---
date: '2026-01-12'
id: introduction to marketing research
modified: 2026-06-05 15:08:38 GMT-04:00
tags:
  - commerce3ma3
title: marketing research
created: '2026-01-12'
published: '2026-01-12'
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slug: thoughts/university/twenty-five-twenty-six/commerce-3ma3/marketing-research
permalink: https://aarnphm.xyz/thoughts/university/twenty-five-twenty-six/commerce-3ma3/marketing-research.md
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full: https://aarnphm.xyz/llms-full.txt
---
> \[!note\] Note
>
> process of planning an executing the conception, pricing promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organization objectives

Note on having the <mark>right</mark> {{sidenotes[principles]: right goods/services to the right people at the right place at the right time at the right price, using the right promotion techniques}}

There are three axis:

- Consumer
- Systems
- Goal

There are a few axes for the nature for applied marketing research:

- {{sidenotes[programmatic]: generative, exploratory, “what could we do?” research. identifies opportunities and develops strategic options}}
- {{sidenotes[selective]: comparative, decisional, “which option?” research. tests between alternatives when choices are on the table}}
- {{sidenotes[evaluative]: measurement, post-hoc, “did it work?” research. assesses outcomes after implementation}}

> \[!question\] Question
>
> what types of programmatic, selective, and evaluative research would BMW conduct before, during, and after the launch of BMW i3?

|            | programmatic                                                                                                                                                                                               | selective                                                                                                                                                                                                   | evaluative                                                                                   |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **before** | exploratory research on ev market potential, lifestyle ethnographies of potential ev buyers, concept testing of different ev designs (city car vs sedan vs suv), identifying which customer segments exist | a/b testing price points ($35k vs $42k), material choices (carbon fiber vs aluminum), styling alternatives (futuristic vs conservative), dealer network selection (all dealers vs certified ev specialists) | pilot program assessments (mini e and active e test fleets 2009-2011)                        |
| **during** | discovering emergent use-cases from early adopters, identifying new positioning opportunities based on actual buyers                                                                                       | split-testing ad creative, comparing financing offers                                                                                                                                                       | tracking actual sales vs forecast, measuring brand perception shifts, roi on marketing spend |
| **after**  | mining ownership data for next-gen product opportunities (e.g., second car vs primary usage patterns informing i4 strategy)                                                                                | for facelifts/refreshes, testing which feature additions to prioritize                                                                                                                                      | full post-mortem on program profitability, market share impact, cannibalization effects      |

> \[!note\] outcome
>
> i3 sold \~165k units over production run (2013-2022) vs model 3 doing 2m+ units, ratio roughly 1:12 despite similar timing. positioned differently and bmw never committed to scaling it.

## process

- identification of the problem and statement, and objectives
- creation of the _research design_
- choice of research method
- selection of the sampling procedure
- collections of data
- analysis of data
- writing and presentation of the report
- follow-up

> \[!question\] Question
>
> How do we define the problem?

problem definition separates the management decision (what action to take) from the research problem (what information is missing).

Q: How do we understand the decision-making environment?

> \[!question\]- Question
>
> Assume our business is a local fast-food restaurant, and our products are mainly hamburgers, fried chicken, fries, and soft drinks
>
> What specific information does the manager needs to know in order to decide whether to change the product strategy?
>
> for the product strategy decision, manager needs:
>
> - performance baselines:
>   - sales velocity by product (units/day, revenue contribution, margin per unit)
>   - customer traffic patterns (daypart analysis, weekday vs weekend)
>   - complaint/return rates by product
>   - inventory waste rates
> - customer intelligence:
>   - purchase bundles (what items sell together)
>   - repeat frequency by customer segment
>   - satisfaction scores by product
>   - consideration set (are we losing to mcdonald’s or to chipotle?)
>   - demographic/psychographic profile of current customers vs target customers
> - market context:
>   - competitive menu positioning (are we cheaper? healthier? faster?)
>   - local market trends (delivery growth rate, health-conscious shifts, dietary restrictions prevalence)
>   - price elasticity by product category
> - operational constraints:
>   - kitchen capacity and equipment limitations
>   - supplier switching costs
>   - staff training requirements for new products
> - strategic alternatives:
>   - test results from any pilot menu items
>   - cost structure of potential new products vs current ones
>   - cannibalization risk (will new chicken sandwich eat burger sales?)