Abstract:

Industrial market research Is the Investigation of the markets for capital goods by means of the approved market research methods adapted to the special requirements of the Industrial market. Industrial or capital goods are those products which are sold by one manufacturer to another, whether these products are finished, semifinished or serve as raw materials to the buying manufacturer. Industrial market research as It Is known to-day Is of a much more recent date than Is consumer research. Basically, it has taken over the techniques used In consumer market research, but it has also evolved methods of Its own which originated in the special requirements for this type of research which differ on some occasions widely from those of consumer market research. In this paper these differences will be pointed out whenever necessary. The scope of industrial market research is much wider and, at the same time, in some respects, much narrower than consumer market research. To take the latter first, psychological techniques of Investigation, known In consumer research as motivation research, are hardly used in the investigation of the industrial markets. Industrial market research has never indulged in "nose counting" as has' been the case with consumer market research for a long time and as it is still practised there. Industrial market research has one paramount aim: to forecast the development of the market for a particular Industrial product for, at least, the next five years and often for the next ten years.