Desk research

Desk market research is a method of searching, collecting, processing and analyzing secondary open and closed information without conducting field research ("at the desk").

Desk research allows to:

• clarify the situation in the target market;
• track trends in your niche;
• evaluate the market capacity;
• evaluate the market share of the brand;
• predict the development of the market;
• identify the level of competitiveness;
• analyze the pricing policy and the product range offered by the main competitors;
• identify the most effective sales channels and promotion methods;
• identify the target audience and understand the criteria for its segmentation;
• identify the growth points and potential risks of the company.

The purpose of desk market research is to collect, analyze and interpret data to develop or adjust a marketing strategy for business development.

Advantages of desk research:

• Minimum cost of collecting the necessary data vs field research;
• Analysis of information from many sources;
• High efficiency of information collection, processing and analysis vs field research;
• The ability to study highly specialized topics;
• Use of multiple sources of information (if available).

Disadvantages of desk research:

• Lack of guarantees of the reliability of information;
• Inability to describe an accurate portrait of the target audience;
• Availability of information, which means that competitors have access to it;
• Limited access to some sources of information;
• Lack of information on some topics and market segments.

To overcome the disadvantages of desk research, it is often supported with expert interviews or other methods allowing to recieve the missing information and verify the reliability of the collected data.

There are several types of desk research based on various methods of data analysis:

• Traditional analysis;
• SWOT analysis;
• Content analysis;
• PEST analysis;
• Economic and mathematical analysis;
• Case-study;
• Competitor analysis;
• Modeling;
• GAP analysis;
• Analysis of the development strategy in the market;
• Technology analysis;
• Portfolio analysis or matrix of the Boston Consulting Group and others.

Desk market research is based on the following main types of information sources:

• Legislative framework (codes of laws, federal and regional laws, decrees, by-laws, comments and explanations);
• Data from federal state statistics, as well as regional statistical agencies;
• Customs database;
• Databases of government and commercial procurement;
• Registries;
• Reports of chambers of commerce, public organizations and industry unions;
• Open research data from universities and non-profit research organizations;
• Development programs, investment passports, explanatory notes and reports of public services;
• Open data from information, consulting and research agencies;
• Media publications focused on relevant markets;
• Websites, landing pages, services, social networks of competitors and partners, etc.

The stages of desk research include formulation of the purpose and objectives of the study, collection and analysis of information from various sources, assessment of the reliability and relevance of the data, and interpretation and making conclusions.

Therefore, the desk research method is an accessible and time efficient but insufficiently in-depth research method.

Nevertheless, in combination with other methods performed by experienced specialists of the ResearchView agency, it can allow to create a reliable and complete picture of the market, consumers and competitors, as well as assess trends and prospects for the development of the industry.

You can request desk research by leaving your details in the contact form. We will contact you to clarify the terms and cost of the project.