Desk Research
Making sense of information that may be valuable to your business
What it is
Desk research is an important part of the market research process and it is often neglected by many market research agencies. Many agencies will focus purely on primary data (i.e. original/first hand market research) which does run the risk of limiting the effectiveness of the market research. We feel that before undertaking any market research project, we should at least ask the question – what existing research is already out there? You’d be surprised how much information and market research data is already available, it’s just a matter of finding it!
When to use it
This technique is best used to start most market research projects and should help give guidance to plan the project ahead. At Happy we conduct desk research on many subjects such as competition, design, consumer behaviour and specific markets.
The Benefits
The benefits are endless as the internet is extremely useful when it comes to finding information on a subject. It is time consuming, which is why some people end up not doing it, but then again, this is exactly why we are here to help.
A Success Story
Flair Rugs (retail) – competitors
Being in the retail industry, Flair Rugs needs to compete for the attention of their target audience with many others. For Flair, this is done on a trade level as well as on a consumer level as they have two target markets. It was important to establish, from the very beginning of the work relationship between Happy and Flair Rugs, what their competition is all about. A thorough knowledge of their competitors makes any company aware of the stops they can pull to be ahead of the game. So, Happy conducted extensive desk research on Flair’s competition and the insights helped with establishing the need for further research as well as with the re-branding process.
