Idea Generation
Key questions include: What segments of need exist in the market? What gaps exist in the competitive need fulfillment? What are the dynamics of the need segments? What bothers customers? What benefits are desired? What are the strengths/weaknesses?
Several research techniques can be used. In a focus group, a skilled moderator leads small groups of consumers/customers from the target market in a discussion of problems, needs, product concepts, competitive brands, and new ideas.
For market structure analysis/gap analysis, quantitative research is designed to cluster product attributes/benefit perceptions into basic dimensions, determine distance between basic groups, and identify groups where needs are not being satisfied. It is multidimensional research that structures a market on the basis of products, needs, and usage occasions with the objective of defining and understanding the dynamics of a market beyond traditional secondary data sources. It answers questions such as: What are the products in the market and how do consumers react to them? How are the products used, by whom, when? Which products compete/substitute for each other? What product attributes lead consumers to use the products in the way they do?
Problem detection studies are quantitative surveys to define problems in a category and rank them based on intensity (how bothersome are they?), frequency (how often do they occur-and for how long?), preemptibility (the extent to which products/services already on the market can handle the problem).
Task analysis is a technique involving actual observation or recall to identify steps involved in a project (baking bread, selecting and opening a bank account, mowing the yard, painting the house) and problems encountered. A consumer might be asked to list all tasks involved in a project (with an incentive to get a quantity of tasks), whether it was a pleasant or unpleasant task, why they feel that way, and whether they would like to see it simplified or changed.
