We live in an increasingly interconnected and fast world. A few decades ago, innovations took a few years to spread throughout the world. Do you remember the premieres of the highest-grossing movies? Before they were not released all over the world at the same time and we had to wait for it to arrive in theaters in our city with a certain delay compared to the premiere in its country of origin. The same thing happened with goods and services. They were not available everywhere at the same time.
However, today we have become accustomed to news reaching anywhere on the globe on the same date thanks to new technologies. This has forced us to live in an increasingly dizzying environment since the time interval between one new thing and the next has almost disappeared. The immediacy forces us or all of us, including the people who dedicate ourselves to Market Research, to be very attentive to remain updated at all times.
Despite this, there are some phenomena and situations that do not spread evenly throughout the world. This is because not all regions of the world have the same conditions. Some examples that we can give in this regard are the different internet data upload and download speeds between countries, the differentiated offer of smartphones and the publication of certain audiovisual content (it is not for nothing that some people insist on using VPN to mimic the location of your devices).
What to do when you want to know about a topic that is very recent? On these occasions, what we can do first is a desktop investigation that helps us find any information that exists on that topic of interest. If in this first stage all sources were exhausted without success, it is necessary to go to the field to qualitatively inquire of consumers about what they know or perceive regarding the object of study. Afterwards, quantitative inquiries can be carried out to measure the variables that we already know and that apply to the new topic under analysis.
Of course, the work path described above is a very general formula and may not apply in all cases. In each project, it will be worth establishing a work table with analysts who have extensive experience in research so that, based on their knowledge, they can propose the most viable alternative based on the particular situation of each company or brand. However, it can be considered that the desk study formula – qualitative study – quantitative study is very useful for many cases.
Perhaps on occasion there will be an attempt to let time pass and allow other companies and organizations to delve deeper into the novelty in the market and use them to satisfy data and information needs. This is a serious mistake that can result in a loss of competitiveness in the medium and give the advantage to those who have invested in cutting-edge research when no one has done so before.
At Acertiva we have almost two decades of experience in understanding the Latin American Market. We put our analysis and field research team at your disposal to meet your needs in our region. Write us today to tell us about your projects. We can be your regional allies.
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