Market research of the market potential of a chosen product, concentrating mainly on the primary research and developing a research methodology

Essay by moogleUniversity, Master'sC+, June 2004

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Introduction

Marketing research comprises one of the most important and fascinating facets of marketing (Malhotra and Birks (2003: p2)). "It links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information which is used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; to generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions; and to improve understanding of marketing as a process and of the ways in which specific marketing activities can be made more effective" (Malhotra and Birks (2003: p6)).

This assignment looks into the research of the market potential of a chosen product, concentrating mainly on the primary research and developing a research methodology. The research will be conducted for the company Sony Ericsson; the product is a brand line extension for the mobile phone market that is to be integrated into the gaming market. This product will offer the consumer the ability to use their mobile phone as a gaming device and play against other users via Bluetooth and GPRS.

At present, the only company selling this type of product is Nokia, with their product N-Gage.

Product Description

In October 2003, Nokia launched a hand-held gaming/mp3/radio/mobile phone called N-Gage. The N-Gage has a high quality 3D colour screen, with Bluetooth wireless connectively and GPRS support (Nokia, 2003) that enables gamers to play multiplayer games at a whole different level. The aim of Nokia was to enter the portable gaming market, competing alongside the massively popular Nintendo Game boy (RCR wireless News, 22(40)).

Background of Sony Ericsson

In September 2001, the formation of an equally owned joint mobile communications venture of Sony and Ericsson gave each side the benefits they sought. For Sony, it gained a step into the European mobile market and Ericsson gained Sony's strong consumer marketing skills. (Datamonitor 2003).

Problem Definition

This is a problem identification research that...