Research Article

The Role of Market Research in Product Development (A Case study of Unilever plc, makers of close-up Toothpaste)

*¹Usman Muhammad Aklahyel, ¹Yahaya Hassan Gaya, ¹Ahmed Dahiru Askira and ²Oniovosa Stanley Oghenenyerhovwo

¹Department of Business Administration and Management, College of Business and Management Studies, Konduga, Borno State, Nigeria

²Department of Economics, Delta State College of Physical Education, Mosogar, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author E-mail: usmanngohi@gmail.com

Abstract

This research work sought to find out the role of market research in product development with a view of proffering solutions and recommendations for product development through market research. The various problems encountered in market research such as difficulty in getting the target audience of the market population, the inability of the market researcher to cover all the markets, as well as ascertaining how market research affects product’s quality, new product acceptability, shape and packaging of product, product design, customer needs satisfaction and the usefulness of market research in the improvement of product form the cardinal objective of the study. In collecting the project data to arrive at the desired objective, judgmental sampling was used as technique, while the researcher used questionnaires and personal interview to collect the data. Simple percentage method was used for analysis. From the available data, the following findings were made: That market research plays a great role in production development, enhances product quality, improves the development of a company’s product for customer satisfaction, enables producers and manufacturers to detect trends in consumer needs and wants, rakes in more sales and profits for companies, enhances company’s corporate image, enables marketers to win over customers to patronize the firm’s product thereby widening the market for the product, and swings the buying behavior of the consumer positively towards the company’s product. The recommendations made from the findings were that: (i) Producers of goods and services should make periodic budgets for market research and the development of their products or services. (ii) Manufacturers should be objective while carrying out market research with the aim of achieving the goals and targets of the research. (iii) Market research should be made a periodic exercise by manufacturers, and (iv) Specific company staff should be recruited and charged with the responsibility of going into the field (marketplace) to carry out the market research at specific intervals.

Keywords: Market Research, Product Development, Close-up Toothpaste