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Market-Research Techniques

Marketing research is necessary to determine what types of businesses have the potential to succeed, what area is right for your business, and are there enough potential customers to make your business economically viable. Most businesses use one or more of the following market research methods:

1. Surveys. Using concise, straightforward questionnaires, you can analyze a sample group that represents your target market. The larger the sample, the more reliable the results. In-person surveys are one-on-one interviews typically conducted in high-traffic locations such as shopping malls. You can give people a sample of your product and gather immediate feedback. In-person surveys get good results, but they are expensive. The estimated cost is $100 per interview.

2. Telephone surveys are less expensive than in-person surveys, but consumers resist and resent relentless telemarketing. It is difficult to have participation in phone surveys. The response rate is approximately 50%.

3. Mail surveys are a relatively inexpensive way to reach a many consumers. They are the cheapest research method, but they typically only generate a 3% response rate.

4. Online Surveys may generate unpredictable response rates and unreliable data, because you have no control over the respondents. An online survey will only give you simple and sometimes vague responses. However, they are inexpensive, and you may to gather helpful information about what items capture the customer�s attention.

5. Focus groups use a moderator who asks a series of prepared questions and invites discussion about the questions among a group of people for one or two hours. These sessions usually take place at facilities where the sessions can be videotaped. Usually there is an observation room with a one-way mirror like an interrogation room. The researcher can gain immediate information.

6. Personal interviews include unstructured, open-ended questions lasting for about an hour. They are usually recorded. Like focus groups, the data is more subjective data than data from surveys. They usually do not represent a large enough segment of the population to gather statistically reliable information. They do give insights into customer attitudes and are potential issues about new products or service.

7. Observation of surveys and focus groups may not give true
representations of actual behavior. If you can arrange to observe consumers in action by videotaping them in stores, at work, or at home, you get a much more accurate view of their buying behavior, usage habits, and shopping patterns.

8. Field trials is the process of placing a new product in selected stores to observe customer responses in an actual selling setting. The observations may help you make product, price, or packaging modifications.

Whatever kind of market research you use, the purpose is to determine whether you can reasonably expect success from the business you have chosen to start in a particular market. The more information you have, the better you will be able to answer the key questions about the potential success of your business idea.

Jo Ann Joy, Esq., MBA, CEO
Copyright 2006 Indigo Business Solutions. All rights reserved.

You may contact Jo Ann by phone at (602) 663-7007, by fax at (602) 324-7582, by email at joannjoy@Indigo Business Solutions.net, and by mail at 2313 East Ocotillo Road, Phoenix, AZ 85016

Copyright 2006. Indigo Business Solutions is a registered trade name.

The future of your business starts here.

About the author
Jo Ann Joy is the CEO and owner of Indigo Business Solutions, a legal and business consulting firm. Indigo Business Solutions is a �one stop shop� for small businesses. We differ from other business consulting firms, because we offer comprehensive legal and business counseling. We can offer most of the professional services that a business requires. We work with our clients to develop strategies that create value and competitive advantage.

Jo Ann has a law degree, an MBA, and a degree in Economics, but she is not a traditional attorney. Rather, she is a strategic business attorney who works closely with clients to create and implement strategies that will greatly improve their performance and chance of success. Her background includes commercial and real estate law, accounting, financial planning, mortgages, marketing, product development, banking, and business strategies. She ran a successful business for 10 years, and she has written and given presentations on many different legal and business subjects.

For more information about these and other important business topics and for legal consultation, please visit our website at http://www.indigobusinesssolutions.net/

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Don't worry about Scrooge this Christmas, by shopping online you'll save plenty of time and money

According to a study by BizRate Research, 60% of women were already planning their online buying in September, compared to only 42% of men. Women are also reported to carry the burden of Christmas shopping with 55% taking on the responsibility, compared to only 45% of men. However, as more and more retailers go online, women can exploit the internet by saving themselves time, money and effort.



There are many advantages to shopping online:



* You have more choice

* Prices tend to be lower

* It's scientifically proven to be less stressful!



Choice:



Even if you live in a big city, you'd have to be prepared to shop in multiple districts to get the same choice that you would have online. Most high street retailers now have a presence on the internet in any case and you may find that the website could offer more choice than your local store. In addition to big brand names, there are also lots of specialist sites on the internet - which only have an online presence. Such online specialists include CCL - a computer system and accessory specialist, Justtoys -with toys for kids and "big kids" ( http://www.justtoys.com/ ) and ChristmasHamper.com or Highland Fayre which specialise in luxury food and drink hampers.



