Research Trends: Other Technologies
In addition to the Internet, marketing research has benefited from other technological improvements including:
- Virtual Reality and Simulations - Marketers can use computer developed virtual worlds to simulate real world customer activity such as store shopping. While this type of research is mostly performed in a controlled laboratory setting, there are emerging virtual worlds on the Internet where marketers can test concepts and communicate with customers.
- Global Positioning Systems – GPS enables marketers to track inventory and even track mobile sales and service personnel. Soon GPS will be a common feature of customers’ communication devices, such as cellphones, offering marketers the potential to locate and track customers.
- Data Analysis Software – As we will see in the Planning for Market Research Tutorial, research includes gathering information and it also involves analyzing what is collected. A number of software and statistical programs have been refined to give marketers greater insight into what the data really means.