How to Do a Market Study
Researching markets can be awfully difficult without a good plan of action. In one of
our first tutorials we covered the important issues for doing a market study including
collecting market metrics, undertaking competitive analysis and presenting the final
report.
Nghien cuu thi truong co the het suc kho khan khi khong co mot ke hoach hanh dong
tot. Trong mot vai huong dan quan trong dau tien ma chung toi dua ra trong viec thiet
lap nghien cuu thi truong bao gom nhung thong ke co ban ve thi truong, chien luoc canh
tranh va gioi thieu nhung bao cao cuoi cung.

A Guide for Researching Markets
This tutorial provides information and guidelines that professionals and students should
consider when presented with the task of researching a market. What follows is NOT a
marketing plan. Rather what follows is a market study, a component within the larger
marketing plan. (For more information on developing a marketing plan see our
marketing plan tutorial.) Thus, the information provided should not focus so much on
what is being planned but on what has been learned about the market. However, you
can allude to what you plan to do in order to set the stage for why you are collecting
certain types of data. For example, you can say "Product X is planned to target a
specific segment of the XYZ market, consequently, we have investigated certain
aspects of this market." Those interested in following these guidelines should not limit
themselves to what is shown. Feel free to include more if it is appropriate.
The guidelines apply to almost all products and services. Additionally, these guidelines
can be adjusted in order to be used as a study of a company as a whole and not just
products/services. Please note this is an ever evolving set of guidelines
so you may want to check back on a regular basis for any updates.
This tutorial includes the following topics:
1. How to Do a Market Study
2. General Format - Parts 1-3
3. General Format - Parts 4-5
4. Competitive Analysis Guidelines

o Individual market segments
 Current size
 Potential size
 Actual penetration of current products/service within the total
market
o Usage rates
 Frequency of product purchases
• Growth estimates (current and future) for:
o Overall market
o Individual market segments
General Format
4. Competitive Analysis
• Summary of Current Competitors
o Listing by market share ranking (by each target market if possible)
• Current Competitors - full analysis of top competitors including:
o Products & Services (e.g., description, uniqueness, pricing, etc.)
o Market share
o Current customers
o Positioning and promotion strategies
o Partnerships/Alliances/Distributors
o Recent news
o SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats
It is extremely important to focus attention on the SWOT section of this report. While
most other information in this report can be gleaned from company and secondary
materials, much of what appears in the SWOT section is based on the researcher’s own
perceptions of the
 competitor based on the information collected. Consequently,
this is often one of the hardest areas of the report to write.
o And other information as shown in the examples in the next section
• Potential Competitors

performance, trends, market share for product
• Marketing – includes sections on products and services offered, target markets,
positioning, customers/users, pricing model, promotional efforts, sales force, and
distribution
• Other Issues – includes sections on technology capability, partnership
arrangements, intangible issues
• Competitors – list key competitors facing this company
• SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Presenting the Market Study
When a formal marketing study is to be presented in a written form we suggest the
following guidelines.
The formal document is preferably in a double-spaced format but that is not a
requirement. The plan is recommended to be delivered in a large binder and should
include the following:
• Section One - contains written report with Title Page, Table of Contents,
Executive Summary, Body of Report and Endnotes that contains full citations.
Include charts or graphs in body of document, however, if there is a page count
limit it is generally suggested only small graphics go in the main body and the rest
be placed in an Appendix section. Make sure all pages in the body are numbered.
Preferably this section can itself be bound (e.g., spiral) and inserted in the large
binder. This way just this section can be removed.
• Section Two - if needed include an Appendix for larger graphics and other
important materials such as a survey, tabulations, etc.
• Section Three - (optional) all referenced documents, websites, etc. (printed out
if possible) are included here. Try to section off these documents using tabs. For
large documents, such a large research reports, place in a folder that has holes for
the binder. For things that can’t be included, such as books, it is suggested that a
photocopy of the book’s title page, copyright page and then the page(s) from which
material is referenced.
• All Files - (optional) A storage device of some kind (e.g., floppy disk, CD,