market research

Market research is the process of systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about customers, competitors and the market. Market research can help create a business plan, launch a new product or service, fine tune existing products and services, expand into new markets etc. It can be used to determine which portion of the population will purchase the product/service, based on variables like age, gender, location and income level. It can be found out what market characteristics your target market has. With market research, companies can learn more about current and potential customers.
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A technical analysis of factors such as volume, price trends, and market breadth that are used to predict price movement.

the systematic gathering of information about a market by means of survey, observation or experimentation. See Marketing Research.