Lower prices:



Many websites offer minimal delivery charges and because they don't have the same costs as a bricks and mortar business, their prices to the consumer are often lower. Most transactions on the internet start with a search engine, but this is not the only method of research that you can do for your Christmas shopping. Perhaps you have heard of price comparison sites which exist for very specific markets such as personal finance like moneynet.co.uk or for more general shopping services ( Kelkoo , Ciao ). These sites act as mini search engines and they will collect data from a range of services - showing the results of products with the lowest prices.



Internet shopping is healthier



Internetretailer.com reported in 2003 that when twin sisters were asked to conduct Christmas shopping - one online, one offline, the sister who did her shopping on the internet fared much better. ( htt p://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=10847 )The sister who shopped on the high street took four hours to complete her shopping trip. At the start of the shopping expedition, this sister had a heart rate of 67 which rose to 138 whilst shopping and was still 79 when she got home - apparently "tired and cold, with sore feet".



On the other hand, her twin sister who had done her Christmas shopping online - took only 36 minutes to do her purchasing - and that was without broadband! Her initial heart rate was 66 and didn't rise above 67. Instead of dragging the kids around the shops, this twin was able to have them on her lap, and all the shopping was delivered direct to the home.



And if you want some assistance in the New Year to lose those few extra pounds, there's always online help for losing weight. The high profile website theleanteam.co.uk, as featured on Channel 4, provides useful health advice and if that still isn't enough to tempt you online for Christmas - take a look at - Disco Dancing Santa



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



About Rachel



Rachel is a quirky lassie and lives in Edinburgh in bonnie Scotland. Rachel writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla - a mighty personalfinanosaurus.



http://www.cashzilla.co.uk



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Contact details:



Rachel Lane

E-mail: rachel@positiveinterest.com

Phone: 0131 561 2251

About the author:



Rachel is lives in Edinburgh in bonnie Scotland. Rachel writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla - a mighty personalfinanosaurus.



http://www.cashzilla.co.uk


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Shopping for the Best Elliptical Trainers

When shopping for an elliptical trainer, it can be confusing to know which brands are the best. The best elliptical trainers contain a number a features and functions and are available in a wide price range depending on your individual needs. Elliptical trainers are manufactured by the top names in fitness equipment and by lesser-known companies. Finding the best elliptical trainer will depend on the intensity and frequency in which you plan to use your elliptical trainer and your budget.

It is important to know what features you will need and which extras will be of no use to you. Before visiting a web site or retailer, you should determine the type of elliptical trainer you require and which features will be the most important to you. The best elliptical trainers will include dual action bars, the ability to design a workout plan online or using the built in display, have adjustable resistance, and adjustable pedals.

Some fitness equipment manufacturers advertise their elliptical trainers to be the best available when in reality, they are of average construction and only moderately effective. A bit of research and price comparisons will give you an idea of what you can expect to spend for the type of features you desire and the reviews the machine has received from consumers.

Choosing the best elliptical trainer for you requires that you educate yourself on the various types available and determine what price range will fit into your budget. The goal in choosing an elliptical trainer is to find a quality piece of equipment that you will enjoy using. Compare prices and consumer ratings before you shop to give yourself the information you need to make an educated choice.

About the Author
Ken Austin is the webmaster at ">http://www.onlinehomegym.com"> http://www.onlinehomegym.com
and http://fitness-equipment.mynichesites.com "> http://fitness-equipment.mynichesites.com
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Use An 800 Number Directory To Shop Twice - Pay Once

We've all heard the phrase "measure twice, cut once". Think of the savings if you could do the same while shopping.

Everyone loves to get a bargain. Not one friend I know would be happier having paid more for something they own. Shopping has turned into an art form. The younger we are, the more naive we are about bargain hunting. Maybe it�s because we didn�t have anyone else to buy for previously, just us. A novice bargain hunter thinks bargains start in the department store in the sale or clearance rack. But a sweater that was originally marked at $86.00 marked down to $76.00 is somewhat difficult to swallow as a bargain. In fact, I�m sure my husband wouldn�t see it as a bargain.

Someone a little more experienced may find that larger chain discount stores are the way to go, but again, sometimes those aren�t really the best buys you could find if you weren�t limited to your geography. In recent years resale boutiques where you could even bring your own clothing to sell became the newest craze, but you still had to physically travel to those boutiques and try on the merchandise. Additionally, it depended which community you were in as to the type of merchandise. Even more recently, along came online auction sites, but again, these are mostly used clothing, or clothing that you need to purchase in bulk. Hopefully, there are photos as well, but you can�t contact the seller on the phone, or if you are able to contact them, you really hope that they have an 800 number.

