Market research, just as we have discussed in class, is an integral part of a companies operations. It enables them to provide the best products to their consumers that will contribute the most value for them. It also enables them to properly gage the selling price they should use for the goods, the proper target market they will address, and many other important pieces of information that are integral to the success of a new product line or service.
I personally had the experience when I was in high school to be apart of a market research experiment when I was in Las Vegas, Nevada. My family went on a vacation here, and at the Hotel I was staying at, MGM Grand, they were asking random guests if they would like to be part of a focus group that was watching a pilot episodes of candidates for a new television series. There was several different shows being viewed, but one of them made it through the experiment, and you can view it today. It was the show “Everybody hates Chris”.
Before this experience, I was really unaware of how much market research took place before a product came to market. The test pilot of episodes of the television series was not the first and only market research conducted for these programs, it was one of many efforts to gather information. The company would have gone out and done vast amounts of research in the first place just to get an idea for the program. Then, they would have done many different experiments along the way while developing their series, in order to make sure that they were properly representing their consumers needs. The test pilot was rather one of the last research efforts to make sure that they product they were going to sell, was in fact something that was desired.
Market research is one of the most important activities of any organization, as it can dictate how its other parts function, whether it be logistics, operations, accounting. This is why so much time, money, and effort is spent on it, as it can make the difference between success and failure for an organization.