Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Market Research Industry In INDIA



Shiladitya Sarkar | IL&FS

Market Research Industry in India

MR Industry: Boardroom Moves
Emergence of new age sectors like Telecom, Media (Digital) & Insurance are helping the Market Research Industry to climb to new heights with varied analysis of Consumer Insights. Despite slowdown in the past coupled with talent crunch and dog pricing by agencies, the roughly 900 crore MR Industry (Excludes KPO) is well poised to take a big leap. The Overall Market gets divided into full services MR agencies and the KPO Services clocking around 18% of CAGR(Source: Industry Estimation). During the last couple of years there has been a consolidation between MR agencies in their scale of operations and data management practices. No wonder despite all these, India still becomes the popular destination for the MNC based research agencies since there is untapped potential of new sets of consumers with an opportunity to serve huge population. MR Team (Part of Advertising Agency during 70’s) moves from the boardrooms of Consumer Durable or FMCG companies into the boardrooms of every sector of the economy.

Inside MR: Challenges & Opportunities
Market Research is changing and that too from its early days of data collection (Pen n Paper Method) to technically prowess devices like PDA’s, mobile phones & in-built camera’s which can record exact state of the matter of every interview. At the same time, MR has become more of a commodity rather than delivering differential value to the end consumer. Still MR is being performed in mega cities and towns rather than pushing it to the rural economy which undoubtedly is the next biggest growth opportunity in our country for all the products/services. MR industry is also facing a crunch in having the right kind of people skilled with a good training background to understand the nitty gritty of the clients brief. Moreover, today’s most of the research work is being covered with a regular monitoring job like tracking, audience measurement, syndicated studies etc rather than with a specific problem. Another eaten away factor could be the nature of the industry which is fragmented and largely being driven by price factor worrying clients ranging from product’s to service industry. As a result, absence of talents due to low price factor has resulted in MR firms having a project to project assignment system where in they do the piecemeal job i.e. data collection and not the analysis which is done at the client side.
Also adding the factors like communisation of the information and the proliferation of smaller firms have led the industry not being able to get out of the talent-price circle. To get rid of this problem many MR Firms like TNS, Synovate or Nielsen is planning to arrange their own sets of training to fresh graduates for the industry. Nielsen has opened up its training centre near Mumbai with two years curriculum in the field of Market Research, similarly TNS is hiring from various backgrounds to notch up its mid-level research function. Another important factor could drive the market in future - data mining or statistical tools which could help the customers to understand the intricacies of the problem in a more simple term rather statistically define it.

Traditional Vs New Ones:
Every marketer possibly can count numerous number of advertising agencies but unfortunately this is not true for MR industry, as the industry is very fragmented in nature with many small firms on the spectrum and a few firms dominating the scene. Sadly, there is no studies available judging the ranks of the MR firms and left with more of a guestimate than on scientific calculations. The leading domestic firms are IMRB International, TNS India, Nielsen & Milward Brown etc. As per the Industry approximations, IMRB continues to be the market leader followed by Nielsen, TNS India & Others. Though there is a Society created by the market research professional, MRSI (Market Research Society of India) which has tried their best to get an agglomerative view on market research but has achieved modest success. Meanwhile, in the last couple of years the Industry has also seen the emergence of new sets of players namely Analytics, Data Mining or Warehousing firms like Absolutdata Systems, Annik Systems, and Datamation. Many of these firms earlier were Knowledge Process Organisations (KPO’s) who served foreign clients and now turning up to cater the local demand. There is another set of genre which has emerged during the past few years like HP Decision Analytics Firm or IBM Business Decision Centre or McKinsey Strategic Research Division providing their research based services to their parent companies adding values to their strategic teams. In fact what has been observed also in the past that many IT giants like Oracle, Microsoft has started expanding their own research resources within their marketing team for providing critical inputs on consumer behaviour to their strategic group. It is also observed that the consulting firms like PwC or Ernst & Young or KPMG has started advising their clients in giving them the end to end solution from sharing the market insights to conceptualization of idea’s to product designing and in turns creating lot of problems for the full service market research agencies to hold their clients.

