Market research help for business plan

[amy1983]

Hi everyone

I've got an idea for a business and I'm planning to get a bank loan. My business plan looks good, but the market research section is missing. I've been looking around to find a good market research company and there are so many of them, but they are all out of my budget.

I can do my market research after getting a loan (because I will have the money!), but how can I get some good data for low/no cost, before that point? I have considered surveymonkey and similar, but that requires pushing the link to other people, which I'm afraid will introduce bias and not very good answers. I want some good impartial data. Is this even possible with no budget?

Thanks in advance for any help

[Harold Mansfield]

What market? What's the industry? We can't tell you if there are any no cost, or low cost solutions without knowing what you're looking for.

[amy1983]

Thank you Harold.

It's a consumer product, principally UK (although would be 'nice to have' to see if it would work in the USA). I don't want to give too much away but it's a general purpose product that any or most home might want (in theory - but that's the bit I'm not sure about). So it's just general consumer research I'm after.

[Harold Mansfield]

Thank you Harold.

It's a consumer product, principally UK (although would be 'nice to have' to see if it would work in the USA). I don't want to give too much away but it's a general purpose product that any or most home might want (in theory - but that's the bit I'm not sure about). So it's just general consumer research I'm after.

Too general. If you can't share any specifics then you're going to have to narrow down an industry on your own. A university library is a good place to start for data. There may even be some government resources online.

For instance UNLV has a ton of numbers and resources about gaming and the casino industry. Find a university with a specialty or education in what you need to know and they should have some numbers for that industry.

[vangogh]

What are you hoping to learn from the market research? What are you hoping to find out that you'll include in your business plan? Like Harold said, without any specific information all we can do is point you to a marketing research company.

You can try Survey Monkey or similar, but you'll have the same issue of pushing links to people. Some might provide people to fill out the forms for an additional cost, though I'm thinking there would be just as much bias in those.


I'm planning to get a bank loan

Just remember that the bank doesn't have the same plans as you. I know you want to keep costs down with the research, but one question the bank will probably ask is how much of your own money are you putting into this. If you aren't putting up your own money, the signal the bank takes away is you don't have enough confidence in the idea so why should they give you money.

If you're counting on the loan to start the business, it's probably worth investing something in the research.

[bthomd]

It is so important to have a really good understanding of your market. Have you determined your target demographic or your ideal customer? There are a ton of low cost ways and guerilla tactics to get some market feedback. I assume from your post you have or are proposing a tangible consumer product business. Please correct me if I am wrong.

As far as general market information such as market size, population and demographics, you can consult the statistical agency in your country, county, or municipality for some general numbers. For more detailed information you can find ways to get a minimum viable product in front of some of your target market and get some real feedback. That would be useful for both showing there is a viable market for your product and to help you refine and develop your product.

At the same time that you are engaged in gathering data on the ground you could even possibly find someone on a platform like Fiverr.com for a very low cost, to scour the internet for available data. The researchers on services like Fiverr won't be as thorough as you will be and you shouldn't expect their report to be the clincher, but it will certainly help you gather some decent data and save time.

I think it would be best to have the whole market understanding thing sorted before bringing you plan to a bank or other financer for review. The market research is going to allow you to show that 1) there is a market for your product, 2) the numbers in your financial projections are based on real-data, and 3) your not building a "field of dreams" but providing something for which there is a confirmed demand. This will be very important for the financiers to determine the risk. If they can't determine the risk they likely won't pony up the cash.

Brian Davis

[Paul]

There are “off the shelf” market analysis reports you can buy online for many industries. They at least provide basic info such as market size, some demographics info, competitors etc. You can also glean plenty of info from online searches and other free info. Unless your product/service is new and unique you can almost always find relevant competitive info.

If you are selling a household item you can find the overall household product market size, the segment market size and whittle it down to a very specific market size for your item. The best validation of a market is always data on competitive products; obviously successful competitors prove the market. The market analysis of course is different than the market strategy and /or competitive analysis.

[TomasRed]

I don’t mean to be rude, but have you tried googling and looking closely at alternatives to SurveyMonkey? I know that all the survey websites are quite similar, but if you hunt around a bit you might be able to find two or three websites that together will give you what you need. I googled ‘free survey’ and ‘free market research’ and got:
zoho.com
numbuzzresearch.com
esurveycreator.com
sogosurvey.com
And that’s a random few I picked off the first pages.
Have you REALLY taken a good look at these?