The Use of the Internet in Marketing Researches

The Internet is becoming an inherent part of the marketing research process. The Internet is been used increasingly in the area of secondary data collection. The use of the Internet has also made primary research faster, easier, more available and cheaper for the companies. Primary research can be conducted by two basic methods: without client involvement (by keeping track of visitors to the Web sites) or with client involvement (achieved by e-mail surveys and panels as well as in-depth interviews and focus group interviews). Both advantages and disadvantages of the selected methods of quantitative and qualitative research have been discussed in the paper. Some methodological problems of preparing the data collection instruments are also explained. However Internet is still in its infancy as a research tool, keeping up with the technological development and greater access for the majority of customers its possible application in the research process would evolve very rapidly