In today's dynamic market environment, staying ahead of the competition requires companies to develop new products. This is however a risky and costly venture and one of the critical steps for the successful development and introduction of new products is market research. Market research involves the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about customers, competitors and the market.

Companies operate in a constant state of flux. With the environment characterized by increasing dynamism and uncertainty, firms have to innovate continuously to remain competitive. The role of marketing research is to improve decision making related to marketing. Marketing decisions comprise of the 4Psproduct, price, place, and promotion decisions. The product decisions that need to be considered are the physical design of the product and its demand potential.

Marketing research is the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis and use of information for the purpose of improving decision-making marketing-related (Malhotra, 2001). As a part of the process of evaluation and growth, organizations routinely examine the markets for opportunities. Once opportunities have been assessed, specific ideas may be generated according to the potential of these markets. These ideas could be to introduce new products. Introducing new products in markets is essential for the survival and growth of an organization, many a times in order to take advantage of an opportunity that others, including sometimes the consumers, have not yet identified.

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