A  market research report is an oral or written presentation, which includes a research project’s objectives, methodology, findings, and recommendations. Market research reports also provide information on an industry’s competitive landscape, current and future trends, industry size, key competitors, etc.

Comprehensive, high-quality market research reports offer valuable information ranging from the global forecast and market growth rate to a meticulous regional market analysis and industry analysis (including the state of competition and profitability).

AI (Artificial Intelligence), augmented reality, gamification, microdata collection, and non-conscious measurement are some of the emerging technologies helping market researchers conduct consumer research better and faster through a richer and more personalized stream of consumer data.

Businesses use market research reports to make calculated decisions, prepare RFPs, research best practices, and reduce business risks while staying on top of consumer trends and competitors’ activities.

Ready to learn more about a market research report? Keep reading!

Market Research Report: Meaning and Definition

While a market analysis report is a subset of a market research report, a market research report encompasses various aspects of market analysis, such as market segmentation analysis and PESTLE (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) analysis.

A market research report serves as an accurate and verifiable source of information with supporting data for validation.

For example, a market research report uses Harvey balls for visual communication of qualitative information to analyze the degree of the impact of market-restraining factors in the near, medium, and long term.

Research Guide

A research guide (also known as a “course guide,” “subject guide,” and “pathfinder”) helps researchers find research materials and works on a subject or a topic.

Research Phases

Secondary market research helps gather as much information as possible from research already conducted by others and published as articles, reports, textbooks, etc. On the other hand, primary research using a questionnaire allows for complete validated information leading to subsequent phases of research, including:

• Data triangulation
• Market engineering (if forecasting is involved)
• Expert validation
• Report writing

Components of a Market Research Report

A market research report typically includes the following:

Executive Summary: An executive summary summarizes the report findings clearly and crisply with charts, graphics, forecasts, infographics, etc.

Research Scope and Methodology: While the research scope relates to the extent or boundaries of a research study, the research methodology includes the type of research, data collection procedures, sample size, and study limitations, among other details.

Market Analysis: The market analysis provides an overview of market dynamics, including market volume and value. It also offers a detailed analysis of key market drivers and restraints, such as government policies and regulations and the impact of external factors like pandemic and war.

Industry Analysis: The industry analysis includes supply chain analysis and Porter’s Five Forces analysis. The Porter’s Five Forces framework examines an industry’s competitive environment and comprises the following:

• The threat of new entrants
• The threat of substitute products/services
• The bargaining power of buyers
• The bargaining power of suppliers
• The intensity of competition/competitive rivalry

Market Segmentation and Forecast: The research report dissects the market into various segments with a detailed summary of the current scenario, market outlook, and recent developments for each segment and provides a demand forecast for the forecast period.

A “bespoke” market segmentation enables the research report to better align with a client’s requirements.

Regional Market Analysis: Apart from market dynamics, regional market analysis covers critical aspects, such as government policies and regulations, key projects, market trends and developments across regions, and the global impact of geopolitical conflicts and the pandemic.

Key Company Profiles: This section presents detailed profiles of the top industry players and includes a company overview, financial overview, relevant products and services, and recent developments.

Competitive Landscape: The competitive landscape provides deep insights into the following:

• Agreements
• Joint Ventures (JVs)
• Market shares and strategies of key players
• Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
• Notable industry players
• Partnerships

Conclusions and Recommendations: Conclusions are the “key findings” from research data analysis. The “conclusions” section summarizes the main takeaways from the research and presents them concisely and meaningfully in the report. 

Recommendations are “actionable suggestions” based on the conclusions drawn from the research. The “recommendations” section outlines actions and strategies recommended for businesses or organizations to capitalize on opportunities presented in the research study.

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Types of Market Research Reports

Market research reports are available in a broad range of categories, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Automotive & Transport
• Chemicals & Materials
• Consumer Goods & Services
• Energy & Natural Resources
• Food & Beverage
• Healthcare
• Heavy Industry
• Life Sciences
• Manufacturing & Construction
• Marketing & Market Research
• Pharmaceuticals
• Public Sector
• Service Industries (including Business Services & Administration and Financial Services)
• Technology & Media
• Telecommunications & Computing

Top 10 Benefits of Market Reports

Here are the top 10 benefits of using market research reports:

#1 Discover Your Competitor’s Strengths and Weaknesses

A market research agency or company can help you with unbiased reporting and strategic research findings to adopt an “eyes-wide-open” approach and learn from competitor analysis. For instance, you can better attract your target audience or target customers and differentiate your brand from the competition with insights derived from market research.

#2 Gather Industry Information Faster

In a fast-paced industry, you need to gather information as soon as possible without spending a lot of time on primary research. Using a market research report takes the guesswork out of the data-gathering process—making available a wealth of information quickly and saving time significantly with secondary market research inputs. 

#3 Get a Holistic View of the Market

A market research report offers a holistic view market, so you are better prepared to make decisions based on complete information. Gauging overall market conditions, including current market size, potential risks, and saturation level, helps a company gain more awareness of a specific market.

In addition, market research helps understand all the key facets of consumer behavior. For example, a company can modify its product development or pricing strategy by leveraging research-backed insights into consumer shopping habits, including consumer spending and behavior patterns.

