Week 2 EOC Survey Research

 

The article from, “The U.S. Market for Over-the-Counter Diagnostics: Product Sales and Consumer Survey study provides detailed market data on products and segments in the retail OTC diagnostic market in the United States.” (academic.marketresearch)  This would fall into the descriptive stage of research according to our ebook. It is defined as, “Descriptive research characteristics of objects, people, groups, organizations, or environments & tries to “paint a picture” of a given situation.” (Essentials of Marketing Research) They are trying to find out who purchases the products, find the size of the market, and identify competitors. Descriptive research is trying to find out who, what, when, where, why, and how. They are also asking about the consumer attitude, opinions and awareness of their products being tested. The market size, growth and competitive share information on six testing categories which include Glucose Testing Kits, Pregnancy Test Kits, Blood Pressure Testing Kits, Ovulation Prediction Kits and Urine Tests/Kits. They gathered the demographic information for product perception, promotional channel data, Home HIV testing, Home Cancer Screening, and Drugs of Abuse Testing. They also did methodology research with Primary material through IRI-Information Resources Inc that tracks the information, Kalorama Information in partnership with The Telephone Centre, Inc that do phone surveys and Simmons Market Research Bureau who provides consumer data from NCS (National Consumer Survey). The secondary research methodology rated information that was relevant and accurate that was obtained from business journals, government agencies and other public information. Important market factors include the market size, market segmentation, pricing, number of competitors and market maturity. The final important step would be to forecast the future of this market using the historical data that was obtained from consumer surveys.   Cited works  http://academic.marketresearch.com/index.asp?prid=1078246724 http://academic.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=1023974&curl=&surl=%2Fsearch%2Fresults%2Easp%3Fprid%3D1078246724%26query%3Dsurvey%26cmdgo%3DGo&prid=1078246724 Zikmund, William G., Barry Babin. Essentials of Marketing Research, 4e, 4th Edition. Cengage Learning, 04/2009. VitalBook file.