Market research for SMEs

Market research is a fundamental point to discover what is the unmet need that the product will cover and that will be defined as the competitive advantage.

Sometimes it happens that people from the company's Production department come up with a product, if those from the Commercial area discover that it already exists in the market, they put the idea aside, when in fact, with the investigation of the shortcomings or failures that can present the existing product can be improved and meet a new and more complete need.

When it comes to market research, SMEs tend to have a certain departure from the concept for two basic reasons.

The first is the lack of knowledge of aspects that accompany the understanding of market research studies that have to do with matters such as statistics or probabilistics, since not always the results quantified in these studies can be capitalized and interpreted as data for later be able to take them and translate them into successful actions. The second reason is the high cost of hiring services from companies that provide market research, almost unattainable for SMEs.

The reality is that an SME company can carry out actions on its own that give it a very accurate picture of the possible situations that may arise. This is to analyze the macro-environment, how the demand behaves in general in the sector, defines:

Situation	objective
Growing demand	Manage to conquer the new demand.
Demand in maintenance	Take away market points from the competition.
Demand in decline	Such products are probably not worth developing.

The first step to follow is to investigate the existing products within the category, that is, similar products and thus know the final consumer of the product, the purchase process and the marketing channels.

Once the consumer and the marketing channels have been defined, it is important to carry out product tests, if possible with the product itself, or if it is possible to develop an outline of the product and if not with some reference in the brochure.

In these two senses, you can visit the points of sale to ask the seller who has the best thermometer on the market and gives us the most accurate data about the end consumer, as well as, perform a home test of the product among existing customers with more trusted or trusted people who consume similar products.

Another important aspect to analyze is the competition, the number of bidders that will be dealt with, that is, the number of offers similar to the commercial proposal. The competition should always be analyzed within the framework of the 4 P's, to remember it, the product itself or the need it satisfies, the competitive price, the way of communicating it and the marketing channels that the competition uses to sell the product.

Although a domestic market research will not give us the precise quantified data, it will surely provide us with the necessary guidance to know what competitive advantages to highlight, to whom exactly the new product will be directed and how to market it, that is, the most appropriate marketing channel.