All this information boils down to having to shop mostly in your own geographical area. Gas prices having risen in recent years, and now being what they are limit our mobility in terms of searching for bargains. This includes even our groceries. Most of us know, though, that real bargains are usually found in other areas, if only we could reach them. If only there were an 800 number to connect us to those bargains, because being conscientious bargain hunters we wouldn�t dare pay to make a toll call to find out about sale merchandise.

In carpentry, there is a phrase �measure twice, cut once.� That�s how I approach shopping. I would rather shop for days, calling toll free numbers if I had to, in order to find the right item and be able to say that I had purchased it at the price I wanted to pay for it instead of the price I had to pay because I was limited by where I live. Imagine what people in remote areas would have to resort to if they weren�t able to reach out to those businesses with 800 numbers? Let�s face it, toll free numbers are the way to go, and then you can call and ask whatever question you wanted to, and not have to worry about how long you�re on the phone with the retailer, or how long they place you on hold. You won�t have to count the minutes and calculate how much it costs. Instead, using an 800 toll free directory, you can calculate how much money you�re saving, and then what else you want to bargain hunt for. How you tell your spouse is up to you, but at least using toll free numbers you�ll have plenty of time to think up what you want to say.

Published by the editorial staff of National Tollfree Directory. For more information about the 800 Directory, Toll Free Directory and 800 Numbers, visit The National Tollfree Directory: www.internettollfree.com. Please direct any feedback on this article to editorial@strbusinessmedia.com.

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Teddy Bear Picnic Day - This past weekend, I came across stuffed animals my sister and I used to take with us everywhere when we were younger. I haven’t seen my Care Bear in years, and as soon as I saw it I was brought back to my childhood in an instant. It’s funny how [...]
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Free Shipping Will Be One of The Top Online Shopping Trends NewsBlaze, CA - Jul 8, 2008 In fact, according to Forrester Research, 61 percent of online consumers are more likely to shop online with a retailer that offers free shipping than one ...

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What's the Right E-commerce Package for Your Business?

Recovering from the dot com crash in 2000, e-commerce is rising once again. Stay in the comfort of your home. Spend more time with your family. Be your own boss. The benefits of having a home business are numerous. That is why so many people are trying to run their own home business. Being enthusiastic about igniting their own income through the Internet, these people search to find how they can create their own business. Then they realize that there are so many options for them to choose from. So, what is the best e-commerce package for you? When it comes to e-commerce packages, most online merchants have the same basic needs. The trick is to make sure an e-commerce package satisfies your needs. Causing less frustration, you should also try to find something that will be easy to use.
Some important things to look for in an e-commerce package are:
1. Choose a provider that will give you a site and hosting combo.
Choosing a provider that helps you set up a site and hosts it for you can save you from a lot of frustration. By choosing a website and hosting combination, you are guaranteed that your e-commerce package will not have to be manually altered.
2. A wide variety of templates
While all templates can be customized, sometimes that just does not work for every business. If there is a large amount of templates to choose from, there is bound to be template for your business.
3. Payments
You need to make sure that the payment options that your e-commerce package uses will satisfy your customer's needs. For example if your e-commerce package only accepts Paypal, you will miss out on the customers that do not use Paypal. This will decrease your earnings.
4. Shopping Cart
Most people like to see what they are purchasing. Customers may also want to change what they want to buy. Perhaps they found something better.
5. Calculation of tax and shipping
While most customers probably will not be shopping from your state, tax is not a major problem. Shipping is a different matter. Shipping must be calculated for all customers. Customers also want to see what their shipping costs will be.
6. Reports
While reports are not beneficial to customers, they are beneficial for you. E-commerce packages that offer reports help you keep track of your expenses and earnings. They save a lot of frustration.
Copyright © Cheryl Mustian
http://www.CherylWorksAtHome.net
To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: http://www.CherylWorksAtHome.net
NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as long as you leave the article fully intact and include the "About The Author" resource box. Thanks!

About The Author

My name is Cheryl Mustian and I've found a new area of interest! I have become involved in the arena of making money in the internet. I have learned there are multitudes of ways to venture forth in this arena. As always, there are mountains, valleys, and even places in this arena. I would like to share my experiences and knowledge with you. Visit my arena at http://www.cherylworksathome.net.
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Choosing the Right Online Shopping Cart

