Market research is essential for every retail business. The retail industry's main problem is finding the correct products and presenting them in a way that stimulates purchase; therefore, understanding what influences a customer's decision is crucial. Retail market research assists in guiding decisions that will appeal to consumers and optimize sales for enterprises in the retail space, from product to packaging, pricing to advertising, or shop architecture to online design.

This blog examines how market research may help retail businesses by providing insights into consumer attitudes, product preferences, and industry trends. 

What makes market research crucial for retailers?

The retail industry is constantly changing. In an era of rising inflation, having the right products in stock at the correct price gives retail establishments a competitive edge as they fight for customers' wallets. Businesses need to know what their customers want and what the competition offers to determine which items and pricing points are appropriate. 

Conducting market research can help companies learn about their target market, where they buy, the newest trends, consumer spending patterns, what customers want from the shopping experience, and other consumer insights.

A solid understanding of these problems will support retail companies' marketing plans. Conversely, a company that avoids adapting to its customers may go out of business rapidly.

The main reasons why market research is crucial for retail businesses

Makes the Intended Audience Clear

Since brands cannot appeal to every consumer, it is essential to ensure that you are connecting with your target market. By conducting retail market research, you can continuously monitor which client segments and demographic groupings respond well to your products. A brand tracker is an excellent tool for retail organizations, while many other forms of research can also accomplish this. 

Tracker can be run at different intervals (quarterly, yearly, etc.). It can tell you which audience segments respond best to your offering, which brands from your portfolio (or competitors') consumers most frequently purchase, and why they choose those products. With a brand tracker, you can monitor how trends change over time.

Enhances the Experience for Customers

Asking customers directly is the most direct way to determine how they feel about your brand and the shopping experience. Research can be designed to determine how customers rank their experiences with physical businesses and online platforms. Brands may wonder whether there are any store layout or website issues. They may also wonder if customers need help locating salespeople or online customer service.

Also, brands might be concerned if customers leave the store or abandon a website at certain times because they cannot identify what they are searching for. These studies provide valuable insights that greatly enhance the general customer experience.

Helps Launch New Products

Since starting a new project might cost a lot of money, how can you be sure the finished product will be successful? Customer reviews assure you that introducing a new product to your brand line will succeed. While tracking approaches help monitor demands and trends, developed product concepts can also be shown to customers for input. 

Techniques like MaxDiff can help determine whether colors, styles, appearances, etc., are most or least appealing to an audience. While you're at it, you can use the TURF approach to develop a line of products that will appeal to as many members of your target market as possible. This will help you assess whether your product ideas can make it into your customers' shopping carts.

Market research can establish benchmarks to compare new product concepts. By comparing new products or ideas to existing ones (in a benchmarked study that can be regularly referred to over time), you may determine the expected success level of a new launch based on past performance.

Regardless of your approach, market research can help you increase your market share and ensure that your consumers leave most of your products in their baskets when they check out.

Strategies For Retail Market Research To Increase Sales

A wide range of research methods and study types are available when conducting market research for the retail industry. You may even use a combination of approaches to address all the research questions you must ask, given the variety of choices and the distinct advantages of each.

Surveys

In-person surveys can occur when a customer leaves a business or purchases in-store. These intercept surveys pause respondents during their browsing, buying, or post-purchasing periods to find out what factors influenced their choices at that particular time. 

These surveys, which ask you to rate your experience on a scale of excellent to poor, may be found at public toilets or store exits. This kind of survey can also be carried out online; typically, it consists of a pop-up series of questions about a website visitor's experience.

Surveys are more frequently provided to respondents by social media, text message, or email when they are not shopping. These online surveys include more specific usage and attitude data, such as customer satisfaction, loyalty, and net promoter score (or how likely customers are to suggest your organization). Interview a sufficient number of respondents for highly trustworthy results when conducting online quantitative surveys so that hard evidence can support business decisions.

Additionally, think about using a brand health tracking strategy to monitor your retail data over an extended period:

Focus Groups

Focus groups give research a qualitative perspective. A group of customers gets together to talk about subjects that will address the goals of the study, like their preferences for and dislikes regarding particular retailers, the features that matter most to them when they shop, and particular retail-related aspects (like price, the atmosphere of a store or website, the significance of delivery options, the selection of products, etc.). A focus group moderator ensures that all subjects are discussed and each participant has an equal opportunity to speak.

The primary benefit of focus groups is that the most relevant questions about the topic organically emerge during the discussion, allowing the researcher to determine which elements a business should prioritize when enhancing the customer experience. However, the outcomes are indicative rather than measurable, which is a drawback.

In-Depth Interviews

Focusing on a single respondent during an in-depth interview allows for a deeper grasp of the problems that arise naturally for customers and is excellent for learning about a specific person's purchasing process. Like focus groups, respondents are asked for their perspectives on various retail-related issues. The open-ended questions allow respondents to express viewpoints without being constrained by rating- or yes/no scales.

For increased authenticity, in-depth interviews with an anthropological component can be done online or in person. The interview may occur in various settings, such as a store, online, or at home, where the respondent uses products to illustrate what they like and hate.

Social Media Monitoring

These days, it takes a lot of work to avoid consumer opinion. Therefore, astute businesses will choose to make use of it. It pays off to have a coworker who reads online reviews and watches chats to find out what customers are talking about, what trends are popular, and what they don't like about shopping.

Wrapping Up

Retail market research is a game-changer for understanding what customers want and how they shop. Businesses can get the insights they need to improve customer experiences and boost sales by enabling surveys, focus groups, interviews, and social media monitoring. It's all about staying competitive and ensuring you're meeting your customer's needs in the best way possible.

Ready to boost your business growth and profitability? Outsource your retail market research to Research Optimus and gain the insights you need to stay ahead of the competition!