Secondary Market Research: What It Is and What Are the Best Tools And Techniques?

Market research is important for making good business decisions.  But what if you could get useful insights without starting from scratch? 🤔Secondary market research helps businesses use data that’s already available, saving both time and money. 

If you want to learn about market trends, customer behavior, or competitors’ behavior, secondary market research is a fast and cheap way to get useful information for your business.

In this article, we’ll explain what secondary market research is, how it can help your business, and the best tools to use for finding and analyzing this data. Whether you’re a business owner, researcher, or student, you’ll learn how secondary research can make your decision-making easier and more effective.

Let’s dive in!!!!🚀🚀

What is Secondary Market Research? 

Secondary market research is when a small to large company uses data that has already been gathered by others, such as market research reports, articles, or surveys, to learn about its market and customers. It’s like using research done by other people to help make business decisions without having to collect new data yourself.

This type of research is also called desk research. It means collecting, analyzing, and understanding data that other organizations have already gathered. This information may come from research databases, industry reports, government documents, studies, and competitor information, which help businesses make better, smarter decisions.

Why is Secondary Market Research Important?

Secondary market research is a useful tool for businesses. It helps them save time and money by using existing information. This research gives important insights that help companies make better decisions. Here’s a closer look at why secondary research is so important:

1. Cost- Effectiveness

Surveys or focus group research can be very expensive in terms of primary research. The situation is even more relevant for those planning a small business or an office for a new firm. Secondary research is also cheaper because it depends on previously gathered data. 

You can find helpful details in government reports, industry studies, or school papers, often for free or for a small price. This helps businesses get useful information without spending too much money. Secondary research is a smart choice when budgets are tight, but you still need important data.

2. Time-Saving

Collecting data with primary research takes time. It can take weeks or even months to collect the necessary information, especially when you’re conducting surveys or interviews. Secondary research, on the other hand, is much faster.

You can find it and start looking at it right away. This saves businesses a lot of time so that they can make decisions faster. In fast-moving industries, time is very important, and secondary research helps businesses stay quick and flexible.

3. Broad Insights

Secondary research gives businesses a big picture of the market. It looks at industry trends analysis, market segmentation analysis, and how people’s behavior is changing. By checking data from different places, businesses can see what’s happening overall. 

For instance, secondary research can indicate the change in the market or what rivals are doing. This helps businesses find opportunities and see possible risks.  With this bigger view, companies can make better decisions.

4. Supporting Primary Research

Primary research can also be made better by secondary research. By looking at existing data, businesses can find areas that need more attention. For example, secondary research might show a trend that makes a business want to do a survey or interview to learn more. 

By doing this, secondary research helps make primary research more knowledgeable and more effective.It also saves time and resources by making primary research work better.

Types of Secondary Market Research Sources

The success of secondary research depends on how good and relevant the data sources are. Let’s explore the two primary categories of secondary research sources: internal and external.

I. Internal Sources 

Internal sources are the data a company gets from its daily business activities. These are resources the company already has, so it’s easy to access them without spending extra time or money. Since this information comes from inside the company, it’s very relevant to its goals, activities, and customers.

Internal sources are useful because they give clear information about how well the company is doing, how customers behave, and how the business runs. This information helps the company make better decisions. Improve how things are done, and make products or services better. Using this data helps businesses work better and make smarter decisions to grow and do well.

Example: A company can use survey results to change its products or make customer support better.

II. External Sources

External sources are data collected by other organizations or groups outside of the company. Unlike internal sources, which the business collects on its own, external sources are gathered by other groups such as government agencies, industry organizations, academic institutions, or private research firms. This data helps businesses see what’s happening in the market, know industry trends analysis, and understand what competitors are doing.

By using external data, businesses can see a bigger picture of their market and environment. This helps them find new chances, spot possible problems, and watch changes in what customers want or what the industry needs. External sources provide valuable information that helps businesses make smart decisions based on what’s going on in the world outside their company.

Example: If you’re in the technology industry, reading magazines like TechCrunch or Wired can help you learn about new innovations, what your competitors are doing, and changes in what customers want.

How to Maximize the Value of Your Secondary Market Research?

Secondary market research is easy to find, but making the most of it often requires extra effort. This is especially true when the data is in audio or spoken form, not written down.

For example, many companies gather a lot of customer feedback through support calls. You’ve probably heard the message that calls may be recorded for quality reasons. However, these calls are often just recorded and stored without being written down, which means companies miss out on important insights from their customers.

The same can happen with recorded company meetings or customer events. These recordings can have useful information about products, customer needs, and market trends analysis, but it’s hard to use that information without writing it down. However, without transcriptions, it can be hard to access that knowledge.

When doing research outside of your company, you might find helpful audio, like talks at conferences, webinars, or lectures. These can give you insights into market trends analysis and customer behavior analysis, but only if you take the time to write them out and look at the details.

Tools and Resources for Secondary Market Research  

There are many helpful tools and platforms that can make secondary market research easier and more effective. These tools help businesses collect, organize, and understand information that others have already gathered.

