Research Panel China

Market research has become popular in recent years, since more and more foreign companies wish to settle in China’s market. In these circumstances, information about consumer demand, market trends and business opportunities is required. One of the most effective ways to collect and summarize the information about market is supposed to be a market research panel, which is now actively used by many market research companies in China. What is exactly the stake of research panel China?

Panel method of market research implies choosing people by particular criteria, which suits market needs, and gathers them together for discussion or participation in market surveys. Groups can be formed on the basis of various criteria including potential or current customers. They cannot be random as long as market research must be based on reliable responses of targeted audience. If fans of football are gathered together to participate in the survey on home flower market, their responses are very less likely to be reliable. Therefore, audience, which has an interest to the targeted product is expected to be selected.

Panel activities are unique for each market

The panel activity generally includes various tasks such as tests, surveys or focus groups. It comprises two types of market research: consumer and B2B market. As long as many businesses are interested in potential consumers while entering Chinese market and a lot of people participate in market surveys, there is more recognition and demand for consumer panels. As it was mentioned above, consumer research panel in China may require from participants to complete online surveys, keep diaries or attending a focus group. As long as focus group is a method, which implies personal contact and interaction, emotions and feelings of participants about a particular product can be easier identified. This makes focus groups one of the most commonly used method of market research panels. Daxue Consulting, a company of market research in China, uses focus groups as one of the main tools of its market research. It also gathers focus groups to help other companies with market research. As it was mentioned before, it is crucial to identify the right participants, who can really contribute to market research. Therefore, it needs to be a company with good knowledge and experience of Chinese market such as Daxue consulting. Traditional focus groups can provide accurate information and are less expensive than other forms of marketing research.

Qualitative or quantitative information ?

Market research comprises two types: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research gives an overview of a subject, based on verbal opinions and emotions. It does not usually require many participants. On the contrary, quantitative research gives a priority to statistical and objective data. It requires precise numbers, which would inform a researcher about a market. Panel activity includes both qualitative and quantitative research. Focus groups belong to qualitative research, while an online survey gives quantitative information. It is difficult to argue that one type is more important than another as long as different market needs require different types of research. For example, some feedback on particular service(for example, restaurant service) may be more useful if it involves concrete comments, complaints or praises rather than just data on percentage of “satisfied” and “not satisfied”. This is because a service provider is aware of what the customers are satisfied with and what they are not satisfied with. On the contrary, consumer demand of soft drink market is more observable if expressed in numbers.

As it mentioned above, consumer market research by means of panels is widely being done in China. Daxue Consulting, being an active market investigator in its industry, gathers groups of people for various market research projects. As long as the company has good knowledge and experience in the area, research panel in China is conducted in accordance with the concepts and standards of high quality market research.

Research panel China

See Daxue in the press: Reuter / The Guardian