| Any marketing venture carries a certain amount
of risk and uncertainty. Particularly in the planning stage of
a marketing programme, marketing research can provide insight
as to whether or not conditions in the market are favourable to
proceed with a project.
For example, in the leisure and tourism industry it is common
to find Ministries of Tourism around the world seeking new ways
to promote attractions in their countries, for example see 'An
evaluation Framework and its Testing in the South Georgian Bay'
report. From measuring current demand, assessing competitors°
advantages to generating and testing ideas, marketing research
can provide input to measure opportunities and threats.
Measuring current and future demand
From well established companies in the market who wish to extend
their product or service offering, to the newcomer who wants to
test the waters, marketing research can help players examine current
and future demand. Companies continually tap into their markets
by conducting consumer panels to detect current trends in the
market.
Consumer panels are surveys that are carried with individuals
or households over long periods of time. How often consumers purchase
products and services and what brands are favoured will give players
in the market a good indication of existing demand. Marketers
can also project future demand based on the data obtained from
surveys.
Competitor analysis
Identifying competitors and their strategies is central to marketing
practice. A firm competing in a market must have a good understanding
of competitors° products, distribution channels, prices and promotional
activities. By doing so a company can identify ways in which it
can provide something different to consumers and gain competitive
advantages.
A new player in the Cruise market should first identify existing
competitors and their strategies. He or she would quickly discover
that the market is dominated by P&O Princess-CCL who control up
to 56 per cent of the American Market capacity and 43 per cent
capacity of the world market (see BRS,
for a discussion about the world cruise market)
Idea generation and testing
Consumers can be a source of product improvement ideas and, at
times, even identify a new product opportunity in the market.
Companies periodically organise focus groups with consumers to
tap into their current needs and wants. Research then has three
roles: get ideas for new products, evaluate new product ideas
and finally test new concepts and products.
Consumers' opinion is the key driver of product innovation and
ultimately, responding to consumers' needs could lead to business
growth. Given the high rate of failure for new products, ranging
between 40 and 80 percent, marketers need to assess threats and
opportunities. It is not surprising then to find that organisations,
such as Madame Tussaud's
museum conducts a popularity poll to assess whether or not
new wax figure projects will be well accepted by visitors.
At Cunard an interesting form of internal audit took place in
order to generate ideas:
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| Stuart
Perl, Regional Director of Marketing
(EMEA), Cunard Line Seaborne Cruise Line. |
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