Ecommerce Trend Forecasting with Secondary Market Research

What is secondary market research?

Unlike primary research, secondary market research does not include collecting data yourself. Instead, secondary market research involves using data already gathered and published by others. As one of the most popular research methods, secondary market research uses existing data. It's often used after primary research to provide context or supplemental information.

Secondary research is valuable because it is typically less time-consuming and more cost-effective than primary research. Your business can use secondary research to understand market trends, customer behavior, competitive landscape, and industry benchmarks. Secondary research can be a powerful tool if you don't have the time or resources to conduct primary research, such as surveys, interviews, or focus groups. Familiar secondary sources include:

• Industry reports: Comprehensive reports analyzing specific industries
• Market studies: In-depth studies focusing on particular markets or segments
• Government publications: Data and reports released by government agencies
• Academic journals: Research papers and articles that explore various aspects of business, economics, and consumer behavior
• Company reports: Annual reports, financial statements, and other publications released by companies
• News articles: Articles from reputable newspapers and magazines

Ecommerce is a rapidly evolving industry with new changes and developments occurring frequently. Secondary research data can help your business stay informed about these trends.

By leveraging existing data on consumer behavior, technological advancements, and market shifts, your ecommerce business can effectively forecast market dynamics, anticipate future changes, and work toward market dominance.

Benefits of using secondary research in trend forecasting

1. Broad perspective: Secondary research provides a broader perspective of industry trends, drawing from various data sources. This allows you to identify overarching trends, such as shifts in consumer demand, emerging technologies, or regulatory changes that may impact the ecommerce space.
2. Validation of primary research: Conducting secondary research to validate primary data is essential. By comparing primary and secondary research, you ensure the accuracy and reliability of trend forecasts, leading to more informed decision-making.
3. Time efficiency: Forecasting trends requires staying ahead of the competition. Because secondary market research is often faster than primary research, ecommerce businesses can save significant time and resources by accessing existing data rather than starting from scratch.

Access to a broad range of data

One major benefit of leveraging secondary research methods is the diversity of data sources. Whether you leverage industry reports, academic research, market studies, or government publications, the diversity of data provides a comprehensive understanding of market trends and consumer behavior.

Secondary research often includes historical data, invaluable for identifying long-term trends and patterns. It can also provide detailed geographic and demographic information, empowering your term to tailor strategies to specific regions or customer segments.

How to utilize secondary market research for ecommerce trend forecasting

So, you're ready to dive into the world of secondary market research but want to know how to leverage it for ecommerce trend forecasting. By following these key best practices, you can effectively perform secondary market research to stay ahead of the market. Follow these steps:

1. Identify reliable sources

The first step is to identify credible sources of information. Not all secondary data is created equally. Data collected from various sources can vary in terms of quality and relevance. Here are some common sources that provide reliable data:

• Industry reports from reputable market research firms like Statista, IBISWorld, or Garner
• Market analyses from trusted publications like Forbes, Business Insider, or industry-specific journals
• Data published by government agencies like the U.S. Census Bureau or the Bureau of Economic Analysis
• Research papers and articles from academic journals

2. Analyze historical data and industry reports

The next step involves analyzing the data collected. Historical data and industry reports are critical for identifying long-term trends and making accurate ecommerce forecasts.

Start by looking for recurring patterns in historical data, such as seasonal fluctuations in spending or consistent growth in specific ecommerce segments. Compare data over time by analyzing industry reports over several years. This can indicate whether certain trends are gaining momentum or losing relevance.

3. Leverage data from competitors and market leaders

Don't overlook data from your competitors and market leaders. Competitor analysis is a vital component of trend forecasting. You gain insights into potential market opportunities by studying the performance and strategies of your competitors. Different areas include benchmarking, case studies, and social media/online reviews.

4. Integrate secondary research with other forecasting methods

A holistic approach to trend forecasting involves integrating secondary research with other forecasting methods. This multifaceted approach ensures that your forecasts are accurate and actionable. Here's how to incorporate secondary market research with other methods:

• Combine primary and secondary market research to validate your findings
• Incorporate quantitative data collection methods, such as time series analysis or regression models
• Use insights from secondary research to develop different scenarios for future market conditions and product market fit
• Supplement existing data sources with expert opinions from industry analysts, consultants, or academics

Focusing on key metrics and data points relevant to ecommerce is beneficial with primary or secondary research. Which metrics are most helpful? Focusing on sales data and customer research will help you understand key customer journey stages.

