Understanding Retail Industry through Market Research

The retailing industry comprises of selling of products and merchandise from a static location- store, online or by email. This industry has three predominant sectors- multiline retail, Specialty retail and internet retail. The multiline retailers are made up of department stores and general merchandise, the Specialty retailers focus on one section of the retail market such as home improvement, apparel, electronics and sporting goods or auto parts.

The internet retailing is all about making sell through the internet. It is one of the largest industries in the world by number of businesses and number of employees. The universal adoption of mobile and internet based digital payment facility by consumers has paved the way for this growth of e-retailers. The popularity of cashless and contactless payment and the usage of mobile banking apps, QR code scanner, barcode scanner have been the major drivers of digital payment revolution in retail industry.

 Demand in retail industry is influenced by consumer confidence in products, interest rates and individual income of the consumers.Independent companies depend on the efficient promotion of the products and the supply chain to appeal to the consumer. The small businesses focus on retailing exclusive products thereby offering excellent retailing experience and consumer service and as a result highlighting their business to a specific locale. On the contrary, the large business utilise the advantages they have in their areas of merchandising, purchasing and distribution of their products.

 Retail marketing research is an economical way to ascertain customer opinions and uncover potential leads. It measures the industry and market trends and serves as a platform for the development of new products and services. The analysts examine the changes in shopping habit over the last 12 months. They look at the shopper’s attitude by using a number of techniques such as how they manage their money, how and where they spend their money, the role of the voucher and discounts and most importantly, the impact of the internet. Also a part of the survey analysis examines how consumers use shopping centre and explore the additional facilities they would like to see further such free Wi-Fi, personal shopper, secure lockers and many more to add.

 The research highlights those factors that are significant to the shopper such as choice of shops, the facilities and environment available in the shopping centre as well as how the shopping centre communicate with their customers. Besides, social media is increasingly seen as a powerful communication and marketing tool to aid the researcher with their work. The researcher also looks into how consumers are responding to the shopping centre’s use of social media.

Organisations especially that operate in the business-to-consumer market is increasingly depending on market research to support their decision making process. A retail business might think about expanding their venture and diversify their product range. In such a situation, the business requires information to understand the implication of making such changes.A market analysis in this situation provides a comprehensive view of the market trends, consumers and their behaviour and accordingly develop their products and services that satisfy their needs better than the competition. Moreover, given the increased complexity of the business environment it is no longer required to use the ‘gut-feel’ approach. Business decision can be easily made with the market research help thereby significantly reduce the level of financial risk associated with the investment decision.

 As market research capture and analyse consumer, competitor and market trend, this enable to assess the correct level of demand for the products and services. Let us quickly take a look at the British retail sales that grew faster than expected in September:

• Furniture sales gave the biggest boost from August to September
• Store price inflation rose to an annual 0.9 percent in September
• Food sales fell for a second month in September

The retail market researchers forecasted that British retailers were set to enjoy their best growth during the Christmas month. If your retail business is in need of a research, you can contact the Redshift Research who has the best methodologies to help retailers understand the appeal and potential of new product lines.