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You want to start a milkshake business in Los Angeles. You’re a roaring success of a chiropractor living in Bel Air whose business is booming! But the milkshake business is just one of those childhood dreams that never quite escaped your imagination, now calling out to you at the ripe age of 42. And now that you’ve amassed just enough wealth to fund this childhood dream, you think, ‘If not now, when?’.

You know underwhelmingly little to nothing about the milkshake market. All you really know is that you love milkshakes, and you want to share your love of milkshakes with the rest of Los Angeles! It’s as simple as that. But is it really?

Milkshake culture within the food and beverage industry has evolved by leaps and bounds from what it was in your heyday. Before you dive deep into your pockets and invest in your childhood dream, you need to know exactly what the food and beverage industry market culture is; what the consumer trends are; what percentage of milkshake drinkers are out there in the greater city of Los Angeles; whether LA’s milkshake drinkers prefer nut milk, fresh cow’s milk, half and half, full-fat ice cream, low-fat ice cream or vegan ice cream?

But how, where and when do you begin collecting all this data; and what do you do with it?

This is where Market Research in Los Angeles will swoop in to save the day. Market Research will help you gain strong actionable insights into the world of milkshake marketing in Los Angeles. It’ll help you develop an intuitive strategy that will guide all your milkshake business decisions, geared to satisfy your target consumer wants and needs while maximizing your ROI (Return on Investment).

Market Research ensures you’re not going in blind but are armed with the right insights giving you more bang for your buck! Let’s take a deeper look at Market Research in Los Angeles and how it can turn all your business dreams into reality.

 

WHAT IS MARKET RESEARCH?

Market Research is the process of collecting consumer sentiments about a business’ product or service, which leads to key consumer insights, helping your enterprise make better informed business decisions.

So, how would Market Research help in setting up your milkshake venture, you ask? Well, Market Research will shed light on the milkshake market makeup, so that you understand whether there is a demand for milkshakes in Los Angeles, if so, how big the demand is, what your target consumer likes and dislikes, and what the best strategy is to attract customers.

 

HOW IS MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED?

Market Research can be conducted by the business itself or it can be outsourced to a market research agency with expertise in the field.

There are different types of Market Research that a company can benefit from, including:

1. Primary Research: This refers to first-hand market research conducted by your business or by a market research agency you hire to unearth key consumer intelligence.

Primary research can be collected through the following research methodologies:

• Focus Groups
• In-depth Interviews
• Ethnography
• Market Research Online Communities (MROC)
• Creative Testing
• Online Discussions
• Surveys
• Shop Along
• Home Use Tests (HUT)

2. Quantitative Research: Quantitative research refers to the collection and analysis of numerical and quantifiable data using close-ended questions through structured tools like surveys, polls, and questionnaires to provide forecasts, averages, status reports, and other analytics.

3. Qualitative Research: Qualitative research refers to the collection of non-numerical data through open-ended questions that seek to unearth not just what consumers like and dislike about a business’s product or service, but ‘why’ consumers feel that way.

Referring to a combination of the aforementioned types of Market Research while placing a greater weight of attention on primary research, would provide a more cohesive understanding of your target demographic.

 

HOW CAN MARKET RESEARCH HELP BUSINESSES IN LOS ANGELES?

According to the City of Los Angeles Office of Finance’s listing of active businesses, since peaking with over 38,000 new business registrations in 2018, Los Angeles has experienced a gradual fall in new business registrations having only seen the registration of 28,000 new businesses in 2021.

 

 

You’re probably thinking this drop in LA’s new business registrations is probably due to post-pandemic predicaments. However, this hasn’t been the case for the rest of the United States: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 5.4 million new business applications were filed in 2021 in USA, exceeding the 4.4 million filed in 2020.

Whether this drop is attributed to LA’s rising cost of living or the seemingly endless red tape reducing the ease of doing business in Los Angeles, Market Research can help pep up corporate confidence by offering deep and actionable industry-specific insights into your business’ target demographic.

Market Research in Los Angeles can help prospective and existing businesses glean the following key consumer insights and help swerve businesses out of risky economic territory:

• Identify and tap into new markets
• Keep track of changing consumer trends, fueling business innovation
• Reveal the demand for new product features
• Unearth consumer sentiments toward a product before it goes to market
• Recognize redundancies in business processes at the point of purchase (POP)
• Inform a change in brand identity and brand strategy to strengthen brand awareness and recall

All these data sets would provide an in-depth analysis of your target market and what it has in store for you and your business. By going straight to your consumer and asking the most relevant socio-economic and experiential questions, you’ll be able to resolve the resounding dilemma of whether your business will sink or swim?

Still wondering whether it’s possible to turn your milkshake business dreams into reality? By commissioning a market research agency in Los Angeles and leveraging their expertise to glean an abundance of consumer insights into the milkshake market, you won’t have to wonder any longer.