If a business has a life of its own, then the market of a business is an ever-increasingly complex ecosystem. As a business owner or CEO it is vital for you to have a deep understanding of the business you are running, as well as the market you are aiming your product or service at. When a business first starts, your focus will always be keeping the business afloat, rather than worrying about complex market research principles, but this could be a serious miscalculation. A new product or service will not survive any market if there is no demand for it. Not focusing on what consumers need can be detrimental to a business, and this is where understanding the target market comes in. That’s why many businesses first bring out a product concept and conduct enough research and surveys among the consumers to find whether a product fulfills some need or bridges some gap in the market. Likewise, products/services will have to sustain the test of time as well as changing market trends for which continuous research and evolution become necessary.

Often, a business idea will often be a response to a gap in the market, and finding this gap in itself can sustain the knowledge of your market that is needed. Yet, as time moves on and your business expands, merely identifying a gap in the market is not enough to guarantee success. Moreover, if you have been lucky enough to notice that your business has been growing, then you might need to start asking yourself questions such as ‘When should I start Franchising My Business?’. In the competitive world we live in today, acting quickly is vital, especially if you want your business to stand the test of time. Setting up a franchise is therefore a popular choice. As the days go on, your company itself will be changing, the product or service offered may change as well; therefore, the market you are aiming toward also changes. Even if the product or service is something that doesn’t really change, you cannot assume the same will be said for the market. External influences such as substitute goods, cost of living, fashion trends and others can all massively affect your target market, and if these changes remain unknown, your company cannot adapt and overcome them.

If you find yourself in a situation where you may be out of date with your target market, or simply wish to achieve a deeper understanding of your market, processes such as market segmentation may be beneficial to you. This process can help you see more nuanced gaps in the market that have emerged over the lifetime of your business and shows areas of expansion that you were not aware of before. As your market gets more complicated, understanding it will become more expensive, but these expenses are necessary if a business is going to thrive as it expands, rather than spend costs in the wrong area which can lead to the business suffering or even worse be fatal to it. As your business expands, more of your resources need to be put into market research, this will allow for sustainable growth, finding gaps in the market to fill, rather than wasting resources to force a gap in the market where there isn’t one.