New Tools & Techniques:
Besides the emergence of the improved data collection technique, there was a major rise towards analytics, data-mining and warehousing agencies during the last couple of years. Data warehousing is a technique to store and maintain the data that can be used for generating information and insights while data mining helps to draw a consumer insights from the large pool of longitudinal data series or a time series data. Many emergent sector like Telecom or Insurance which has grown phenomenally in the past, need these kinds of data sets to draw strong insights of their consumer behaviour towards the services of the same. There were also emerging opportunities like online research tool or business intelligence or MR outsourcing helping the clients to focus on their core competency by getting the right insights of information from their customers and thus increases the value of MR role in the decision making process. Though traditional players are enjoying a strong one to one relationship with their clients especially in the FMCG and Consumer Durable sector but these new set of genre with varied skill sets are giving lots of competition to the full services MR agencies.

Strategic Importance of MR:
In the Early years of 70’s, MR was a part of the Advertising (to gauge the advertising campaigns or launch). In the 80’s full-fledged agency had come into the landscape of research which contributed to efficient marketing management. Using different research techniques with the availability of varied statistical tools helped the marketing personal to measure the Socio Economic Strata or Ethnographic research. Later on, its scope got envisaged into various other issues like mapping the need of consumer demand, new product development or the new usage’s of the existing products, transform the industry from measuring ethnography to behavioural patterns. After the liberalization process in the early 90’s market research became even more critical where marketers can evaluate their marketing strategy based on the feedback from various segments of the market. Thus MR became one of the major component in the decision making process. But still there are lots of industries in India where marketing managers are relying on their team assessments rather on the scientific calculation of the market forces. Today, after the introduction of Internet (Social media) the entire landscape of the research has got changed with more and more real time data of the consumers getting tracked and thus further increasesing the value of the research work in the minds of the efficient and productive marketing managers.

Emerging MR Applications
It is a fact that research is the only method to discover the latent need and demand of the consumers, suggesting way and means to marketers to serve the potential and targeted consumers in the most profitable and economical way. Research includes service marketing, services quality, CRM, relationship marketing or database marketing applications. Applications of market research will help the service firms acquire more information on the new and unmet demands of the consumers, perceived service quality, closing the gaps in the services delivery and thus improving the quality of the services. The new age has immense potential to get real time information about consumers and to service them accordingly. For example, Wal-Mart India is getting the information on every consumer entering their retail shops or Pantaloons gets more critical sets of information about the buying behaviour of their consumers in their stores through observation with the help of videos or high end web cameras. Many automobiles companies are using social media channels to analyse the behaviour of their potential customers.

Driving Value Chain
Though FMCG continues to be the mainstay of the MR business (almost in the tune of 65-70% of the total pie), new sectors like Telecom, Insurance, Retail and Banking are now becoming the high growth areas for most of the research firms. Till few years back, most of the clients do not seek MR advice because they do feel that the guts of their marketing and sales people hold true in most of their transactions. But increasing unpredictability has led many more clients to understand their consumers better and hence there is a change in the attitude towards the MR firms. Also, MR companies are now moving from being a mere data supplier to becoming a partner with the client to build up a long term agency like relationship. MR firms should start looking into building consulting assignments from the existing studies to cater the same client with valuable & critical inputs rather plain vanilla market research. There is a direct competition from the emerging online search options wherein the customers gets every bits of information within seconds, so MR should spruce up its data collection and analysis tools so as to get the confidence of its customers with the MR works. MR firm should also understand that today’s CMO doesn’t has ample time to sit back and think rather they trust research firms who know their business and deliver the value accordingly.

