In addition, global businesses often find it difficult to break into markets that operate so differently from those in more developed regions. Poor infrastructure, disparate access to technology, and a reliance on informal trade to sell goods make the African landscape unique. The diversity of the continent, which is made up of 54 countries ranging from more developed nations such as Tunisia to the extremely poor such as South Sudan, also makes it difficult to understand the continent in its entirety. A lack of readily available market research compounds this problem. Below we go through some of the challenges and opportunities surrounding market research in Africa.

Challenges of Market Research in Africa

Market research is used by companies looking to gain a better understanding of a market and consumer base, but in Africa, research is challenging to conduct due to multiple factors, including:

Disparate Communications and Technology Access: Access to communications tools such as mobile phones and the Internet is varied across Africa. While both basic mobile penetration and smartphone penetration rates are growing among wealthier and urban populations, in rural areas, mobile phone penetration often remains low. Access to the Internet also varies widely depending on the population studied. Access to technology limits the modes through which research can be conducted in Africa, especially when researchers are looking to gather a nationally representative sample or one that reaches lower socioeconomic groups.

Infrastructure Challenges: Inadequate roads and maps and a lack of access to clean water and electricity in certain areas can pose a challenge to researchers, especially those looking to conduct face-to-face research. It can take months for a team of researchers to cover the vast areas of land necessary to gather an adequate sample size in many countries in Africa, especially when collecting data from rural populations.

High Number of Languages and Cultural Context: There are estimated to be at least 1,500 languages spoken throughout Africa, with many people speaking multiple languages or dialects that can be extremely specific to a region. This diversity means that research often needs to be conducted in multiple languages at once. Additionally, certain populations in Africa have a distrust for outsiders that can further hinder market research efforts. Due to these factors, in-person or telephone enumerators must be specifically recruited and trained for the population they are interviewing.

Opportunities for Market Research in Africa

Despite these challenges, there is a need for more accurate market research data for the global and local corporations moving into the region to understand their specific markets and audiences. While getting a full picture of the sub-Saharan African landscape for fast-moving consumer goods products would be a challenge, companies can gain insights on specific segments, such as the Kenyan landscape for beverage products. To conduct effective market research in Africa, researchers should keep the following guidelines in mind:

Narrow audience targeting: Due to the diversity of Africa as a whole, applying a research study to the entire continent is unlikely to yield useful results unless they are split into smaller sub-populations. Researchers should focus on a specific country, a region such as East Africa, or demographic group, such as urban youth populations. Those who are looking to conduct broader studies should ensure their sample sizes are large enough to compare results by country, region, or demographic group.  

Consider methodology and mode challenges: Researchers should consider what methodology will best suit their project and the population they are trying to reach. Projects with higher budgets and those looking to reach rural or illiterate populations may be better suited to an in-person method such as CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) or voice call method such as CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing). Those with lower budgets may choose to conduct research via SMS or online through web-based links. Focus groups administered either in-person or via online or mobile-based focus groups may also be appropriate for certain projects.

Hire local experts: Leveraging the experience of local market research firms is extremely valuable when researching in Africa. Market research companies who operate out of the countries they conduct research in will have a stronger knowledge of the local market than outside groups, and often have their own trained enumerators. GeoPoll has offices and call centers throughout East, West, Southern, and Central Africa, and can bring valuable local knowledge to any research project.

Conduct Market Research in Africa

GeoPoll has a wide range of experience conducting research throughout Africa utilizing our database of respondents and mobile-based research methodologies. To learn more about GeoPoll’s capabilities in Africa, please contact us today.

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Since GeoPoll’s launch, we have grown to now facilitate research in over 60 countries, including 25 countries in Africa alone. During this time, GeoPoll’s team has amassed a trove of knowledge on best practices when carrying out international marketing research. We have also encountered some challenges, and with them, invaluable learnings regarding international research.
Based on these learnings, we have put together a how-to guide on the marketing research process , including tips on regional nuances to look out for as well as the dos and don’ts when engaging a research agency, and how to understand basic research terms and get the most value out of the data you are gathering. We hope you find this useful as you start your own marketing research process. If you have specific questions about embarking on a new project feel free to contact us.

Getting Started With Your Marketing Research Process

a. Conduct Preliminary Research

Carry out some preliminary research by going online and searching for existing survey reports on your topic of interest. There might not be much especially if you are looking for very specific information, but you might find something close either for a different country or a report that gives you some ideas on how to go about your primary research.

While gathering international research data has been difficult in the past, in the last 10 years, information about Africa and other regions is more available online. Governments, the private sector, and international development organisations throughout the world are continuously churning out research data. One example of this can be seen on GeoPoll’s very own blog, which contains troves of research reports on various topics on commercial and international development research. This secondary data can be used to help structure your research brief.

b. Develop a Research Brief

To get the most out of your marketing research project, put together a brief with the objectives of your data collection. What exactly do you want to understand better? Be as specific as possible, for example: “What percentage of adult working females aged between 25 and above living in urban areas use my product brand?”

