demographics. It is used to establish which portion of the population will or does purchase a product, based on age, gender, location, income level and many other variables. Market research allows companies to learn more about past, current and potential customers, including their specific likes and dislikes.

Based on market research data, Dell can develop a "target audience." A target audience is a specific group of customers that has a distinct need or desire for a product or service. Market research is used to determine how often the target audience will buy a particular item, how much