 With the right resources, businesses can learn important things about their markets, customers, and competitors. Here are some common tools used in secondary research:

1. Market Research Databases

Market research databases provide you with information in the form of reports, surveys, and data covering various markets, consumers, and market segmentation. These tools help companies get trustworthy information fast. Here are a few well-known market research sources:

Statista: Statista is one of the most widely used tools for finding statistics and market research reports on industries, markets, and consumers. It has more than a million stats that offer the latest and relevant information that a business would require to understand some of the markets and industries. It’s a fantastic tool for quickly getting useful information.

Market research. com: It contains many reports covering a wide range of industries, each with detailed insights such as industry trends analysis and market trends based on consumer behavior analysis. A great way for businesses to receive reports that will help them determine trends as they appear and make informed business decisions.

Google Scholar: It is a free, simple way of finding research papers, books, and articles. It is of great help to scholars for finding academic studies on market trends, consumer behavior analysis, and even industry research. Businesses use the platform to find valuable research that will help them in decision-making.

2. Data Analysis Tools

Once you have your data, you need tools to understand and organize it. Data analysis techniques help businesses make sense of the information they collect so that they can make better decisions. Here are some popular tools:

Excel: Excel is a great way to sort and work with data. It’s simple to use and allows businesses to do many tasks, such as simple calculations or creating detailed charts and graphs. It makes it very easy to work with small and large values of data,  applying it to many uses within the workplace.

Google Data Studio: Google Data Studio is a free tool that helps businesses make custom reports and dashboards. It works well with other Google tools, like Google Analytics, which means businesses can track how well their website is doing, how customers behave, and how their marketing is performing. Google Data Studio makes reports that are easy to read and share with others.

Tableau: Tableau is a powerful tool for changing complex data into simple charts and graphs.  It helps users make interactive dashboards to see trends and insights easily. With Tableau, businesses can look at big data, find key patterns, and share these results with their team or others. It makes data visuals that help people understand and make better decisions.

3. Social Listening Tools

Social listening tools help businesses watch social media to talk about their brand, products, or industry. These tools let companies see customer insights, find trends, and understand how people feel. Here are two popular social listening tools:

Hootsuite:  Hootsuite is a social media management platform that also lets businesses listen to what people are saying online. It helps you see when your brand is mentioned, track important words, and watch trends on social media. Hootsuite makes it easier for businesses to understand customer feedback and stay updated.

Brandwatch: Brandwatch is an advanced listening tool that provides companies with detailed information on customer feedback, public opinion and competition. With Brandwatch, companies can monitor social media, analyze customer needs and discover new trends in their business.

4. Market Analysis Platforms

In secondary research, it’s important to know what your competitors are doing and what’s happening in the market. Market analysis platforms help businesses learn about their competitors and the market.  These tools enable you to know what your competitors are up to and possible new opportunities.Here are two key market analysis tools:

SEMrush: SEMrush is a great tool for looking at competitor’s marketing strategies. It helps businesses see what keywords competitors are using, how they’re doing in their marketing, and what is working for them. SEMrush also helps businesses find new opportunities for growth by showing what others are doing well and what can be improved.

SimilarWeb: SimilarWeb is a tool that helps businesses see how their competitors are doing online. It shows details about website visitors, how they use the site, and how competitors are doing in the market. With SimilarWeb, businesses can learn how competitors are attracting visitors and which pages are working well. This helps businesses keep up with new information and find chances to grow.

Final Words

Secondary market research provides many benefits for businesses. It helps you save time and money while giving you useful information about what’s happening in your industry and how customers behave. By using trusted data, checking information from different sources, and focusing on useful ideas, businesses can make smart choices that help them grow and get better.

Whether you’re new to the business or improving your plans, secondary research is a key tool to help you stay ahead of competitors. With the right techniques and tools, you can use already available data to help your business succeed.

FAQs

What is secondary market research, and how does it differ from primary research?

Secondary market research involves analyzing existing data, such as reports, studies, or statistics. It differs from primary research, which collects new data directly from sources like surveys or interviews. 

 What are the main sources of secondary market research data?

Here are the main sources of secondary market research data: 

• Government reports
• Industry studies
• Academic papers
• Market research reports
• Company websites

Why is secondary market research important for businesses?  

Secondary market research is important because it provides businesses with existing data, saving time and resources. It helps identify trends, understand competitors, and gain insights into customer behavior without conducting primary research.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of secondary market research?  

Here are the following advantages of secondary market research:

• Cost-effective, as it uses existing data.
• Saves time compared to primary research.
• Provides broad insights into market trends and competitors.

Here are the disadvantages of secondary market research:

• Data may be outdated or not specific to the business.
• Limited control over the quality and accuracy of the data.
• It may not address all research questions.

How can I ensure the quality and reliability of secondary market research data?  

To ensure quality and reliability, use data from reputable sources like government reports, industry studies, or trusted market research firms. Check the data’s date, methodology, and sample size to ensure accuracy and relevance.

What are some tools useful for conducting secondary market research?

Here are some useful tools for conducting secondary market research:

• Google Scholar
• Statista
• IBISWorld
• Pew Research Center
• Euromonitor
• Government Databases