Are you a website owner or a web designer/developer?  If either applies, I would venture to say that eventually you'll need an online shopping cart for one of your websites. In fact, almost all new websites today need some sort of ecommerce built-in, for the purpose of selling goods and services in the online marketplace.
The greatest challenge is to find the perfect ecommerce shopping cart solution for yourself and/or your client. This task can be very overwhelming, considering, if you type 'shopping cart' into Google.com, this search alone returns over 14.4 million hits! Most of us don't have the time to sift through more than a few pages of a search engine to find what we're looking for.
For the last 3 months, much of my time has been devoted to researching as much shopping cart technology as I could get my hands on. In general, shopping cart software ranges in price from free to over $2000 for a single license and web hosted carts range from $5 to hundreds of dollars per month.  The studied carts cover the spectrum of all web programming languages (ASP, ASP.NET, Cold Fusion, Flash, Java, JavaScript & Perl shopping carts) and provide limitless features as a whole. The problem is that locating YOUR perfect cart with YOUR specific features can be a big task.
But no fear, just follow this guaranteed step-by-step guide to locate it:
The Top 10 Steps to Finding the Best Online Shopping Cart
Cost
How much money do you have to spend on an internet shopping cart? The nice advantage is that there are shopping carts with hundreds of features and they don't cost you a dime.  They are generally open source products.  The only problem is that these same "free shopping carts" can take hours of installation time and be fairly difficult to configure. For a monthly fee, web hosting shopping carts are made for users with little programming experience and allows them to have an online storefront presence in no time.
Hosting vs. Software
There are two options in selecting your overall shopping cart solution. Either you get shopping cart software, download it, install it on your web server, then configure the shopping cart OR you get an online storefront (aka a hosted shopping cart) where the configuration is very basic and the required setup time is minimal. If you have some programming skills, I recommend buying a script and installing it on your own. The nice thing is that you pay a one-time fee for shopping cart software and the license is good for a lifetime. It's approximately the same price to have a hosted solution for a year compared to most one time shopping cart license fees.
Supported Gateways
What do I mean by gateways?  Gateways give shopping carts the ability to connect and securely process credit card orders in real-time.  Not all shopping carts are created equal. Make sure that your client's merchant account is supported by the cart you select. I have found that almost all carts support the larger online payment processing companies, such as Authorize.net, PayPal and Verisign.
Shipping Options
Will you be shipping physical products? If so, there are shopping carts that have built-in real-time shipping options through DHL, UPS And USPS. Often times, the cart gives the user the ability to view tracking orders and order status all from within your secure shopping cart web interface.  Also, there are shopping carts with options to ship digital goods as well (files, programs, pictures, music and others).
Technical Support
What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.
Security
Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), with 128-bit encryption. As an online storefront, remember that you are responsible for the safe transfer of sensitive information (credit card and bank account information) that is processed through your store. If any of the sensitive information is accessible (stolen) from your website, you could be liable. Be sure that you're purchasing a secure shopping cart solution.  Ask the creator's of the shopping cart what they do specifically to protect the secure transfer of sensitive information.
Style Compatibility
Can you customize your shopping cart to look like your website?  There needs to be a seamless transition between your website and your shopping storefront or your customers might get hesitant in purchasing your products.  There should be similar colors and style layout to look professional and believable.
Extra Features
I just wanted to mention some of the other features that I have discovered, which might be a critical point in determining the shopping cart you want.
Affiliate Program - Offer your own customized affiliate program through your shopping cart software. Quickbooks Integration - Many carts allow direct integration with Quickbooks.
Newsletter & Mailing Letter Managers - The ability to stay in touch with your current customers and keep them returning to your online store.
Custom Taxing Options - Create taxable or tax-free products and have the ability to add various global tax options at checkout.
World Languages & Currencies - Shopping cart language translation and support for world currency might be a necessary feature for your cart.
Error Free
You mean shopping carts can have errors?  Of course. A private UK-based web testing firm found the following, after studying a large group of UK online shopping carts for a period of one month (24/7):"The majority of UK web sites are guilty of leaving e-consumers stranded at the checkout empty handed, once they have already spent valuable time browsing and selecting goods to purchase. This is due to erratic functionality within shopping carts, at a critical step in the online purchasing process."
"E-consumers are prevented from making purchases on UK web sites for 9 hours and 30 minutes a month on average, (115 hours a year)." "80 per cent of web sites perform inconsistently with widely varying response times, timeouts and errors - leaving consumers at best wondering what to do next and at worst unable to complete their purchase successfully. This is potentially costing e-retailers millions in lost sales from consumer frustrations." (http://www.scivisum.co.uk/report/ecommerce/)
Be sure to see what other users are saying about a shopping cart that you might be interested in purchasing.  Any shopping cart errors could cost you thousands of dollars in sales.  Get a stable and secure cart.
Shopping Cart Directory
The following is a link containing a directory of shopping carts that are categorized according to each of the above-stated steps. Make shopping for shopping carts a breeze!
Shopping Cart Directory
If you have any questions or comments about this article, please contact the author.

Evan Stevens (http://www.evanstevens.com) is a professional web developer. This article reviews ecommerce online shopping carts.

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