Career in MR
Even though the industry is small in sales turnover and fragmented in nature, still there are options for one to grow and make a career in the field of market research. Don’t forget this is also a part of the service industry which is contributing almost 60% of our nation’s economy. There are interesting jobs available for people with a background in Statistics, Psychology, and Management in the field of MR. Even graduates who have a flair for doing field work can find a suitable opening in the field of MR. Some of the positions which are available in a full service market research firms are like Research Executives, Statistical Analyst, Field Supervisors, field staff etc. Contrary to sales oriented people belief that this would not be their cup of tea, lots of MR firms are now clinching people from the Sales and Marketing experience to get more clients in their kitty especially in the mid and senior level function. It is also possible for the qualified people to start their own venture as a market research agency.

Conclusion
Undoubtedly, the market research has travelled a long journey from piggybacking advertising job to the mainstay of the decision component of one organization. Market research seeks to align the enterprise with the expectation of its consumers and delivering value with its systematic analysis of the information captured. Although there were lots of changes in the past the way research is being carried but off course the IT enabled market research is a new trend which propounds ways to maximize an enterprise’s returns in the newly emerging liberalized market in India. Now is the time for the MR agencies to reap the ever growing and burgeoning customers with rapidly changing lifestyles through research work, so that Indian Marketers could be more productive, result oriented and globally the best workforce to cater the demands of their consumers. Finally, 3C strategy namely Convince, Convert and Collaborate as formulated by MRSI (Market Research Society of India) helps to take the industry into to new heights by breaking the barriers and thus increasing its share in the Indian Economy.

78 comments:

Ambika said...

This blog is very important for all of us to understand the facts about Market Research, particularly in India. It clearly explains the opportunities, techniques and Strategic Importance of Market Research. Thanks for this nice post.

Unknown said...

Where did you manage to get the statistics about the MR industry?Could you post some of the links with statistics here?

Ramandeep Singh said...

I would also like to get the link from where I could read more about Market research industry.A brief study about Major players like TNS & IMRB will be highly appriciated.

MRTrainer said...

We are looking for Freshers aspiring to make career in Market Research Industry. We will provide approx. 90 hours training and after successful completion of the training we will provide assistance in placement in our associated companies.

Contact - 9768773816

AVINASH PONUGUPATI said...

Really a good soup about MR industry..
A inner study of major indian MR industries like TNS, IMRB, Neilson gives the readers a little more tinge..

Unknown said...

Really its a very good information that you have shared and thanks for sharing with us.
Market Research Companies in India

Unknown said...

I am looking for market research freelance work in Kerala .If you have any type of market research work, please give me a chance . I have vast experience in this field . Also we have a good experienced team here.My phone number is 9562512065

Unknown said...

Dexter Consultancy specializes in market research in India. They have complete many projects in India successfully. They have strong research network even in the remote part of country.

Unknown said...

Time Research Private Limited offers a full range of quantitative and qualitative Market research Company in India and Market research Company in Delhi.For more detail visit our website http://www.worldwideachievers.in

Anonymous said...

hey nice source for us and i read this it is amazing and providing the information in smart and easy way which i needed and i have to bookmark this blog for the future use.

field market research services

Unknown said...

This information you provided in the blog that was really unique I love it!!, Thanks for sharing such a great blog Enterprise Mobile Security (EMS) Market Report | Natural Language Processing (NLP) Market Report

Market Research India said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Great information to read, i learns a lot while reading this post. thanks for this blog Competitive Intelligence | Market Research Services

Unknown said...

Its a very good information that you have shared and thanks for sharing.

Market Research translation Services

StarIndia Equity Tips said...

This absolute market research gives a profit margin with better chances to hit the market with a right turns.

Commodity Trading Tips
Nifty Future Tips

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing such a wonderful post.
Market Research Services

Anonymous said...

Thanks for share blog construction industry.
news magazine for construction

Unknown said...

Thanks For Sharing Information. Your Blog content Really helpfull for me.

Ludhiana bicycle Industry

Unknown said...

This post gives detail information about Market Research industry in india. Thank you so much for sharing this post. If you want more information please visit us at:
Food Handling Conveyor Belts Manufacturer in Mumbai

Bindhu said...

This post gives detail information about Market Research industry in india. Thank you so much for sharing this post Aluminium Scaffolding

123456 said...

nice. visit our best advertising agency in pune

Unknown said...

