Meaning & use
market research
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
The organized collection and study of information about customers, competitors, and market conditions to help businesses make decisions.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: you say 'do market research' or 'market research shows', not 'a market research'.
Patterns
- do market research
- conduct market research
- market research shows something
- market research on something
Before launching the new product, the company conducted extensive market research.
Market research shows that younger consumers prefer buying online.
She works in market research, analyzing survey data for a large firm.
Common combinations
- conduct market research
- They conducted market research to understand why sales had dropped.
- market research firm
- A market research firm was hired to gather customer feedback.
- market research survey
- The market research survey asked about brand awareness and buying habits.
- do market research
- We need to do some market research before we decide on the price.
Synonyms and how they differ
- consumer research
- Focuses specifically on customers' preferences and behavior; market research is broader and also covers competitors and overall market trends.
- market analysis
- Often refers to the interpretation of data rather than the collection process; market research includes gathering the information.
Word family
- market researcher noun
- A person whose job is to collect and study market information.
- research noun
- The careful study of a subject to discover new facts.
Commonly confused: market research or marketing research?
market research vs marketing research
Sometimes used interchangeably, but 'marketing research' is broader and includes research on advertising, pricing, and distribution, while 'market research' focuses on the market and customers.
Practice
The company wants to know what customers think of its new design, so it decides to ____.
Choose one answer.
'Market research' is uncountable, so you say 'do market research'. 'Make a market research' and 'do a market research' wrongly treat it as countable, and 'market researches' is not used.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “market research”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.