Barriers to do market research in small business

Any business is in search of growth opportunity to earn more profits and expand more. Market research is one of the ways to find more business opportunities. Collection of data regarding niche condition, customer preferences etc. benefits business get to know about market statistics, competitive strategies, and selling opportunities.
Companies have launched R and D department especially for performing market research work. Whether a business is small or large it needs to know latest market statistics for deciding future business strategies. To gain competitive advantage, search out for hidden places to sale of products and retain customers is also important. There are some companies who have not gained success after research. The reason behind it can be improper way to do research. Following are common barriers for small businesses.
Low financial capability:
Small business owners always find it difficult to invest in research activity. Though they are well know the advantages of market research reports, they cannot spend more on research work. In depth analysis of market requires to pay high and it is found to be taxing for business owners. Due to this common barrier, they divert to poor research reports prepared by them; so that they cannot get global perspective while taking decision.
Relying on only secondary research:
Market research can be of two types as primary and secondary. Primary research requires data to be collected by market survey, observation, market analysis etc. whereas secondary research can be done by reading and analyzing previously collected data. Secondary data has a time limitation but it can be used to start your business. After a period you need to shift towards primary research as it gives current and direct knowledge about rapidly changing market trends. You may not remain informed about current and future trends of marketplace by relying on secondary data for more time.
Exploring on internet:
One of most cost-effective way to get information about anything is exploring information on internet. Though searching on Google is economic, it gives just an overview. It digs out only a part of information, which may be ambiguous, and presents it to you. But to get more and exact information, you will have to pay for it. There are various searching hubs, research report providing portals which offer you valuable search data given by market intelligence. The problem is that business owners are either not aware of such portals or not able to pay for it.
Influence of obsolete thinking:
Friends and family members always give obsolete suggestions without knowing market trends. Industry analysis gives you a real insight into industrial policies and plans for increasing sales in market. But differences in marketing strategies are neglected by these people and they try to convince you not to go for any consumer survey.
By knowing all these barriers a new-age executive must try to overcome them. Any kind of product to be launched in market, supported by thorough market research, certainly uplifts its sales in unknown niches too. Along with that any business with higher sales margin can sustain in global competition only if it use market research reports.