(1) Accounting accounts and sales records. Every enterprise has accounting books about its financial status and sales information. Accounting records are useful information used by export enterprises or companies to plan the budget of marketing activities. In addition to accounting accounts, market researchers can also find useful information from sales records, customer lists, sales reports, letters from agents and distributors, consumer opinions and letters and visits.
(2) Other reports. Other records include previous marketing research reports, special audit reports made by enterprises themselves and research reports purchased for previous management problems. With the diversification of business scope of enterprises, each survey is more likely to be related to other research issues of enterprises. Therefore, previous research projects are very useful sources of information for similar and similar target market research. Marketing information system and computer database of this enterprise. Many western enterprises have established computer-based marketing information systems, which store a lot of marketing data. One of the service objects of this information system is marketing researchers, so it is an important second-hand information source for researchers. External data refers to information from outside the investigated enterprise or company. This kind of information includes the domestic information of the exporting country and the market information of the importing country. Generally speaking, second-hand information mainly comes from the following external sources:
(1) government agencies
* Official government offices in foreign countries (such as commercial offices). Through these institutions, market information of various countries can be systematically collected. China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and its local branches also have a lot of information about foreign sales and investment.
* Relevant departments of foreign governments. In order to help developing countries export to them, many governments have set up "import promotion offices" to provide the following information: a. statistical information; B. sales opportunities; C. import requirements and procedures; D. local marketing techniques and business practices; E list of importers, wholesalers, agents and other middlemen dealing in a series of products; List of buyers of a certain product and the number of buyers.
(2) International organizations
Many international organizations regularly or irregularly publish a large amount of market information. For example:
* International Trade Centre.
:: The United Nations and its FAO.
* Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development &; Development (ECD)
:: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
:: United Nations Economic Commission.
:: International Monetary Fund.
(3) Trade associations
There are trade associations in many countries, and many trade associations regularly collect, sort out and even publish some production and sales information of their own industries. Trade associations often publish and save detailed information about industry sales, operating characteristics, growth patterns and similar information. In addition, they also conducted special research on various related factors in their respective industries.
(4) Specialized research institutions
The research institutions here mainly refer to consulting companies and market research companies in various countries. These institutions specializing in research and consulting are experienced and the information collected is very valuable, but the fees are generally high.
(5) Joint service company
This is a charging information source. Many companies cooperate with each other, regularly send and receive information useful for marketing activities, and sell information to customers through ordering. They jointly provide four basic information materials on a regular basis: a, product information circulated by wholesalers; B. product information distributed by retailers; C. Consumers' feedback information on various factors of marketing mix; Information about consumers' attitudes and lifestyles.
(6) Other mass media
Television, radio, newspapers, advertisements, periodicals, books, papers and patent documents and other similar media not only contain technical information, but also contain rich economic information, which has important reference value for predicting the market, developing new products and making overseas investment.
(7) Chamber of Commerce
The information that a chamber of commerce can usually provide to market researchers includes: its membership list, information on local business conditions and trade regulations, information on members and trade habits. Large chambers of commerce generally have commercial libraries open to members and non-members can read them.
(8) Banks
Banks, especially the branches of a big international bank, can generally provide the following information and services: a, information about economic trends, policies and prospects, important industries and foreign trade development in most countries in the world; B. A report on the commercial credit status of foreign companies, and the latest information about credit term, payment method and foreign exchange rate. ; Introduce foreign businessmen and help arrange tours.
The World Bank and its affiliated International Development Association (IDA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) publish and forecast many important economic and financial information every year. Other regional banks, such as Asian banks and European banks, can also provide rich trade and economic information for market researchers. Rural consumer organizations Many countries have consumer organizations whose purpose is to protect the interests of consumers. One of the many tasks of these organizations is to supervise and evaluate the products of various enterprises and other marketing situations related to products, and report the evaluation results to the public. This information is of great reference value to researchers.
An important source of information about competitors is the company itself. Researchers can directly or indirectly obtain product catalogues, price lists, product manuals, dealer lists and annual financial reports from these companies.
(9) official and non-governmental information institutions.
Many governments often provide trade information services and answer some specific information queries with the assistance of business representatives. In addition, some large companies in various countries expand their business scope and provide information obtained from investment and trade activities to other enterprises in various ways, such as Mitsui Global Communication Network of Japan Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Overseas Market Research Association of Japan External Trade Organization.
China's official and non-governmental information institutions mainly include: National Economic Information Center, International Economic Information Center, Bank of China Information Center, Information Department of Xinhua News Agency, National Statistical Potato, Economic Information Department of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, related consulting companies and advertising companies.