Market research a must to face challenges -MTI chief

The local economy is thriving at present while the global economy is challenging and therefore to face the competition effective insights and intelligent decision making is critical said head of MTI Consulting Hilmy Cader.

He said to have effective insights and make intelligent decisions market research is a must as it gives you the understanding of the consumer behaviour and response.

Today, the market has a greater choice of brands, products,media, channels, financing and new social operating systems such as yahoo, skype,google. Therefore, market research is a must to face the challenges be it an individual or a business. Today there are challenges in every facet of life which includes confusion, chaos and change. It also encompass changing perceptions and attitudes which includes ethics, governance, conflict, environment, individualism, social integration and lifestyle.

Due to the global economy undergoing a recession there is a change in the buying hierarchy as well as in the buying and usage drivers. Cader said that the buying hierarchy has undergone tremendous change within the past 15 years and today frugality is fashionable while value is in vogue

Any business has to understand individuals but very little measurement and marketing research are being done. Marketing as a discipline goes unaccounted but due to the frugality of the people's lifestyle, integrated research has to be done where you look at the lifestyle of the individual and try to fit the product rather than looking at one category.

He said most often companies engage consultants and do research but it sits idle and doesn't contribute to the bottomline of the company but when our company is engaged in research, we ensure that we get all the people of the organisation engaged in the process.

We even get the senior management to work in the counters this gives them first hand experience of customer behaviour. Cader said LOLC got their services and now is the third most profitable company in Sri Lanka.

He said start with a simple question but as the environment is dynamic the research should be flexible and most importantly it should deliver results and contribute to the bottomline. Cader said that the senior management of the companies that they undertake to do market research are very understanding and flexible. I experienced it when I was initiating the workshop for the Seylan Bank the top management including Ishara Nanayakkara and Ajith Devasurendra who were there contributed positively to the discussions sharing their ideas as well.

He said that use of market research as a risk management tool has increased but still it is on the low side and there is much more potential in this area.When questioned about the frugality of Sri Lankans, Cader said that they are not frugal at present but with what is happening in the west it is bound to happen in Sri Lanka in the near future. SG