Market Research for Manufacturing Companies

How can you grow your business? What products, services, and/or markets might provide opportunities? Market research is an integral step in assessing your company’s competitive advantage and key opportunities. Gathering and analyzing essential data on customers, competitors, supply chains, industries, markets, and trends provides companies with the information they need to make informed decisions, mitigate risk, and grow their business.

The MEP National Network’s experts guide companies in this process and help create a picture of opportunity for them based on data, study, surveys, and analysis including:

• The realities of your marketplace
• The true opinions your customers hold about your products
• The technical opportunities that might exist to solve persistent challenges
• The markets that align with your capabilities and offer growth
• The status of your competitors

Research

A wealth of information is available for manufacturers to study the market landscape and gather essential insight into your company’s industry and market opportunities today and into the future; however, few companies have the resources to delve into what’s there and make knowledgeable sense of the data. MEP Center experts offer an on-ramp for your company to access this and use it to your advantage. 

Primary research examines industry-based knowledge and statistical information and studies the landscape using market trends and data. Specialists can evaluate the upward and downward movements of your target segments and industry over time and determine the markets that might best align with your capabilities for growth. 

Research can also uncover technical opportunities to solve persistent challenges or get your products into new markets. It can identify needs, key drivers, and the competitive environment to not only enter new, but better serve current markets, launch new products, and foresee customer demands.

Converting Research into Business Intelligence and Strategy

Market intelligence shapes and analyzes market research to improve business operations and make data-driven decisions on what opportunities exist in the markets you want to explore, which opportunities are most promising, and how you should pursue them. This translates to insights on potential new customers, products, and targeted industry opportunities so you can convert information into action.

The MEP National Network’s market research and strategic planning experts help their clients shape research into plans via strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses, readiness assessments, market entry strategies, and other tools to undertake new challenges while maintaining strength in your current markets. Research-based market intelligence allows you to identify success factors, potential challenges, and hidden opportunities to propel your business forward while mitigating risk.

Voice of the Customer

An integral component of market research comes directly from current and prospective customers. From accurately measuring true customer satisfaction to gauging new product potential and improving messaging, customer research is key. 

Customer surveys and questionnaires provide quantitative data, while focus groups and in-depth one-on-one interviews fill in important qualitative findings of behaviors, motivations, and emotions that complete the picture for your business operations and opportunities. Most businesses do not have dedicated staff for these efforts and turn to The MEP National Network to provide the expertise and staff to conduct the research, analyze the results, and apply them to a business strategy.

You’ll learn how to leverage your strengths, address weaknesses you may not be aware of, increase customer satisfaction, deliver value, and set your company apart from the competitors. 

Heroes of American Manufacturing: Omega Plastics

Blogs

Innovate Your Way to Growth While Minimizing Risks

April 14, 2022

Brandon Cornuke

Manufacturers work hard to minimize disruptions to their operations and invest significant resources to minimize production risk. They also are under constant

How to Scout for Your Next Business Growth Opportunity

September 8, 2021

Sylvia Wower

Manufacturers displayed an abundance of resiliency in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and about half say their manufacturing business will be thriving a

Manufacturing Reports

Smart Manufacturing: A Primer for Small Manufacturers

March 2020

Author

MForesight

The purpose of this report is to help SMMs focus on realistic objectives achievable with appropriate implementation of digital technologies to cut costs, improve existing processes, and lay the groundwork for continued progress. It is also important to recognize that the biggest hurdles to effective implementation are not likely to be technical, but rather managerial and cultural.

Capital and Cost, Current State of Manufacturing, Innovation, R&D and IP and Productivity

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