Organizations of any size and within any industry need to understand their consumers and market landscape to stay competitive. A mandatory part of discovering the drivers for demand, market research reveals trends and patterns that are not so easily decipherable to the naked eye.
2020 was a year of transformation. Businesses were not equipped to handle the rapid change in purchasing patterns and demand brought about by the global pandemic. With bars, restaurants and outdoor activities acting as hot zones, most countries put in place lockdowns and curfews to curtail physical interaction.
Social distancing introduced a significant growth in online retailing, DIY (Do It Yourself) activities and stockpiling necessities to maintain some degree of comfort within the confines of the home.
Pivoting is a key component of business success as we transition into lower threat levels that still require us to comply with health and safety measures. Businesses keeping an ear to the ground are able to restructure and modify plans allowing them to stay afloat, if not swim.
Market research is imperative to understand how to pivot and where to refocus efforts. For businesses looking to stay relevant, understanding the trends of 2021 could be the difference between sinking and building towards prosperity. Here are the trends to keep an eye out for;
.jpg)
Market Research Trends for 2021
1. A 360 Degree Approach to Information
Knowledge is power. The age old adage is all the more prevalent with the fierce competition across industries. An all-encompassing perspective on business activities combining customer and market intelligence offers better guidance for strong decision making.
In order to become as informed as possible, pulling together data sets from every possible source would be ideal. However this process can get tedious and time consuming without relevant silos and big data management options. Brand positioning must incorporate internal, social, consumer and strategic market intelligence in order to stay relevant.
Market research is successful when it takes on a top-down approach; a comprehensive approach that begins from a birds eye view (global positioning) and moves down to local competitors and landscape. Additionally bringing in unstructured data such as potential earnings and position availability within the field offer supplementary insight that could help the business come out on top.
2. The Age of Artificial Intelligence
Traditional research methods are unable to churn results at the magnitude and with the precision required for the current global economy. In order to process large scale information at lightning speeds, artificial intelligence has become more prevalent in research and data gathering fields.
The unparalleled ability of machine learning to quickly detect information and process the same has led to a rush in technology adoption as the fastest way to attain valid market intelligence. Surveys and focus groups, for example, are simply not feasible at a time where gathering a group of people to collect data is a risk to health and safety. Moving forward more organizations are likely to implement AI at scale in order not only collect the required information in large quantities but also streamline down to business relevant data.
By 2027, the global AI market is expected to reach $266.9 billion and grow at a CAGR of 33%. It would be in any company’s best interest to start now to avoid lagging behind competitors or industry standards.
3. Adjacent Markets
Business is not running as usual. Customers are no longer queueing to buy products like in the past. In these situations pivoting becomes an essential skill. With the disruption of day to day corporate activities, businesses need to regroup and understand potential to make bigger and better sales in a different market that still sits close to home.
Uber is a great example of the same. Uber Eats was a side project uber was running but invested heavily in making the availability for the food delivery service as simple as using the familiar Uber application. During the course of the pandemic, this has proved quite lucrative with general sentiments sitting on the positive side of the spectrum at 55% on a scale ranging from -100 to 100.
Capitalizing on the good faith and credibility built by the company could be a great way to introduce existing customers to new products and new products to new customers. While a new venture may seem intimidating, the risk could lead to sustainable growth and development at a time of uncertainty.
4. Realigning Missions and Values
With more consumers reaching for the internet to complete a purchase, information is now at the customers fingertips. This means brands that aren’t aligning their ideas and values with the effort consumers put towards spending on their products, they are likely to lose consumers.
There are a number of popular social movements around equality, sustainability and justice on just about every social media platform. With individual thoughts and identities, companies must exercise consideration when conducting their activities or risk rightly offending certain demographics. Staying quiet is not a practical option either. If websites read information about a company from decades ago that may not be relevant to current activities, it becomes as good as ignorance.
With the rise of the conscious consumer, it is up to the business to introduce meaningful messages about the company and the brand identity that encourage trust and wellbeing. Showcasing ideals is no longer taboo in a business environment but could be the difference between a sale and losing one to your more vocal competitor.
5. The Age of Social Listening
88% of companies that existed on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 are no longer operational. There is very little a business can do in order to guarantee longevity. However, with the rise of the digital age and information sharing on social media platforms businesses are talked about more now than ever before. This acts as a double edged sword; for every positive review there is at least a handful of negative, fabricated or misinformed counter-reviews.
In order to understand how businesses are discussed on social media platforms, organizations employ social listening applications. Some of the best on the market are offered by technology behemoths including Oracle and SAP. The software models are able to capture every mention of the organization with more high-tech applications able to detect the sentiment around the comment made.
The end result – businesses that understand how their organization is looked at and perceived by customers/prospects and the opportunity to make a change.
Conclusion
The trends around market research for 2021 surround the importance of the voice of the customer. With world-wide uncertainty and concern, brands need to look at consumers with consideration. While demand is a driving force for an economy, the concept of supply has changed drastically over the past year and a half. If businesses are not proactively assessing the current needs of consumers and making changes accordingly they are likely to fall behind competitor and industry standards rendering all activities futile.
Smart organizations are pivoting and looking for feedback with the utmost concern. They strive to implement the best possible practices to understand customer requirements and ideas and deliver the same. Businesses are downsizing, streamlining and refocusing efforts. If they are able to address this successfully, building credibility and trust during a time of crisis will carry forward to continued support and stronger brand identity. Incorporating the market research trends of 2021 can only help your business understand how to reach a middle ground between success and keeping customers happy.
