• DE&I Commitment
  • Careers
  • SIGN IN
  • Book a Meeting
    Book a Meeting
  • Company
    Learn a little more about us, our values, and our team
    Our Values
    We don't just talk the talk; we live by our core values
    About Us
    Empowering brands to realize their potential with data, insights, and technology
    Leadership
    Meet our leadership team
    Secure Data Architecture
    Our promise of data security and privacy. We keep your data safe from publishers, competitors and bad actors
    Corporate Social Responsibility
    We are committed to making a positive impact on our communities and our planet
  • Platform
    Plan, manage, optimize, and measure your campaigns with our omnichannel platform
    Omnichannel Advertising
    A platform that connects all walled garden media for more effective campaigns
    Data Connectivity
    Make data-driven decisions as you plan and strategize
    AI-Powered Capabilities
    Take your campaigns to the next level by leveraging proprietary AI-based technology
    See the industries we serve
    Learn how our customizable solutions can help with your unique needs
    Explore our partner integrations
    See the media, retailer, and data partners we work with
  • Case Studies
  • News and Events
    Check out recent announcements and see what we’re up to
    Newsroom
    Check out our recent media mentions and announcements
    Events
    Join us for our next conference or webinar
    Omnichannel platform launch
    Read the press release to see how we're helping marketers win the walled gardens
    AI Breakthrough Award
    Skai Named "Best AI-based Solution for Advertising" in 6th Annual Artificial Intelligence Breakthrough Awards Program
  • Resources
    From new releases, to industry trends and best practices, Skai has you covered
    The Breakthrough
    Read the latest blog posts and thought leadership from Skai and other industry experts
    Skai Whitepaper Library
    Explore our whitepapers and reports so you can stay up to date
    Skai Research
    Get in-depth analysis, insights and research on the industry's hottest topics
    Quarterly Trends Hub
    Dive into the latest market insights, industry trends, and predictive analysis
    Holiday Hub 2023
    Your go-to source for holiday marketing tips, tricks, and best practices
Back to Blog

Market Intelligence vs. Market Research: What’s the difference?

Skai Blog

November  11, 2021

In the last year, the shift to ecommerce and the rise of direct-to-consumer business models have accelerated beyond expectations, creating a need for traditional consumer brands to rethink everything about how they do business. But this fast pace has also demonstrated that effective change can only be made if you have a finger on the pulse of the market at all times.

From now on, the brands that pivot successfully will be those making informed decisions based on continually refreshed, accurate, and contextualized data from all corners of their complex and ever-evolving market ecosystem.

McKinsey reports that data-driven organizations are 23x more likely to attract new customers, 6x more likely to retain customers, and 19x more likely to be profitable. Is your organization prepared to compete? If not, you’re not alone; many brands are discovering that the market research that got them to where they are today won’t take them to where they want to go next.

Market intelligence vs. market research

Market research and market intelligence are both sources of decision-making data and many businesses use the terms interchangeably. However, there are significant differences between the two and it’s more important than ever to be clear on which one you’re really using.

Market research is organization-specific, focused on a particular question, and usually related to customer needs or preferences. Focus groups and in-person surveys are a good example of market research; they’re one-off projects that don’t rely on any preexisting data.

Market intelligence, on the other hand, is much broader. It’s about your organization’s entire market – competitors, consumers, and products. Market intelligence data is constantly gathered and refreshed from multiple sources, so continuous access to those sources is key. Market intelligence is typically broken out into four components:

  1. Market analysis, for assessing the potential marketing opportunity.
  2. Customer understanding, for identifying customers and their needs.
  3. Competitor analysis, which can help you differentiate your product and gain advantage in the market.
  4. Product evaluation, which can ensure that your product is tailored to the needs of your customer.

Market research can play an important role in effective decision-making, but it has significant limitations. Primary research takes time to gather and synthesize, making it difficult to scale and prone to resulting in outdated information by the time it’s made available to decision-makers. It’s also prone to bias, as focus group and survey participants are notorious for saying what they think researchers want to hear rather than the truth. Even if the people you survey do tell the truth, what if their opinions change tomorrow, next week, or next year?

Organizations that still primarily rely on market research often do so because they believe that talking to their consumers is the only way to really understand them. But the scope of market research is so narrow that these organizations are missing out on the market intelligence insights that could support better, faster decision-making across the business.

