Market Research
Senior 5 · Entrepreneurship
Market Research
Lesson 2 of 4
25 min
After her uncle's warning, Kayitesi writes down everything she does not know about the lunch market in Rubavu town:
Each question belongs to a different element (area) of market research. Sorting questions this way shows which areas you have covered and which you have forgotten.
Definition
Element of market research: one area of the market that a business studies, such as its customers, the size of the market, the product, price, distribution, promotion or competitors.
Example: question 4 above belongs to price research.
| Element | What it studies | Kayitesi's question |
|---|---|---|
| Customer (consumer) research | Who the buyers are (age, income, job, location), their habits and their reasons for buying | 1 |
| Market size and trends | Total sales in the market by volume and value, its growth, and its segments | 2 |
| Product research | Features, quality, packaging and design customers want; tests of new products | 3 |
| Price research | Prices paid now, prices buyers would accept, and how demand responds to price | 4 |
| Distribution (place) research | Where and how customers prefer to buy; the best location and channel | 5 |
| Promotion research | Which media reach the target customers, and which messages persuade them | 6 |
| Competitor research | Rivals' products, prices, market shares, strengths and weaknesses | 7 |
| Sales research | The firm's own sales by product, area, customer and period | after launch |
Product, price, distribution and promotion research match the four parts of the marketing mix (the "4Ps": product, price, place and promotion), which is why research findings lead so directly to marketing decisions.
Definition
Market size: the total amount bought in a market over a period. It is measured by volume (number of units) or by value (money spent).
Example: "23,760 meals a month" is a volume; "Frw 35.6 million a month" is a value.
Definition
Market share: one firm's sales as a percentage of total market sales over the same period.
Example: sales of Frw 4.5 million in a market worth Frw 22 million give a share of about 20.5%.
Worked example 1: estimating market size
A count shows about 1,800 office and shop workers within a ten-minute ride of the kitchen. A survey finds that 60% of them buy lunch on working days, at an average of Frw 1,500. There are 22 working days in a month. (Illustrative figures.)
Volume: meals a month.
Value: Frw a month.
What it means for Kayitesi: if she wins a 5% share, she sells meals a month, which is meals a day. She can now check whether 54 meals a day covers her rent, wages and moto costs.
Worked example 2: competitor shares and growth
Last month the lunch market near the kitchen was worth Frw 22,000,000: Restaurant A sold Frw 9,000,000, Canteen B Frw 6,000,000, Vendor group C Frw 4,500,000 and all others Frw 2,500,000. A year earlier the market was worth Frw 20,000,000 a month. (Illustrative figures.)
| Seller | Sales (Frw) | Working | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant A | 9,000,000 | 40.9% | |
| Canteen B | 6,000,000 | 27.3% | |
| Vendor group C | 4,500,000 | 20.5% | |
| Others | 2,500,000 | 11.4% | |
| Total | 22,000,000 | 100% (100.1% after rounding) |
Market growth: a year.
Interpretation: one restaurant leads with about two-fifths of the market, but a growing market is easier to enter, because a newcomer can win some of the new spending instead of taking every sale from an established rival.
Whatever the element, the information comes in two pairs of kinds.
| Quantitative (numbers) | Qualitative (opinions, reasons, feelings) | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (collected first-hand by the business) | Kayitesi's count of 1,800 workers; 60 survey answers on price | A discussion with eight bank clerks about why they skip lunch |
| Secondary (already collected by someone else) | Census figures for Rubavu District; a bank's report on household spending | A newspaper article on changing eating habits in towns |
Definition
Primary data: information collected for the first time, by or for the business, for its own purpose (field research). Secondary data: information that already exists because someone else collected it for another purpose (desk research).
Example: a survey Kayitesi runs gives primary data; a population table from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) is secondary data.
Definition
Quantitative data: information expressed as numbers that can be counted and calculated, such as sales, prices or how many people chose an answer. Qualitative data: information about opinions, attitudes and reasons, usually in words, which explains why people behave as they do.
Example: "42 of 60 workers would pay Frw 2,000" is quantitative; "I don't trust food I can't see being cooked" is qualitative.
Secondary research is usually done first, because it is cheaper and quicker; primary research then fills the gaps that published data leave.
Warning
Check secondary data before you trust it. Ask four questions: Who collected it, and why? When? Does it cover my area and my customers? Is the method explained? A national average income tells you little about office workers in one town, and a report from five years ago may describe a market that has changed.
Two Teachers, "Secondary Market Research Explained". Watch for the difference between internal and external secondary sources, and for the advantages and drawbacks of using data someone else collected.
Tip
Two questions sort any data. "Did we collect it ourselves?" (yes: primary; no: secondary). "Is it a number?" (yes: quantitative; no: qualitative). Every piece of data sits in one of the four boxes of the table above.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the Rubavu lunch-market case, the hub diagram, the tables, the worked examples and the practice items. The business, names and figures are illustrative (2026).
