Internal Secondary Market Research

Secondary research involving the study of information generated by your own company is "internal" research. Here we're talking about information that was gathered for purposes other than marketing — for example, it may have been gathered for financial or management purposes. (If it was gathered for strictly marketing purposes, it would be considered primary research, not secondary.) The most commonly available internal company information includes:

• daily, weekly, monthly, and annual sales reports, broken down by geographical area, by product line, or even by product
• accounting information (e.g., spending and profitability)
• competitive information gathered by the sales force

If you're in retailing or wholesaling, you have a wealth of information at your disposal if you keep detailed information about your sales, by product. You may be able to determine not only the types of products that sell best at various times of the year, but even the colors and sizes that your customers prefer. There are a number of inventory tracking software products on the market that can help you keep track of all this information, not only for financial and tax purposes, but for marketing purposes as well.