Marketing consists of spotting the needs of customers and meeting them in the best possible manner. Marketing research plays a key role in this process. Starting with marketing measurement, marketing research helps the firm in every component of the total marketing task. It helps the firm acquire a better understanding of the consumer, the competition and the marketing environment. It also aids the formulation of the marketing mix. Decisions on each element of the marketing mix, product, distribution, promotion and pricing need marketing research support.

With the ever-increasing complexity of marketing and business activity, marketing research has also grown in complexity. Today, carrying out research relating to customers, products and markets requires specialized skills and sophisticated techniques. And marketing research has emerged as a highly specialized function of marketing management.

Marketing research is the systematic, objective and exhaustive search for and study of the facts relating to any problem in the field of marketing. Research on product includes studies on the competitive position of a product/ brand. Consumer research includes studies on consumer behavior and buyer motives.

In applying marketing research for solving any marketing problem, the researcher has to go through several steps or stages. Each stage has its own decisive role in the total research process. Right from defining the problem down to the preparation of the report, the researcher has to proceed step by step, like a scientist in a laboratory. Defining the marketing problem to be tackled and identifying the market research problem involved in the task is the first thing followed by specifying the information requirement.

If the definition of the problem is faulty, the research results will be misleading and confusing. For example, a problem of poor profits may sometimes be understood wrongly as a problem of inadequate sales. Apart from defining the problem correctly, it is also essential to analyze the problem in depth.