73Determining Customer Needs
A new method of looking at past history involves the big data movement. This involves
collecting vast amounts of data from seemingly unrelated sources and then using
sophisticated data analytics to sift out patterns that can zero in on customer preferences
(Crandall2013).
Market Research
Market research is a systematic approach to collecting and analyzing data about target
markets, competition, and potential customers. The goal of market research is to increase a
company’s intelligence in discovering customer needs. If a company can accurately deter-
mine what the customer wants, follow-up sales and marketing methods can be more cost
effective and relationships with customers can be improved.
Market intelligence is ...