Annual Report 2007
GfK Group: www.gfk.com
Market research sector: on course for success
Market research puts its clients in a position to act effectively and efficiently. It achieves this by the objective, systematic and structured gathering of information, the provision of appropriate instruments and the interpretation of the findings from which recommendations for a plan of action can be derived. Market research facilitates an understanding of customers and markets, because it reflects the structures and dynamics of the market environment. Market research is also essential when it comes to reviewing the performance of a company and developing strategies for the future.
This becomes increasingly important because of the escalating complexity of many of the markets. Whether this concerns the trend towards saturation, differentiation, altered consumer behavior or penetration of new regions, the challenges confronting the decision-makers are growing.
The impact of this is that clients expect more from market research and these days, more often than not, market research companies act as consultants, rather than as pure data suppliers.
At the same time, the demand for cost effective, instant information on markets and consumers, is on the rise. This explains the strong increase of online research. In 2006, online expenditure ran to USD 3.1 billion, which represents growth of around 14% compared to the previous year.
As in other sectors, there is a growing concentration of companies active in the market research industry. Indeed, the top 25 companies in the USA, UK, Germany, France, Japan and Brazil, together account for a global market share of 63%.
The process of concentration in the market research industry has again escalated in 2007.
As usual, market research benefits from the positive development of national economies.
Global market research sales in 2006 totaled USD 24.6 billion. Inflation-adjusted global growth in sales amounted to 4%, which was above expert expectations.
Growth in the industry varies considerably from region to region. The fastest growing regions are Latin America (11.3%), and the Middle East and Africa (9.5 %). With 6.6% growth, Asia and the Pacific have also developed well. North America is growing at a reasonable rate (3.4%), however, at 2.8%, Europe has the lowest level of recorded growth, while nevertheless remaining the region with the highest market share of 43% and sales amounting to USD 10.6 billion. The growth driver behind the very strong rise in sales recorded under "Other European countries” is first and foremost Turkey, which registered 30.2% growth attributable to increased investment from abroad. In second place comes Russia, with growth of 27.1% accounted for by rising domestic demand from the consumer goods and retails sectors.
At national level, the USA is the biggest market research country in the world, followed by the UK, France, Germany and Japan. Of the top 10 countries, which together account for almost 80% of the sector’s overall sales, China has recorded the highest sales growth. Germany, which is the third largest consumer research market in Europe, grew by 3.1%, which is markedly more positive than Europe’s two biggest markets, the UK (0.1%) and France (0.8%).
The importance of the customer segments hardly changed in 2006. As before, the consumer goods segment remains the principal client for market research. Virtually half the sales (48%) were generated by this segment, followed at a considerable distance by Media (15%), the public sector (8%), financial services (5%) and retail (5%).
As a full-service network, the GfK Group is among the leading market research companies in the world. In 2006, the GfK Group was ranked fifth in the top 10 market research companies.