OCR Service in Bangalore
data conversion Service in Bangalore
data-entry Service in Bangalore

Unknown said...


We are urgently in need of Human Parts such as kidney donors,Liver Donors,Babies in Kokilaben Hospital India for the sum of $450,000,00,Donors are to reply via
Email: kokilabenbabycare@gmail.com
WhatsApp +91 779-583-3215

SCINTILLA KREATIONS said...

I am really impress with you for the selecting of new and unique topic and also well written article on it. I always prefer to read the quality content and this thing I found in you post. thanks for sharing with us..
http://scintilladigi.com/

Anonymous said...

very Useful information that you have shared and thank you for sharing.


Advertising Agency in Hyderabad

Unknown said...

Great job for publishing such a beneficial web site. Your web log isn’t only useful but it is additionally really creative too. There tend to be not many people who can certainly write not so simple posts that artistically. Continue the nice writing.for information regarding job counsultant service please visit to the link.
job consultancy in lucknow

Ayyappa said...

This is a very informative article.you've done great job.I would definitely refer this article to people.Thank you so much for your effort.
Camera On Rental In Hyderabad

AzothAnalytics said...

Nice articles know more visit us: market research agency

Centumad.com said...

Advertising Services Provider Agency in Delhi - Centum is a well-known advertising and marketing services provider agency in Delhi NCR, India. It offers Print, Outdoor, ATL, BLT, PR, Television, media, Radio, Events and Exhibitions, Social Media marketing, new papers ads, and ads in magazines, SEO& digital marketing services at affordable price. If you are looking for same visit: Centum.

ijaaz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
divya.webleonz said...

Thanks for making such a cool post which is really very well written will be referring a lot of friends about this.

Thank for sharing such a valuable information..

Marketing Research Consultant

Color Wave Media said...

Your blog looks like worth reading, i really liked it. Thanks for sharing and keep writing.
Top Advertising Agency in Hyderabad
Top Brand Promotion Agency in Hyderabad
Best Signages Agency in Hyderabad

anusha said...




AWS Training in Chennai AWS Training in Chennai in weekends.Learn AWS in just 5 weekends from BITA-Best Training Institute in Chennai.

Color Wave Media said...

Thanks For Sharing this valuable information with us,it is really helpful article!
Top Branding Agency in Hyderabad
Top Digital Marketing Agency in Hyderabad

Ayyappa said...

Very informative article really love the way you write. worth visiting as well as worth recommending to the people.Thanks to you for sharing this helpful information with us.keep going.
IIT Coaching In Hyderabad
Best IIT JEE Coaching Center In Hyderabad

Jocasta Williams said...

This blog is so good.Thank you for sharing information for Advertising agency is so helpful for us.
Top Advertising Agency in India

sandeep capitalstars said...

nice post amazing content
precious metals free commodity tips

India economy said...

Thanks for sharing informative blog.
We offer concise and insightful analysis on the Indian Economy
through our regularly updated macroeconomic data, commentary and interactive charts.

Refers at:

India economic data
Current data of Indian economy
India macroeconomic indicators 2017
latest data on Indian economy
India economic indicator statistics

PIE MULTILINGUAL SERVICES said...

Wonderful. To stay competitive in this technologically advancing world, pharmaceutical organizations needs outsourcing clinical research activities to third party organizations. Similar blog that amazed me about Healthcare Research Services: https://www.piemultilingual.com/market-research-services/pharmaceutical-research/

PIE MULTILINGUAL SERVICES said...

thanks for sharing such a nice product .. Chain Management Research Company .. for more info visit
https://www.piemultilingual.com/market-research-services/supply-chain-intelligence/

Arrowpointindia said...

Nice blog, its informative, Are you loooking For Market Research Companies in Chennai arrow point is the best place to advising top companies from all sectors on strategy, marketing, transformation and digital.

Clickvio said...

