A market report is a systematic statement of a market phenomenon that presents its characteristics. Generally, it is prepared to gather market information about a product to design strategies for gaining, occupying, or maintaining market share.
It describes the demand, supply, price fluctuations, buying and selling records, etc., of a product in a particular market for a specific period.
Therefore, a market report provides a systematic description of the market characteristics of a product to help in making managerial decisions about it.
Importance
A market report provides information to management to decide on planning and controlling the market for a product, making it a valuable tool for management. The following description highlights its importance from various dimensions:
- Market report shows the demand and supply picture of a product, helping management decide marketing strategies.
- It helps in setting prices and price strategies, providing a price structure for a product.
- Market reports assist in speculation by offering information on market trends, aiding speculation of future market tendencies and accordingly setting the right strategy.
- It aids investment by helping investors identify potential investment opportunities, assess risks, and evaluate return prospects from the market report.
- It reflects the business cycle, showing business trends under various competitive conditions, helping management make decisions in line with the market situation.
- It supports international trade by providing relevant information about foreign markets to exporters. It enables them to develop appropriate products, pricing, design, and promotional measures to maintain their international market presence.
Essential Elements of a Market Report
A market report should include several essential components to be effective:
- Date: The date of report preparation.
- Place of the market: The name of the market location.
- Period of the market: The duration covered by the report (e.g., day, week, month, biannual, or year).
- Name of commodities: Types of commodities studied, including their varieties.
- Qualities of commodities: Information about the quality of commodities studied, including variations.
- Volume of transactions: The total volume of transactions categorized by quality and product brands.
- Nature of demand and supply: The report should describe the nature of demand and supply conditions for the product.
- Price level: Buying and selling prices, price fluctuations, and reasons for fluctuations to provide a comprehensive overview of price situations.
- Nature of transactions: The amount of transactions conducted on credit and in cash during the review period.
- Terms of delivery: Conditions of product delivery during the review period.
- Mode of payment: Information about the payment methods used for sales in the market during the study period.
- Market sentiments: An overall view of the market to grasp market trends.
- Reasons for market fluctuation: Explanation of the reasons for market fluctuations as understood by the researchers.
- Comments: Personal comments by the researcher on the overall market situation.
Structure of the Market Report
A market report follows a systematic format to make it useful and easily understandable to readers. The report’s structure typically includes:
- Introduction: Information about the market, such as its name, address, location, time, date, and the product’s name, covered in the report.
- Opener: A concise overall comment from the report’s preparer.
- Body: A detailed description of market elements based on physical observations.
- Closer: A summarized statement of the report’s body and recommendations from the report’s creator, including subjective remarks based on objective observations of the market.