The value of a single source of truth

Market intelligence provides a fuller and more complete picture of the entire market than market research, but the sheer breadth of data can introduce a new problem: conflicts between data points from different sources.

What happens if insights are in conflict with each other? Or when different teams focus on different insights? It’s not uncommon for siloed teams to gather their own data from a single source in total isolation. For example, one team may have access to product and sales data while another team monitors social media conversations. The result? Each team comes to believe a different “truth” and ultimately makes different decisions. Compounded across the organization, these conflicting decisions could add up to disaster.

Brands that recognize the value of market intelligence are increasingly investing in systems of insight that provide a single source of truth about the customer and the market, with connected and contextualized insights that everyone in every department can access. It’s the only way to acquire a truly accurate view into market trends, consumer needs, and the competitive landscape. Skai is a unique provider of this kind of system, combining the depth and granularity of insights traditionally gleaned from market research with the breadth of insights from “big data” sources.

Connected, contextualized market intelligence in the real world

Here’s an example of the importance of connected and contextualized intelligence. In 2016, one of Skai’s clients asked for predictions on future sales of olive oil in order to make a product development decision. Historical point-of-sale data indicated a likely future decline in olive oil sales. Of course, this was backward-looking, not forward-looking, and it was just a single data point.

Skai’s combined multiple data sources, including social media conversations, online forum discussions, product information, product reviews, key opinion leaders’ posts, product descriptions, and more, to forecast that olive oil sales were poised for a significant increase. The client ran with this connected, contextualized information and was able to take full advantage of the increased sales that eventually arrived as predicted.

The real benefit of market intelligence

Skai has helped many organizations reorient their decision-making based on market intelligence rather than market research. With confidence in the data, these brands have changed the way they do business by:

  • Proactively inspiring change and provoking actions that people aren’t yet even considering
  • Democratizing data throughout the organization, delivering insights into the hands of everyone that needs them
  • Making sure that every critical business decision is fueled by data and insights
  • Adapting quickly when unexpected events (like global pandemics!) occur
  • Making decisions faster and taking advantage of being first-to-market
  • Driving growth thanks to an obsession with customers and their needs
  • Understanding not just what is happening, but why
  • Measuring the impact of decisions

Market intelligence is the catalyst for impactful change, and that’s its real benefit and value. Growing revenue, taking first-mover advantage, identifying M&A targets before competitors, growing category share, conquering new geographies – these are major moves that are only possible when decision-makers are informed, aligned, and confident that they are moving in the right direction.

A recent Deloitte study showed that organizations with the highest propensity for leveraging data-driven insights in their decision-making processes were twice as likely to have significantly exceeded their business goals. And Forrester reports that insight-driven businesses grow at an average of 30% each year and are predicted to wrest $1.8T annually from their less-informed industry competitors. How could your organization benefit from Signal Analytics’ connected and contextualized market intelligence?

————————————–

*This blog post originally appeared on Signals-Analytics.com. Kenshoo acquired Signals-Analytics in December 2020. Read the press release.

Request a Demo of Skai

Related Posts

  • Multiple networks and connections
    6 Insights You Should Get from Your Market Intelligence Data
    Read More
  • M&A planning and data at the table
    M&A Data Analytics Can Improve Your Business’ Decision-Making
    Read More
  • Woman looking and analyzing her computer screen while holding a pen in her hand.
    What is Modern Market Intelligence?
    Read More
  • Skai’s Chief product officer guy cohen on market intelligenceSkai’s Chief product officer guy cohen on market intelligence
    The Skai 5: Five Questions About Market Intelligence With Skai’s Guy Cohen, Chief Product Officer 
    Read More
  • The 10 Key Market Intelligence Data Sources Brands Should Focus On Right Now
    Read More
  • What’s Hot? What’s Not? What’s Next? Insights for Baby Care Brands by Skai
    Read More
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email
  • Copy Link
    Copied!

