Is there room on Station Road?: Marco has found an empty shop on Station Road for Lena's Bakery's fourth shop. The lease is for five years, and before he signs it he wants answers.
His questions
- How many people pass the station each day?
- Who lives nearby?
- Who else sells bread and breakfast there?
He has no time yet to stand at the station asking commuters. So he spends an afternoon at his laptop.
By the evening Marco has population figures, a report on the bakery market, a newspaper story about a new office block and the online reviews of the café at the station. He did not collect any of it. Someone else did, earlier, for their own reasons.
Using data that already exists, collected by someone else for a different purpose, is secondary market research (also called desk research, because it can be done from a desk).
Primary: collected first-hand
- Who collects it. The business itself, or someone it pays, for this exact question.
- Example. Aisha asks commuters at the station where they buy breakfast.
- Methods. The ones you met in 4.4.1: surveys, interviews, focus groups and observation.
Secondary: collected second-hand
- Who collects it. Someone else, earlier, for a different purpose.
- Example. Marco reads the population figures the government published after the 2021 census.
- Sources. Reports, journals, government figures, news stories and websites that already exist.
The test is who collected it, and for what: Ask two questions. Did the business collect this data itself? Was it collected for this decision? If the answer to both is no, it is secondary research.
'Secondary' here has nothing to do with the secondary sector from 1.1. It means second-hand data, not manufacturing, and it does not mean second-best.
Secondary research is usually where a business starts. It is cheap, it is quick, and it shows what is already known before anyone spends money asking customers.
Free preview
This is the free notes preview
You're reading the free notes. Aimnova Pro unlocks the full study experience — and you can try it with your first topic free to keep:
- FlashcardsLock in vocabulary and key terms with spaced repetition.
- Practice questionsAnswer exam-style questions and get instant AI marking.
- Mock exams & past-paper vaultSit full mocks and see exactly how examiners award marks.
- Personalised study planA daily plan built around your exam date and weak areas.
Marco's afternoon took him to five kinds of source. Each one was made by someone else, for their own reader, and each one tells the bakery something different about Station Road.
The five secondary sources
Market analyses
Reports on a whole market by a research firm or trade body: its size, growth and trends, often for a fee.
Marco pays $450 for a bakery market report. National bakery sales grew 4% last year, and food on the go is the fastest-growing part.
Academic journals
Research written by universities for other researchers, checked by experts before it is published.
A journal study finds that commuters buy breakfast within a two-minute walk of their station. The empty shop is one minute away.
Government publications
Official figures: the census, population and income by area, transport and business statistics. Usually free.
The 2021 census shows 8,400 people within a ten-minute walk; rail figures for 2024 show about 4,200 passengers a day using the station.
Media articles
Stories in newspapers, magazines and on news websites, written by journalists for the public.
The local paper reports that an office block for 900 workers will open beside the station in 2027.
Online content
Anything else on the internet: competitors' websites, review sites, social media, published company accounts.
The station café has 3.1 stars from 212 reviews, most complaining about the queue. Goldcrust's website shows its prices.
Who made it, and why?: Every source was made for someone else's purpose, so ask why it exists before you trust it.
The research firm sells its report to anyone in the bakery trade. The newspaper quotes the office block's developer, who wants the building to sound busy. The people who write reviews are often the happiest or the angriest customers, not the typical ones.
| Source | What it tells Marco | What it cannot tell him |
|---|---|---|
| Market analysis | The bakery market is growing, fastest in food on the go | Anything about Station Road itself |
| Academic journal | Commuters buy breakfast very close to their station | Whether these commuters like Lena's bread |
| Government publication | How many people live nearby and use the station | What has changed since the 2021 census |
| Media article | 900 office workers are coming in 2027 | Whether the building will really open on time |
| Online content | The station café is slow, and what Goldcrust charges | How many of the café's customers would switch |
A business's own past records, such as last year's till receipts, were also collected earlier for another purpose, so reading them is secondary research too. For Station Road they say nothing: the bakery has never traded there.
Practice with exam-style questions
Answer exam-style questions and get AI feedback that shows you exactly what examiners want to see in a full-marks response.
Marco's afternoon cost $450 and a few hours. Asking commuters at the station himself would take staff several mornings and still would not tell him the size of the whole bakery market.
But the afternoon also left gaps that only the commuters can fill.
What secondary research gives
- Cheaper than primary research: much of it is free, like the census and the newspaper
- Quicker: it already exists, so the answers arrive in an afternoon, not weeks
- The big picture: whole markets and whole towns, far more than a business could ask itself
- A starting point: it shows what is known, so primary research can ask only what is not
What it cannot give
- Up-to-date data: the census is five years old, and Station Road may have changed
- An answer to the exact question: the report covers the whole country, not one street
- An advantage over rivals: Goldcrust can read the same report and the same newspaper
- Certainty: the business cannot check how it was collected, and some sources are biased
Cheap compared with what?: 'Secondary research is cheap' is only half a point. Say what it is cheaper than and show it: the census cost Marco nothing, while asking hundreds of commuters would take several mornings of staff time.
The same goes for the drawbacks: 'It may be out of date' becomes a real point when you add that the census is from 2021 and the office block did not exist then.
| Primary research | Secondary research | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Higher: staff time, printing, rewards for a focus group | Low, often free; some reports charge a fee |
| Time | Weeks to plan, collect and read | Hours, because it already exists |
| Fit to the question | Exact: the business asks what it needs to know | Loose: collected for someone else's question |
| How recent | As recent as the day it was collected | Whenever someone else collected it |
| Who else sees it | Only the business | Anyone, including competitors |
| Control over the method | Full: the business chooses who and how | None: the business must trust the source |
What Marco's afternoon tells him
- The market is growing
- 4,200 passengers a day use the station
- 900 office workers are coming
- The café is slow
- If even one in ten of those workers bought breakfast, that is 90 customers a day
What it cannot tell him
- Whether commuters want Lena's sourdough at $3 at seven in the morning
- Only the commuters can answer that
Secondary first, primary to fill the gap: So the next step is primary research, aimed at exactly that question.
How this comes up: The case tells you that a business has carried out secondary market research, often with a detail or two: where the data came from, how old it is, whether it was free.
What it then asks
- Explain one advantage and one disadvantage for the business of conducting secondary market research, for four marks.
- Define secondary market research, for two marks.
- State two methods of it, for two marks.
The four-mark pattern
- Name the advantage. Cheaper and quicker than primary research, or a view of the whole market, or a starting point for primary research.
- Show it in the case. Use the detail you are given: the data was free online, or it covers a market the business could never survey itself.
- Name the disadvantage. Out of date, not specific to the business's question, available to competitors, or of uncertain reliability.
- Show it in the case. The year the data is from, the area it covers, the rival who can read it too.
Two traps: No case, no second mark. 'Secondary research is cheaper than primary research' is one mark. 'The census figures cost Marco nothing' makes it two.
Stay with secondary research. A disadvantage of primary research, such as 'surveys take a long time', does not answer the question, even if it is true.
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage for Lena's Bakery of conducting secondary market research into the Station Road area.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.