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Off-the-shelf market research reports offer a cost-effective alternative to customized market research. Buying a market research report instead of commissioning customized research can save thousands of dollars in research costs. Many research firms these days publish some of their research through these reports in the aim of covering their research costs through a high volume of purchases.
Finding Market Research Reports
As the popularity of of-the-shelf market reports increased many aggregators or resellers opened up shops which offer a one-stop-shop where market reports from numerous research firms around the world are listed. These resellers have portfolios of thousands of reports covering anything from the paper or packaging market to the mobile payment or RFID markets.
World Leading Resellers
Research and Markets - the world's largest market research resource with over 385,000 market research reports.
Market Research.com - over 160,000 market research reports from over 600 publishers.
Mindbranch - acquired by Marketresearch.com in 2005 but still operates independently.
Global Information Inc. (GII) - a Japanese reseller with multilingual support and several brand names:
-- The Infoshop - GII's English website
-- GII - Japanese website
-- GII Korea - Korean Website
-- Études Marché - French website
Marketsensus - a Hong Kong based reseller with a collection of over 25,000 market research reports.
PK&Wise - a Korean reseller
Report Buyer
Choosing a Market Research Report
Now that you found a few market research reports that may answer your research needs on one of the websites above, here are a few things to watch for when choosing the right report for you.
Remember, in most cases, market research reports are unrefundable.
Language - almost all of market research reports coming from China are written in Chinese first and then translated into English. Check and see the Table of Contents, if it is written in poor English, then chances are the rest of the report is written in even poorer English, and sometimes over 100 pages of it... Now if it is a data-heavy report than that may be fine, but still something worth considering.
China focus - most reports are written first in Chinese and for a Chinese audience. If your knowledge of China is limited, than that may be a problem.
Call up the research firm and do the following:
- Ask to talk the report writer, ask him/her how the research was done and how the data was gathered. This may give you a better idea if if the report has the information you require and whether it is reliable or not.
- Request a follow-up conference call after the report purchase to answer any questions you may still have. Most research firms will be happy to offer this.
- Price is almost always negotiable, negotiate.
Should I buy from the reseller or direct from the market research firm?
Buying from the reseller
Buying direct from the reseller allows for an easy one-stop-shop experience. After finding a report, payment is easy and straught forward, often with many different payment options available. In addition, resellers offer bulk discounts. If you are planning major purchaces from several different market research firms, than the reseller is the option for you.
Buying direct from the market research firm
Market research firms give a substantial percentage to reseller as a commission. If you are planning to buy just one report or only a few reports from just one market research firm contacting the firm directly will, almost always, result in a lower price for the report and in some cases additional consulting and follow-up questions to the report itself.
Part 3: Oursourcing Customized Market Research in China |