GMI Research is a market research & consulting firm which helps its client to address their most pressing strategic and business challenges. Our market research helps our clients to address business challenges and also helps them to make better business decisions with our fact-based insights, intelligence, and data. Our insights and intelligence equip our clients with information not known to them and aid them in solving the toughest business problems.

shubhmaha said...

Very informative post. You can check this out too
Facts About Indian Pharmaceutical Market

Zigna Analytics said...

Marketing Analytics Services | Marketing Analytics Consultant in USA. Improve Your Marketing Performance with Advanced Analytics Services. Zigna Analytics will help you to obtain the exact analysis of market from their Marketing Analytics Solutions.

Unknown said...

Now the industry had changed a lot, still carries some of the issues mentioned in this article. Good article indeed. Its time to think of beyond data... should see how MR is helpful in achieving the client business objective - Raja Sattanathan, Amura Business Solutions Private Limited, www.amura.pro

Market Research Agency - Market Xcel said...

thanks for sharing this informative blogs. Market Xcel is expert in qualitative data analysis if anyone is interested then they can contact.

Sadhana said...

Excellent Post. Thanks for sharing your valuable content.
GoAir IPO
Nazara Technologies
RITES
Wadia-Group’s GoAir

Phani Kumar said...

Hey, thanks for the information. your posts are informative and useful. I am regularly following your posts.

Rallis India
PI Industries
Insecticides India
Relaxo Footwear
Dabur India
Spandana Spoorthy
M&M Financial

Payal Sathe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Payal Sathe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Payal Sathe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Payal Sathe said...

Thanks for sharing such information. Get more details on
Research Services the UK

Triverse Advertising said...

It is very informative post. Marketing research play important role for successful business. So you can research your business field market. It helps to grow your business. Digital Marketing is best option to establish your business online. It is cost effective for long life. Consult any brand Designing and creative Ad Agency In Gurgaon.

shreenikhilnitin said...


Nice blog, got lots of knowledge about advertising, It's so helpful
Best Advertising agency in Bihar

Social Media Marketing Agency said...

This is actually a commendable and magnificent blog to read and advance more tips, obliged for sharing your perspectives among us and its incredible time spending on this.social media marketing agency in chennai | branding companies in chennai

shreenikhilnitin said...

Blogs are very helpful and thank you for sharing this blog.
Best PR Agency in UP

Tara Bhardwaj said...

Thank you so much for sharing awesome blog.we offer-
best market research company in India
best market research services in Ahmedabad

Outsource Dataworks said...

Thank you for sharing.

Outsource Dataworks is a data management outsourcing services company that has extensive experience of offering Data entry, Data mining, Web research and Transcription services. Read more: https://www.outsourcedataworks.com

Anonymous said...

Hey there,
Nice blog
check out our blogs
top advertising agencies india

Sara said...

Thanks for writing this blog
Food shelf life testing , Food Market Research services

Unknown said...

Great post. Thanks for sharing.
Market research analysis

SapienceAe said...


Nice Blog! Thank you fro sharing us a valuable information! Our market research companies in Dubai covers the whole MENA and Gulf Cooperation Council area. Sapience is the Middle East's largest full-service supplier of bespoke market research, analysis, and consultancy in the consumer and business-to-business sectors. Clients, both public and private, have entrusted us with exploring, investigating, analysing, and interpreting marketplace dynamics, as well as gaining insights into consumer views and behaviour, and have utilised our data to assess and plan the results of their businesses.

SapienceAe said...


It is vital for businesses to have a call center in Dubai that can assist customers and collect feedback simultaneously including small and medium-sized companies who might have limited resources or the capability to facilitate an in-house team of customer assistance personnel.

digihost said...


Thanks for sharing this article, great post. Check out the market insights report by Makreo Research And Consulting Firm on Global Baby Food and Formula Milk Market .

Anonymous said...

mmorpg oyunlar
instagram takipçi satın al
Tiktok jeton hilesi
Tiktok jeton hilesi
Antalya Sac Ekim
referans kimliÄŸi nedir
instagram takipçi satın al
metin2 pvp serverlar
instagram takipçi

Village Talkies said...

