Sept. 18, 2018
Warning for market research report buyers: Poor quality from India & China.
Listen to this video by a 40-year veteran of market research, John LaRosa, Marketdata, Tampa, FL
Here’s why:
- Reports are incomplete – they don’t include all the major competitors, or deep analysis, or all market segments, or demand factors or buyer demographics, or an true understanding of U.S. markets. Lots of tables, little analyses.
- Companies are a Jack of all trades and master of none. – They claim to cover dozens or hundreds of industries and markets. Why would a publisher that covers mostly technology and manufacturing sectors do a report about the weight loss market? No one can be proficient in ALL industries and markets.
- Reports are not accurate – They use a standard cookie-cutter format that includes topics like: supply chains, imports & exports, manufacturing capacity, EVEN when talking about service sectors where this simply doesn’t apply. There are no imports & exports for weight loss programs, or online dating, or addiction treatment facilities. This shows that they just don’t understand certain industries.
- Price is NOT cheaper – reports for $3,500 – $4,000, not saving you any money.
- Done by analysts not based in the U.S. – they don’t understand the nuances of U.S. market trends.
- Very little “primary” research – they use mostly published sources, government and Internet searches, and do very little phone calls and original research.
- Customization Scam – You need the report NOW, when you purchase it, for a meeting, not to wait 2 weeks for 10% “customization”. Ever wonder why it takes 2 weeks? In many cases, a report about a topic doesn’t even exist–until you ask for it. It’s a test to see if a title is marketable. Then, they’ll scramble to assemble secondary information and offer to “customize” it for you, in a few weeks. Deceptive.
- Language obstacle if you have to speak to an analyst about the report after you buy it. Heavy accents and lack of specific market knowledge is common here.
- Lack of historical revenue data – they make a forecast for industry growth based on only 2-3 years of historical data – not valid. Marketdata reports contain 10, 15, or 20-year market sales and growth.
- Plagiarism – many reports simple copy information from other sources without citing the source, passing it off as their own research. It’s tough to prosecute non-U.S. publishers and get them to abide by copyrights.