    Subscribe to Updates

    Media that matters.
    Marketing that works.
    © 2023 Kenshoo, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
    Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Recruitment Privacy Policy.
    • Omnichannel Strategy
      • Skai HQ
      • Dynamic Marketing Mix
      • Budget Forecasting
      • Strategic Consulting
    • Walled Garden Advertising
      • Overview
      • Retail Media
      • Paid Search
      • Paid Social
      • App Marketing
      • Auditing
      • Expert Services
    • Marketing Measurement
      • Incrementality
      • Experiments
      • Cross-Channel Attribution
    • Resources
      • Blog
      • Glossary
      • Case Studies
      • Capabilities
      • Skai Research Center
      • Quarterly Trends Hub
      • Training & Enablement
      • Developer Hub
    Privacy Preference

    We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience.

    Privacy Preference

    Save All

    Save

    Accept Only Essential Cookies

    Manage Cookie Preferences

    Cookie Details Privacy Policy Imprint

    Privacy Preference

    Here you will find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to whole categories or display further information and select certain cookies.

    Save All Save Accept Only Essential Cookies

    Back

    Privacy Preference

    Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

    Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website, Imprint
    PurposeSaves the visitors preferences selected in the Cookie Box of Borlabs Cookie.
    Host(s).skai.io, skai.io
    Cookie Nameborlabs-cookie
    Cookie Expiry1 Year
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    Host(s)skai.io
    Cookie Namewordpress_sec_,wordpress_test_cookie,wp-postpass_*, wordpresspass_*, wordpressuser_*
    Cookie ExpirySession / 1 Year
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    PurposeThis cookie stores selections made by the user in the Accessibe tool in order to maintain those settings on future visits. These cookies help us make our website compliant with our obligations under US law.
    Privacy Policy https://accessibe.com/privacy-policy
    Cookie NameacsbState, acsbReset
    Cookie Expiryn/a

    We use these cookies to enhance functionality and allow for personalisation, such as live chats, videos and the use of social media.

    Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

    Accept
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    Host(s).comeet.co, www.comeet.co
    Cookie Namevisid_incap_, nlbi_#######, incap_ses_, referrer22_00a, incap_ses_1364_2167377
    Cookie ExpirySession / 1 Year
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    Host(s).chilipiper.com, skai.chilipiper.com
    Cookie Namefs_uid, CHILI_PIPER_CLUSTER, guest-session, _sp_ses*, _sp_id*
    Cookie ExpirySession / 2 Years
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    Host(s)skai.io
    Cookie NamemoduleFormPardotDownload
    Cookie Expiry30 days

    Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.

    Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

    Accept
    Name
    ProviderGoogle Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
    PurposeCookie by Google used for website analytics. Generates statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
    Privacy Policy https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
    Cookie Name_ga, _ga_*, _gat,_gat_*,_gid, GOOGLE_ABUSE_EXEMPTION, AEC, __Secure-ENID, SOCS, CONSENT
    Cookie ExpirySession / 2 Years
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderHotjar Ltd., Dragonara Business Centre, 5th Floor, Dragonara Road, Paceville St Julian's STJ 3141 Malta
    PurposeHotjar is an user behavior analytic tool by Hotjar Ltd.. We use Hotjar to understand how users interact with our website.
    Privacy Policy https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy/
    Host(s)*.hotjar.com
    Cookie Name_hjClosedSurveyInvites, _hjDonePolls, _hjMinimizedPolls, _hjDoneTestersWidgets, _hjIncludedInSample, _hjShownFeedbackMessage, _hjid, _hjRecordingLastActivity, hjTLDTest, _hjUserAttributesHash, _hjCachedUserAttributes, _hjLocalStorageTest, _hjptid, _hjSessionUser_2229986, _hjIncludedInPageviewSample, _hjIncludedInSessionSample, _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress, _hjFirstSeen
    Cookie ExpirySession / 1 Year
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    PurposeVWO is AB Testing software that we'll use to test different elements of the website - form placement, nav, different page layouts, etc.
    Privacy Policy https://vwo.com/compliance/cookies-notice/
    Host(s).skai.io, dev.visualwebsiteoptimizer.com
    Cookie Name_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_goal_{GOALID}, _vis_opt_test_cookie, _vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_combi, _vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_exclude, _vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_split, _vis_opt_s, _vis_opt_out, _vwo_uuid, _vwo_uuid_{CAMPAIGNID}, _vwo_ds, _vwo_sn, _vwo_uuid_v2, _vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_combi_choose, _vwo_referrer, _vwo, _vwo_global_opt_out, _vwo_ssm, uuid
    Cookie ExpirySession / 10 Years

    Marketing cookies are used by third-party advertisers or publishers to display personalized ads. They do this by tracking visitors across websites.

    Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

    Accept
    Name
    ProviderPardot
    PurposeCookie name associated with services from marketing automation and lead generation platform Pardot. The visitor value is the visitor_id in your Pardot account. This cookie is set for visitors by the Pardot tracking code.
    Host(s).pardot.com, pi.pardot.com, skai.io
    Cookie Namepardot, visitor_id*, lpv*
    Cookie ExpirySession / 10 Years
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderMeta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
    PurposeCookie by Facebook used for website analytics, ad targeting, and ad measurement.
    Privacy Policy https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies
    Cookie Name_fbp,act,c_user,datr,fr,tr,m_pixel_ration,pl,presence,sb,spin,wd,xs
    Cookie ExpirySession / 1 Year
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderLinkedin
    Cookie Namelidc, li_gc, lang, AnalyticsSyncHistory, UserMatchHistory, li_sugr, bcookie, TDCPM, TDID, bscookie, ln_or
    Cookie ExpirySession / 1 Year
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderSkai
    Cookie Nameken_gclid
    Accept
    Name
    Provider6sense
    Cookie Name_gd_session, _an_uid, _gd_visitor, _gd_svisitor, 6suuid
    Cookie ExpirySession / 400 Days
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderGoogle Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
    PurposeCookie by Google used for conversion tracking of Google Ads.
    Privacy Policy https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
    Cookie NameIDE, 1P_JAR, NID, _gcl_au, OTZ, test_cookie
    Cookie ExpirySession / 400 Days
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderOwner of this website
    Cookie NamePHPSESSID, sid, okto-autoposter-XXX, oktgid, oktsid, oktlogid-XXX, oktolead-XXX-Email, oktolead-XXX-Company, oktolead-XXX-FirstName, oktolead-XXX-LastName, oktolead-XXX-Phone, oktolead-XXX-Country, oktolead-XXX-Url, oktolead-XXX-State, oktolead-XXX-Comment, optout
    Cookie ExpirySession / 2 Years

    Content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default. If External Media cookies are accepted, access to those contents no longer requires manual consent.

    Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

    Accept
    Name
    ProviderWistia
    Host(s).wistia.com
    Cookie Namecb_anonymous_id, _sp_ses.2b40, _li_dcdm_c, __hssrc, _gcl_au, _clsk, hubspotutk, _sp_id.2b40, __hssc, __hstc, _uetsid, _uetvid, _gid, _ga, _ga_GQR109DZ3Y, _lc2, fpi, _ex-pricing-cta, _fbp, cb_group_id, cb_user_id, _clck
    Cookie ExpirySession / 400 Days
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderMeta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland
    PurposeUsed to unblock Instagram content.
    Privacy Policy https://www.instagram.com/legal/privacy/
    Host(s).instagram.com
    Cookie Namepigeon_state
    Cookie ExpirySession
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderOpenstreetmap Foundation, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge CB4 0WS, United Kingdom
    PurposeUsed to unblock OpenStreetMap content.
    Privacy Policy https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_Policy
    Host(s).openstreetmap.org
    Cookie Name_osm_location, _osm_session, _osm_totp_token, _osm_welcome, _pk_id., _pk_ref., _pk_ses., qos_token
    Cookie Expiry1-10 Years
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderTwitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland
    PurposeUsed to unblock Twitter content.
    Privacy Policy https://twitter.com/privacy
    Host(s).twimg.com, .twitter.com
    Cookie Name__widgetsettings, local_storage_support_test
    Cookie ExpiryUnlimited
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderVimeo Inc., 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA
    PurposeUsed to unblock Vimeo content.
    Privacy Policy https://vimeo.com/privacy
    Host(s)player.vimeo.com
    Cookie Namevuid
    Cookie Expiry2 Years
    Accept
    Name
    ProviderGoogle Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
    PurposeUsed to unblock YouTube content.
    Privacy Policy https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en&gl=en
    Host(s)google.com
    Cookie NameCONSENT
    Cookie Expiry6 Month

    Borlabs Cookie powered by Borlabs Cookie

    Privacy Policy Imprint