4 Demographic Concepts Used In Marketing Research

The object of study of Market Research is to substantiate and reduce uncertainty in the decisions of the people who design marketing plans. The exchange of goods and services is an activity carried out by people and it is for this last reason that many social sciences tend to be powerful allies to deepen the knowledge of consumers.

Among the disciplines that Market Research uses are Economics, Geography, Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, Semiotics, among others. Demography is also included in this group. This science closely related to Statistics is responsible for characterizing human populations from a quantitative point of view.

That is why today we list four basic demographic concepts that market analysts apply in many projects.

  1. Quantification. Perhaps the most basic piece of information that many market researchers need to know is the number of people in a particular market. There is usually a directly proportional relationship between the size of a market and other marketing variables such as the number and size of points of sale and the volume of the offer.
  2. Territorialization. Knowing the spatial limits of the place where a segment of the target population lives is the second category of demographic study with the greatest interest in market studies. Although some territorial scopes are assumed based on the political-administrative divisions of many countries, sometimes new zoning or areas are designed based on particular research needs. A classic case of this is the Nielsen Zones.
  3. Description. Knowing the characteristics of populations is a highly pursued task in Marketing. This is due to the fact that in our days the supply and demand has become hyper specialized. In other words, it is necessary to know more attributes of potential consumers in order to focus the efforts of brands on increasingly specific niches.
  4. Evolution. Thanks to the advancement of technologies, it is possible to collect and analyze an impressive number of data in ever shorter times. Anticipating changes in populations in the form of increases, decreases and migrations allows people who design business plans to prepare for medium-term scenarios.

Although at first it seems to be a somewhat simple and even routine task, the mastery and analysis of demographic data requires a deep experience and understanding of concepts of mathematics and other sciences in order to get the most out of the inputs obtained in the field and from secondary sources. It is for this reason that market research agencies make sure they have experts in this field.

At Acertiva we have almost twenty years of experience in Market Research in Latin America. If you are looking for a regional ally to develop your marketing studies, you can write to us so that we can tell you how we can be your suppliers in the region.



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