What do I need to know?
Researching your market involves:
- Finding out if a similar product or service already exists and is available locally. If a similar product or service already exists who is providing it? What are your competitors' strengths and weaknesses? If a similar product does not exist, is there a demand for it, and is it an all year round demand or a seasonal demand?
- Assessing if the demand is enough to make the venture worthwhile. If individuals are your potential customers, consider aspects such as age, sex, marital status, social class, lifestyle, occupation and where they live. If businesses are your potential customers, what size are they? In what industries are they involved? What characteristics do they have in common? Who makes the buying decisions and who influences them?
- Finding out how much people will be willing to pay for the product or service. For example will they pay extra for quality, faster delivery time or fresh produce?
- Establishing where the market is. Is it local to your area, province wide or an export market?
- Establishing how many potential customers there are in your target area. What they are likely to buy and in what quantities? How often do they buy? Is the frequency likely to change?