Which aspects of the 4 Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) do you want to best understand? The more detail you can provide the better. This helps later when designing the project.
A brief document should contain the following information: Company background, the business objectives, the research objectives, your target market, your competition, the geographical focus and your research project budget.

c. Identify the Right Marketing Research Agency

Research agencies come in all shapes and sizes. It often helps to understand an agency’s main data collection method which, more often than not, tells you what their strengths are. What you will note is that many of the international marketing research agencies have wide-ranging capabilities in data collection and use multiple data collection modes. However, often the cost for these agencies is higher than for agencies that only specialize in one data collection method. For you as the consumer, the scope of your project will determine which agency you will work with.

When talking to various research agencies, counter check their website and social media pages to look for any published reports online, which will give you an idea of the quality of their research and topic areas they focus in. Another crucial due diligence aspect of deciding on what agency to work with is their capabilities and country coverage – too many companies claim to be in markets that they are not in, and they end up sub-contracting. This practice means you are further removed from the data collection process and can also result in a higher cost.

You can verify the company’s coverage by requesting for a copy of their panel book; this is a comprehensive document that gives you details of the agency’s research panel and includes their geographical coverage as well as the demographic details of the panel. Also request copies of case studies, either of projects on the same topic or in the same geographical location, to further assess their past experience in the area you are interested in.

Last but not least, confirm that the agency is a member of either local, regional or international research accreditation bodies based on the geographical scope of your project. These associations have strict policies around marketing research ethics and how data is collected from respondents. GeoPoll is a proud corporate member of ESOMAR,  PAMRO, and MSRA.

d. Determine Your Data Collection Mode

Once you have listed your objectives, deciding on which of the following research methodologies to utilize becomes easier. Deciding on which type of research to run also helps further narrow down the agency best suited based on their capabilities. The data collection mode you use will impact both the type of data you collect and how it is collected.

Data is generally grouped into two categories, qualitative and quantitative. Simply put, qualitative data is unstructured and is often exploratory by nature. When analyzed, responses may be grouped into similar categories but they cannot be ranked in the same way quantitative data can.

Quantitative research is the mathematical approach to collecting data, which can more clearly be measured and structured. Quantitative data includes survey data where respondents have a clear choice of answers, and quantitative questions often appear with radio buttons, check boxes and Likert scales which are easy to measure and compare. The two data collection methods are often referred to as simply quant and qual. It is important to note that qualitative research tends to be more expensive than quantitative research, as it requires more manual data analysis.

Different research modes will often lend themselves more easily to quantitative or qualitative data collection. Focus groups, unstructured interviews, and open-ended questions are typically collecting qualitative data, while surveys with answer choices collect quantitative data. Understanding the different modes and what type of data they can collect is important: Text message surveys can collect some qualitative data, but perform better with quantitative questions that are easily answered from a list of choices.

You also need to consider how robust and agile the different modes of data collection are. Can your selected mode work across multiple countries and languages? How much data are you looking to collect and in what time-frame? The level of scalability of the mode is important, especially if your project will entail a multi-country survey. In addition, some modes will collect data more slowly than others.

Some examples of different modes of data collection include:
• Face-to-face
• Text message (SMS) survey
• Online survey
• Mobile web survey
• Mobile application survey or passive data collection
• CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews)
• CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview)
• Focus groups

Marketing research agencies can often give you guidance on what modes would be best for your project, and you should also consider if the agency has experience in that type of data collection. Another question to consider is how relevant each methodology is to your needs – if you are looking for a lot of exploratory data, a focus group may be your best bet, but if you want to reach a wide group of respondents in emerging areas, text message surveys would be a better mode.

e. Conduct Data Analysis

The most important aspect of market research is being able to analyze the data once it has been collected. A thorough analysis should guide you on how to act on the insights you have gathered. It is therefore crucial that the research agency, through their insights report, address the questions you had set out at the start of your survey. For example: What is my product’s current position in the market, who are my actual customers, and which aspects of my 4 Ps do I need to work on? Analysis capabilities of the agency and the tools being used by the analysts and if they meet your needs

f. Complete A Post Project Review

Having a session with the research team after completion of your project to share feedback and discuss the project execution is sometimes overlooked. Such an undertaking involves various departments but is important to understand why a project did or did not go as smoothly as planned. A post-project review session helps in both parties knowing what areas worked and which ones the agency or the client will need to improve for their next project.

In summary

Conducting international marketing research is often a large undertaking and there are various details you need to consider before embarking on your project. Language, infrastructure, internet penetration, and the type of data you are looking to collect all have an impact on your project and how easily data will be collected from your target population. To be successful, you must engage the right company: One that has a wide range of experience in the area you are researching can utilize multiple modes with ease and can give you advice on questionnaire design, regional nuances, and more.

GeoPoll has a team of experts in collecting data around the globe, and specifically in emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. We are always happy to advise you on your data collection needs: To ask a question or contact us about an upcoming project, please get in touch with us 

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