#4 Focus on Customer Demands and Needs

Reach out to your customers through in-depth interviews, focus groups, online panels, telephone surveys, web communities, and more to improve your product or customer service offerings and USP.

Keyword research is also a widely used method to identify popular search terms and phrases and gain insights into what your customers are searching for online.

#5 Identify Potential Threats and Opportunities

Don’t miss good opportunities or warning signs! A market research report enables you to examine internal and external factors affecting your business goals so you can identify your competitive advantages and disadvantages. Both primary research (fieldwork) and secondary research (desk research) can alert you to apparent dangers and potentially rewarding opportunities.

#6 Minimize Investment Risk

Investing in a market research report is often a small proportion of your investment in researching and testing the market, concept, idea, or product. For instance, market forecasts (for a specific forecast period) based on primary and secondary research facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the market and provide quantified insights to support critical business decision-making.

#7 Spot Emerging Trends

Staying on top of “what’s hot” and “what’s not” helps you be a step ahead of your competitors and exploit these trends to accelerate innovation, gain a competitive edge, improve customer satisfaction, and increase revenue.

You can use a tool like Google Analytics to gather, visualize, and analyze data and track key metrics to identify changes in customer needs and preferences.

Google Analytics offers freemium and paid services to understand the customer journey and boost marketing ROI. Small- and medium-sized businesses can use the free version to track key website metrics with features like conversion reporting and flow visualization. However, the paid version is ideal for advanced search based on attribution modeling, integration, etc. 

#8 Strengthen Your Credibility and Reputation

When you use objective analysis for decision-making, you will not only develop better business strategies but also improve your professional reputation. Instead of being the sole source of data and information, you can lend credibility and trust to your conclusions by leveraging a variety of market research reports.

#9 Use Objective Data to Make Informed Decisions

A third-party report provides a better picture of what is actually happening in a market without any bias. Such a report is necessary to accurately understand the market landscape and industry issues and position the brand better to drive business growth. A market research report’s impartiality helps get a holistic view of the market for better decision-making.

#10 Validate Internal Research

Market research reports save you time by providing answers to the most demanding questions. Even if you don’t have the time or resources to conduct primary research, you can use a market research report to validate information gathered from primary sources, such as interviews, speeches, and videos, and make research findings credible.

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Syndicated Research vs. Custom Research

Syndicated research reports are standard reports that cater to a larger audience and are ideal for preliminary or exploratory research.

While syndicated research is cheaper than ad-hoc research (research conducted as a one-off study for a specific client and a specific purpose), it does not represent exclusivity because the same results—in the form of reports, presentations, or even raw data—are made available to all subscribers.

Syndicated research is conducted and funded by a market research company in an area of interest to multiple companies or organizations within a particular industry.

Furthermore, the market research firm determines the scope of the research project based on the chosen methodology/methodologies.

Contrary to syndicated research, custom research offers the flexibility to design the research scope and methodology in alignment with clients’ requirements and enables exhaustive research to provide market intelligence critical for decision-making.

Here are the main advantages of using custom market research services:

• Accurate data collection
• Competitive advantage
• Enhanced ROI (Return on Investment)
• In-depth understanding
• Long-term growth
• Market segmentation
• New product development
• Risk mitigation
• Strategic marketing

Many leading companies invest in custom market research to gather tailored insights, focus resources on the right opportunities, develop personalized marketing strategies, and leverage growth opportunities based on the market landscape, customer needs, emerging trends, etc.

Wrapping Up

A market research report saves you hours of time and helps you solve business challenges with discerning insights and well-structured solutions.

While market research reports usually focus on buyers and sellers, industry reports focus mainly on the producers or manufacturers—analyzing their products and processes, competitive positioning, and their influence on customers.

For example, an industry report may include financial ratios, which can help determine how well an industry is doing by studying the mathematical relationship between two numbers related to the industry’s performance.

In addition to an industry overview, an industry report provides industry statistics generally used as a benchmark to assess individual performance.

Trade publications or trade journals are especially helpful for understanding industry trends and best practices, professional development opportunities, and news about agencies, brands, and marketing campaigns.

Unlike big companies, which can afford custom market reports, small business owners access customer and market information through reliable sources of free statistics, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration’s market research resource list. This list provides a diverse range of federal business statistics—from employment statistics and income statistics to sales statistics and trade statistics.

Market research reports add credibility to your work—whether you are making recommendations to a senior executive, preparing a key presentation for an important client, or refining your business plan.

A market research report is not just a systematic and structured representation of market research data—it is your secret to success in a highly competitive business environment.

Get a Comprehensive Range of Custom Market Research Services!

Blackridge Research & Consulting offers actionable insights about current market scenario. Our services include and is not limited to:

• Market Analysis and Assessment
• Customer Profiling and Insights
• Product and Strategy Development
• Business Plan Preparation
• Market Entry and Development
• Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Research
• Quantitative and Qualitative Research
• Designing and Conducting Surveys
• Pricing Research
• Risk Analysis and Mitigation

Our industry expertise and your commitment towards business goals ensures best-in-class timeliness and quality on various projects.

Contact us today to get started with research at special offer prices.