Market Research
Licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution – ShareAlike 4.0 International
Discover what your customers want
Business is lousy – I wonder if it’s my
pricing model?
Discover what your customers want
Customer values
• Personal and
professional goals
• Pain points
• Purchasing decisions
Customer profile
•
•
•
•
Age range
Job status
Education
Location
Primary research: Talk directly with customers
Market size
• What geographic area
are you selling in?
• How many people in
this area fit your
customer profile?
• If you were to reach 1%
of this group, how
many potential
customers is that?
Secondary research: Collect data from existing sources
Understand your competition
Colin could see that his competitor had
obviously done his market research.
Understand your competition
Consider both direct and indirect competition.
Direct competition
Indirect competition
Organizations offering the
same product or service to
the same customer base
Organizations that produce
similar products and fulfill
similar needs
Example: Nike vs. Adidas
Example: McDonald’s and
a local sushi restaurant
Understand your competition
Google it!
SEARCH…
RECORD…
IDENTIFY…
…for the key
words that you
use to describe
your idea.
…a summary of
other organizations
that are offering a
similar product or
service.
…the key features
that distinguish your
idea from what is
already out there.
E.g., “Travel app for
seniors”
E.g., price, functions,
ease of use
Understand your competition
Search start-up databases to find companies
doing similar work:
CrunchBase
www.crunchbase.com/search
Techvibes
www.techvibes.com/company-directory/global
Build a competition matrix
Value 1
Value 2
Value 3
Your company
Value 4
The essential
values your
customers look for
Competitor 1
(discovered through
primary research)
Competitor 2
Competitor 3
Your primary competition
(both direct and indirect)
Example: Travel booking app
Price
Available on
iPhone, Android
and BB
Includes
suggested local
activities
Connects to
social media
Your company
$0.99
Yes
Yes
Yes
Super Trip
$1.99
Yes
No
No
Booking Smart
$2.99
No
No
Yes
Your Trip, Your
Way
$2.99
No
No
No
Additional resource
MaRS Library
How do I identify competitors?
www.marsdd.com/mars-library/identify-competitors/