Market Researcher
OFO No: 243102
What is a Market Researcher?
A Market Researcher is employed by companies and/or organisations to study trends in sales, products, brand popularity and services.
With this information, the company or organisation can then streamline their business or organisation so it’s:
- more profitable
- more competitive
- more popular than its rivals etc
Market Rearchers often use consumer surveys (questionaires) to collect the information they need.
Some surveys may be very specialised and gather info on:
- pricing (checking to see if customers would buy something at a certain price)
- packaging and design (check which design is more appealing to customers)
- taste (is it what customers would buy)
- use of product (is it easy to use)
- layout of store (do customers react postively or negatively to layout)
- customer service etc (checking to see if employees are helpful and friendly etc)
Surveys can be done through:
- in-store interviews
- paper questionaires
- online questions
- the post
- phone interviews etc
Writing questionaires for surveys takes a lot of skill. The questions must be worded just right to gain the information required. Anyone reading the questionnaire must understand the question perfectly. Any confusion will create wrong answers. Wrong answers will result in a false survey which will have a negative effect on the company.
Once the surveys are completed and all the data studied, the Market Researcher will write a report. In this report, they will use graphs and other graphics to represent all the information in an easy-to-understand format. This information will then be used by managers to make the right business decisions going forward.
What kind of companies or organisations would use a Market Researcher?
- Production & manufacturing companies
- Finance companies
- Retail companies
- Environmental companies
- Political parties
- Schools etc
What does a Market Researcher do?
- discusses the information needed by client
- designs and writes a survey
- calculates the number of people needed for survey to make it realistic
- works out the target market of the survey (eg school children, fitness junkies, mothers etc)
- implements the survey
- gathers all the data they need
- studies data and statistics
- writes a report with graphics
Are you . . . ?
- a good communicator (read, write & speak)?
- detail orientated?
- open minded?
- a people’s person?
- a person who loves statistics?
- interested in gathering all kinds of information?
- able to deal with all kinds of people on different levels?
- organised and reliable?
How do I become a Market Researcher?
You will need a qualification.
- You can do a National Certificate Vocational (NCV) in Marketing at most local colleges.
- You can do a National Diploma, BTech in Marketing at a University of Technology.
- You can do a Bachelors of Commerce (BCom) Degree in Marketing at any SA university.
TRAINING:
- CLICK HERE to check for a training institution near you to see what they offer.
- Make sure you understand their entry requirements for each course.
- To avoid scams, make sure your institution is registered with the Department of Higher Education. CLICK HERE to check accredited Private Higher Education Institutions.
Once you’ve graduated, the next step would be is:
- to work in a marketing department for a few years to gather experience and learn from other Market Researchers
- to specialise in Market Research (by doing more courses)
OTHER CAREERS TO CONSIDER: Call Centre Agent or Financial Planner
Is becoming a Market Researcher the right career choice for me?
