If you consider yourself an expert in whatever field you work in, you might think that you simply know everything you need to know. Unfortunately, in business, there are so many important pieces of information to know that are specific to your brand that you simply won’t know everything. Here are the most important types of research any business should consider doing before they start selling.
Market and audience research
The most important group of people to do research on is the people you’re going to be selling to. These are the people you most need to understand as these are the people who will decide whether your product or service is good enough to spend money on. As these purchases are the things you rely on most to keep your business going, it’s vital you adapt your product or service as much as you can to try and attract more customers.
You might think that in certain industry sectors, people might just buy whatever product they find first that says it does the required job on the packaging. In fact, even sectors like the medical industry can’t take their customers for granted. Many different medical providers rely heavily on Healthcare market research to make their products as effective as possible. By asking the customers things like what symptoms are affecting them the most and any problems they might have with existing products can all help these companies design and reshape more innovative ideas into products that will attract lots of purchases.
Research your rivals
Once you’ve got a product you’re happy with, it’s time to see how it compares to your rivals’ products. As these are the companies trying to persuade your potential customers not to buy from you, it’s important to know how they might try and attract your customers away from you. For example, if a rival company is selling a similar product to you at a much lower price, they may be able to attract a lot more customers than you due to this one simple factor. Before deciding on how to price your item, you should look at the price all of your other rival’s products are selling at and try to either match or set your price lower than theirs.
Research the best suppliers
As well as the cost of the product you’re selling, it’s also important to consider the cost of the stock and materials you’re buying in order to make those products and sales. If you simply buy from the material stockist that is closest to your business and most convenient, you could end up paying a lot more for those products. If you’re buying so much of a product from a retailer, even the smallest price differences can add up to a large loss for the business. When looking for a new stockist, get at least two or three quotes from different suppliers. Don’t just accept the lowest price. Instead, go back to any other suppliers whose quotes weren’t as low and ask them whether they’d reduce their prices and try and broker a deal with them.
