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| Title | Market Intelligence – Making Market Research Work for Microfinance |
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| Author | ACCION |
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| Content Language | English (en) |
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| Document Type | Paper |
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| Date Of Publication | 2003 |
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| Description | As the microfinance market grows and the demand for different products evolves, MFIs will be required to better understand the changing needs and preferences of their clients. This paper highlights the need for MFIs to add "market intelligence" to their core competencies – it believes that MFIs have a wide-range of marketing needs that can be addressed, including the need to: - Attract customers, often in the face of competition
- Strengthen loyalty of and retain customers, especially profitable ones
- Build brand awareness and image
- Refine existing products and introduce new ones
- Improve customer service and product delivery
- Develop sustainable competitive strategies and strengthen positioning
- Penetrate new markets and deepen reach in existing ones
The paper suggests that market intelligence is the ability of an MFI to collect data in a systematic and objective fashion, to analyse and interpret this information and to apply it in order to develop strategic recommendations and action plans. In particular, it stresses the latter point as the key differentiator from pure market research. As such, this paper aims to guide readers through the processes necessary to implement a successful market intelligence program at an MFI. It is based around the activities and tools that ACCION has developed for each phase of the market intelligence process. It also discusses two ACCION technical assistance projects, one in Latin America and the other in Africa, to demonstrate further how these market intelligence tools have been applied in practice. The paper bases its discussion around four distinct steps, which in turn are further broken down into more detailed activities and practical tasks: - Phase I - Definition and Preparation
- Phase II - Design and Planning
- Phase III - Implementation
- Phase IV - Analysis and Action Plan
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| Publisher | ACCION |
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| Number of Pages | 18 pp |
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| Edition | ACCION Insight |
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| Series ID | 200310 |
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| Keywords | MARKETING, MARKET RESEARCH, MARKET INTELLIGENCE, MERCADEO, COMERCIALIZACION, INVESTIGACION DE MERCADO, INTELIGENCIA DE MERCADO |
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document (EN)
