Market research blends consumer behavior and economic trends to confirm and improve your business idea.

It’s crucial to understand your consumer base from the outset. Market research lets you reduce risks even while your business is still just a gleam in your eye.

Gather demographic information to better understand opportunities and limitations for gaining customers. This could include population data on age, wealth, family, interests, or anything else that’s relevant for your business.

Then answer these questions to get a good sense of your market.

Demand: Is there a desire for your product or service?
Market size: How many people would be interested in your offering?
Economic indicators: What is the income range and employment rate?
Location: Where do your customers live and where can your business reach?
Market saturation: How many similar options are already available to consumers?
Pricing: What do potential customers pay for these alternatives?
You’ll also want to keep up with the latest small business trends. It’s important to gain a sense of the specific market share that will impact your profits.

You can do market research using existing sources, or you can do the research yourself and go direct to consumers.
Asking consumers yourself can give you a nuanced understanding of your specific target audience. But, direct research can be time consuming and expensive. Use it to answer questions about your specific business or customers, like reactions to your logo, improvements you could make to buying experience, and where customers might go instead of your business.

@chewie Thanks, I'm focusing on real business and factories cos it's weak in my country ,We encourage investment in here, but I look up to join the forex market too.

Porter theorized that understanding both the competitive forces at play and the overall industry structure are crucial for effective, strategic decision-making, and developing a compelling competitive strategy for the future.

In Porter's model, the five forces that shape industry competition are

1. Competitive rivalry
This force examines how intense the competition is in the marketplace. It considers the number of existing competitors and what each one can do. Rivalry competition is high when there are just a few businesses selling a product or service, when the industry is growing and when consumers can easily switch to a competitor's offering for little cost. When rivalry competition is high, advertising and price wars ensue, which can hurt a business's bottom line.

2. The bargaining power of suppliers
This force analyzes how much power a business's supplier has and how much control it has over the potential to raise its prices, which, in turn, lowers a business's profitability. It also assesses the number of suppliers of raw materials and other resources that are available. The fewer supplier there are, the more power they have. Businesses are in a better position when there are multiple suppliers.

3. The bargaining power of customers
This force examines the power of the consumer, and their effect on pricing and quality. Consumers have power when they are fewer in number but there are plentiful sellers and it's easy for consumers to switch. Conversely, buying power is low when consumers purchase products in small amounts and the seller's product is very different from that of its competitors.

4. The threat of new entrants
This force considers how easy or difficult it is for competitors to join the marketplace. The easier it is for a new competitor to gain entry, the greater the risk is of an established business's market share being depleted. Barriers to entry include absolute cost advantages, access to inputs, economies of scale and strong brand identity.

5. The threat of substitute products or services
This force studies how easy it is for consumers to switch from a business's product or service to that of a competitor. It examines the number of competitors, how their prices and quality compare to the business being examined, and how much of a profit those competitors are earning, which would determine if they can lower their costs even more. The threat of substitutes is informed by switching costs, both immediate and long-term, as well as consumers' inclination to change.

@kaia_ We are looking about what to do after Covid-19

Market research blends consumer behavior and economic trends to confirm and improve your business idea.

It’s crucial to understand your consumer base from the outset. Market research lets you reduce risks even while your business is still just a gleam in your eye.

Gather demographic information to better understand opportunities and limitations for gaining customers. This could include population data on age, wealth, family, interests, or anything else that’s relevant for your business.

Then answer these questions to get a good sense of your market.

Demand: Is there a desire for your product or service?
Market size: How many people would be interested in your offering?
Economic indicators: What is the income range and employment rate?
Location: Where do your customers live and where can your business reach?
Market saturation: How many similar options are already available to consumers?
Pricing: What do potential customers pay for these alternatives?
You’ll also want to keep up with the latest small business trends. It’s important to gain a sense of the specific market share that will impact your profits.

You can do market research using existing sources, or you can do the research yourself and go direct to consumers.
Asking consumers yourself can give you a nuanced understanding of your specific target audience. But, direct research can be time consuming and expensive. Use it to answer questions about your specific business or customers, like reactions to your logo, improvements you could make to buying experience, and where customers might go instead of your business.