In a world where business competition has become more competitive than ever, it is necessary to find that unique aspect of your business. However, in order to do that, you have to understand who you are selling your products at. Market research is an important aspect of any business for startup brands and labels; they spend roughly two years just to identify who their market really is. They need to know who they are, where they live, their economic status and what they find attractive or not.

Why market research?

The more you know about your audience, the more you can edit and streamline your products and ideally, your business structure. If you spend considerable amount of money to outsource a particular service only to find out that customers are not really taking this aspect with much consideration, you can cut down on the volume and ultimately, minimize your cost. If you understand the market, you understand more how your business works and how your products will sell. It is a quintessential aspect of your business structure to ensure solid business results.

Create your customer profile

There are three areas that you should focus on when doing this:

  • Demographics. This is the basic question of who is this person. What is the age range? Occupation? Location? Marital status? Income? Lifestyle? This is your basic profile to quantify which aspect of your brand should you develop and keep on pushing.
  • Understand their buying habits. Do they shop online or do they like going to physical stores? Are they driven by new trends? Are they impulsive? Do they always demand sales and discounts? How much do they spend on particular products?
  • Understand their preferences. What brands do they like? What newspapers do they visit? What websites do they visit? What makes their retail experience fun? What makes them cringe?

Competitive analysis

Let’s face it; you are not the original creator of that product or service you are selling. However, you can still be unique. First, understand the competition. Find out what has been strong in their business. Know what aspects they usually do not perform well. Find the opportunities were you can become better. Lastly, figure out among all the internal and external aspects what threats could possibly be lingering.