The most important sales metrics to focus on include revenue growth, average order value (AOV), conversion rate, and cart abandonment rate. Regarding customer behavior, pay close attention to customer lifetime value (CLV), customer acquisition cost (CAC), repeat purchase rate, and traffic sources.

Leveraging key metrics can also help you break into an untapped market. Understanding market segmentation and trends will help you collect data from various sources to improve trend forecasting. Demographic segmentation includes age, gender, income level, geographic segmentation, and psychographic segmentation.

Understanding your target market is critical in ecommerce. You should also evaluate consumer preferences and buying patterns, such as product preferences, seasonal trends, pricing sensitivity, and consumer feedback.

Tools and resources for effective secondary market research

Where to start when conducting secondary research depends on what your goals are. Leveraging the right tools and resources is crucial in data collection, analysis, and evaluation.

Here are some recommended tools for collecting and analyzing data:

• Google Scholar
• Statista
• Google Trends
• Social Media Analytics Tools (i.e., Hootsuite, Brandwatch)
• Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
• Tableau

Popular databases and platforms for market reports include:

• IBISWorld
• Mintel
• Euromonitor International
• Gartner
• Nielsen
• D&B Hoovers

How to evaluate the credibility of secondary sources

Nobody likes a sketchy source. Conducting market research relies on credible sources. Whether quantitative or qualitative data, secondary market research needs to come from reputable and reliable sources.

Follow these steps to ensure your secondary market research sources are credible:

1. Source reputation: Check the publisher and author credentials to ensure the data comes from reputable organizations.
2. Data currency: Check the publication date to ensure the data is recent and relevant to your research. Check the update frequency to ensure you work with the most recent dataset.
3. Methodology transparency: Review the methodology used to collect the data, including the sample size, data collection techniques, and analysis methods.
4. Bias and objectivity: Evaluate whether the data might be biased and cross-check it with other sources to verify its accuracy whenever possible.
5. Peer reviews and citations: Academic journals that use a peer-review process are typically considered credible. Well-cited sources are another indication of thorough research.

While secondary market research is a valuable tool for ecommerce forecasting, it's important to understand the challenges and constraints that come with it.

One common pitfall to secondary research is data relevance. The data published may not be directly relevant to your specific research objectives. It may be too broad, outdated, or not focused on your demographics.

To overcome this pitfall, carefully assess the scope and focus of the data before using it to ensure it aligns closely with your research questions.

In fast-moving industries like ecommerce, data can quickly become outdated. When relying on old data, you may conclude incorrectly about current market trends. Always check the publication date of your sources and prioritize the most recent data available.

Another limitation of secondary market research can be the lack of specificity. If the data collected is too broad or generalized, your conclusions may not fully capture the nuances of your target market when trend forecasting.

Secondary data sources capture past or current conditions but may fail to capture emerging trends or future developments. This is why relying on various data sources beyond secondary market research is vital.

Future trends in secondary market research

It's a pivotal time in the ecommerce market. The future of ecommerce is being transformed by AI, machine learning, real-time analytics, and big data. These advancements enable more precise and timely ecommerce trend forecasting.

The expanded access to global data allows businesses to monitor global ecommerce trends and consumer behaviors across different regions, enabling them to reach more people than ever before. Global connectivity to data sources can help you identify new market opportunities, tailor your products and services to diverse consumer segments, and anticipate global ecommerce trends.

Social media and user-generated content are also pivotal in secondary market research. Businesses can analyze social media trends, online reviews, and influencer content to stay ahead of trends and better understand their audiences. The possibilities of future market research are continuously evolving.

Mailchimp's tools are strategically positioned to effectively empower your business to leverage secondary research. From audience segmentation to customer journey mapping, automation, and advanced analytics, Mailchimp's suite of services can help your ecommerce business stay competitive, respond swiftly to emerging trends, and make data-driven decisions.