How to do a commercial investigation

The commercial research or market research is the basic tool used in marketing to know how it is structured and running the market. With this, we can know, for example, what factors influence consumer behavior or what are the best decisions we can make when structuring the marketing mix. Therefore, conducting a good commercial investigation is essential for the company, and in this article we will explain you in detail.

Steps to follow:

1.The first step to make a proper commercial investigation is to design the content and basic structure of the research, that is, from what problem or need for knowledge we start, and how far and how we want to go. The steps are:

• Select what we want to investigate: for example, the influence of nighttime television on a certain type of consumer or what new modifications consumers need for a product.
• Determine the objectives:what we want to achieve exactly with the study.
• Pre-study hypothesis:that is, our current theories of how the variable affects a given situation that we want to study.
• Determine the variables that affect the study:keep in mind that, if we study the consumer, what variables affect their behavior or if we study a product, what modifications produce effects on it.

2.The second step is to obtain the information we need to conduct our study, and on which we will rely, so it is vital that it be as realistic and objective as possible. It consists of the following phases:

• Choice of sources:determine where we will obtain the information.
• Ways to obtain the information:what steps or what requirements we will need to obtain that information, since it is likely that not all of it is public or that we need to prepare it ourselves, for example through consumer surveys.
• Selection of a representative sample under study.
• Obtaining results and data.

3.Once we have all the data, it is time to treat them analytically. For this we will generally need computer means. We will do it as follows:

• Edit and encode data:so that they are easily understandable and manageable for all those who use them.
• Tabulation and statistical analysis:first we will have to tabulate and organize the data according to the variables that we have taken into account, and then we will submit them to statistical tests to know better what we need: frequency of repetition of a variable, average deviation, etc.

4.Finally, it was time to interpret the results and present the conclusions of our study, with the purpose, also, of being able to disseminate it if we wish to those who need it. Thus:

• Interpretation of results: we will analyze the results obtained, and that previous hypothesis that we had made, to know if we were right or there is a wide predictive error. It is advisable to analyze the ”why” of success or failure.
• Conclusions: itis convenient to make conclusions of the study, as a summary of the results obtained.
• Recommendations and actions to be carried out:depending on the results and what we want to achieve.