Thank you very much for providing important information. All your information is very valuable to me.
Village Talkies a top-quality professional corporate video production company in Bangalore and also best explainer video company in Bangalore & animation video makers in Bangalore, Chennai, India & Maryland, Baltimore, USA provides Corporate & Brand films, Promotional, Marketing videos & Training videos, Product demo videos, Employee videos, Product video explainers, eLearning videos, 2d Animation, 3d Animation, Motion Graphics, Whiteboard Explainer videos Client Testimonial Videos, Video Presentation and more for all start-ups, industries, and corporate companies. From scripting to corporate video production services, explainer & 3d, 2d animation video production , our solutions are customized to your budget, timeline, and to meet the company goals and objectives.
As a best video production company in Bangalore, we produce quality and creative videos to our clients.

CollegeD said...

WOW, Such a nice blog you're amazing...Keep Posting:)
for more information please visit:-
Online career counselling in Jaipur and Best career counsellor in Jaipur

Unknown said...

Amidst the competitive age in which businesses operate, market research forms a continuous process and not merely a one-time activity. From venturing into a new market to launching a new offering, comprehensive and continuous market research insights help companies make the right decisions. But there’s more to the importance of business research reports. To know the importance of the why market research is vital visit - https://cagrreports.com/10-reasons-why-marketing-research-is-important-to-a-business/

Epical Digital said...

Normally I don't read blog posts, but I must admit that this article strongly persuaded me to give it a shot! My surprise was caused by your writing style. Thanks for the lovely post. Good luck with the upcoming! Please check out my website Epical Digital

Online Education said...

That's an amazing insights!!
Cement Manufacturing Business

Venkata Raman said...

Thanks for providing such information regarding the best marketing research companies.

Bunker Integrated said...

"The content on this website is top-notch. I learned so much and appreciate the thorough research."

Nick said...

Thanks for sharing this Blog.
If anybody is looking for Online Advertising agency in Chennai, can approach us.

Esther Tay Pictures said...

Professional Event Photographer SingaporeEsther Tay Pictures capture your corporate events in Singapore with our affordable and professional event photography and videography services.

Volume said...

Volume is a highly creative and innovative advertising agency in Delhi NCR that offers a wide range of services to help businesses effectively communicate their brand message to the target audience. Volume is a full-service creative, strategy and digital agency based in Delhi. We offer solutions in digital marketing, branding, creative strategy & advertising best ad agency in Delhi

Hottestex said...

Hottestex beauty products are the latest and most sought-after items in the beauty industry. From skincare to makeup, Hottestex offers a wide range of innovative and high-quality products that cater to every individual's beauty needs. These products are meticulously formulated using advanced technology and ingredients sourced from around the world, ensuring that they deliver exceptional results. Whether it's a hydrating serum that revitalizes the skin, a long-lasting lipstick that adds a pop of color, or a luxurious face mask that provides deep nourishment, Hottestex beauty products are designed to enhance and elevate one's natural beauty. With their trendsetting and effective products, Hottestex has become a household name among beauty enthusiasts, constantly setting new standards in the industry.


Chocolate face mask for skin hydration

Teena Saini said...

A managed service provider (MSP) is a third-party organization that offers proactive, outsourced IT services and support to businesses. These services encompass a wide range of technology-related functions, including network monitoring, cybersecurity, cloud computing, data backup, and helpdesk support. MSPs act as strategic partners, assuming responsibility for managing and maintaining an organization's IT infrastructure and systems. This approach allows businesses to focus on their core operations while benefiting from the MSP's expertise and resources. MSPs often offer scalable solutions, helping companies adapt to evolving technology needs while controlling costs. A managed service provider plays a critical role in ensuring the reliability, security, and efficiency of IT operations for businesses of all sizes.

Apeiro Solutions said...

Very great post.Thanks for sharing this post.

Top Market Research Companies in India
Find the best research companies in India that provide in-depth knowledge, data analysis, and strategic solutions to help you grow your company.

Post a Comment