Market research is an essential planning tool for all sizes and types of businesses.  The great thing is that you don’t need to commit a large budget to collect data about your customers’ views and needs and information about how they make buying decisions. Pertinent market research also helps you to make decisions about where to spend advertising and marketing pounds. To make a start, you need a willingness to learn and a few careful plans.

Here’s a quick guide to conducting market research for your small business:

1. What Do You Want to Know and Why?
What should you know about your current or potential customers that will help you serve them better? If you are opening a new location, demographic data and travel patterns can help you determine its feasibility, while knowledge about customers’ daily schedules can help you set the best hours of operation.

2. What’s Out There?
Chances are, there is more published information available than you realise. Try the Electoral Roll, national and regional business publications, trade organisations and your local directory services like Thompson Local.

3. Catch More Data as You Go
A little thoughtful use of the resources you already have can make market research a part of your day-to-day activities. If you are a retailer, you can use sales receipts, delivery orders and charge slips to identify where customers live, or monitor stock-taking trends to find the popularity of each product. If you run a restaurant, tracking food orders helps you determine which dishes are most popular on a weekly or seasonal basis.

4. Watch the Competition
When taken in context, you can gain valuable information by studying the practices of successful competing businesses. No spying needed! Be observant about how, when and where they advertise, what is the setting and layout of their various locations, what are their operating practices, etc. Just be aware that their circumstances may be substantially different from yours.

5. Talk to Your Customers
A small business owner has the benefit of being face-to-face with his customers. There is a lot of information you can gather just by observing customers in the shop or putting feedback slips on the counter or till receipts. You can go more elaborate by conducting a larger research study using focus groups etc. You also have the benefit of lower costs when you carry out your own research.