Here is a list outlining the main benefits of investing in market research:

• It helps businesses strengthen their position.
  Knowledge is power. Use market research to gain a clearer perspective and deeper understanding of your market or target audience. With faster access to data and better tools than ever before, market research helps your business stay one step ahead of the competition.

• It minimises investment risk.
  This is a simple but essential, and often business-critical, consideration. Spending what is usually a small proportion of your overall investment on researching and testing a market, product, concept or idea is sound business sense. With today's tools, agile testing and real-time feedback make this process faster and more accessible.

• It identifies potential threats and opportunities.
  Primary research (fieldwork) and secondary research (desk research) continue to act as an early warning system against obvious and hidden threats. Adding qualitative techniques such as depth interviews or co-creation sessions allows you to surface nuances that may otherwise go unnoticed. Increasingly, businesses are also using AI-enabled tools to scan for patterns and potential disruptions in real time.

• It helps to discover your own and your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
  An ‘eyes wide open’ approach is vital. An experienced market research agency will offer unbiased insights to help you evaluate your position honestly. Use findings to address your own blind spots and exploit competitor weaknesses. Competitive intelligence is more accessible than ever, but how you interpret and act on it is what makes the difference.

• It facilitates strategic planning.
  What underpins your strategy? Evidence-based decision-making supported by robust, ongoing research gives your business a firmer footing. A good research programme not only informs short-term plans, it helps guide long-term direction, whether you're entering new markets, launching products or redefining your value proposition.

• It helps in spotting emerging trends.
  Being first, being the best or being different often depends on early awareness of change. Tracking industry sentiment, behaviour shifts, and future-focused insights is now easier thanks to advanced analytics and data visualisation tools. Ask your research consultant about horizon scanning or trend-mapping techniques to identify what’s coming next and how to prepare for it.

• It assists businesses to stay ahead of the competition.
  Winning in your market means getting the basics right, again and again, while staying open to innovation. Using research to understand customer behaviour, test messaging, monitor satisfaction and evaluate brand health allows you to adapt faster. Businesses that treat research as an ongoing process, not a one-off project, are more resilient in the face of change.

• It provides revenue projections.
  A market forecast is a key component of any analysis. By projecting future numbers, characteristics and trends in your target market, you can segment potential customers and assess where the real value lies. The best market isn't always the biggest, it’s the one that aligns most closely with your offer, your purpose, and your capacity to serve.

• It focuses on customer needs and demands.
  Putting the customer at the heart of your decisions has never been more important. From online panels and pop-up communities to mobile ethnography and video diaries, there are many ways to engage your audience. Market research helps you tune in to what matters, enabling better propositions, sharper communications and stronger relationships.

• It helps to evaluate success against benchmarks.
  A recent global study found that companies using benchmarking grow faster and operate more efficiently than those that don’t. Use market research to compare performance, measure engagement (internally and externally), and identify knowledge gaps. With better access to sector-specific benchmarks and industry data, research can unlock new thinking, better ideas and more effective ways of working.