Problems in Marketing Experimentation:
The advantages of experiments in determining the cause and effect relationships are many. They can predict some events. The causal relationship can be established and models can be developed. Apart from the advantages of experimentation there are several problems of experimentation.
1. Lack of Theory: Experimentation lacks theories to use the research design. The marketing research has been primarily descriptive and extensive information in now available in the area of marketing. But there is no adequate and proper theory or hypothesis to test them and to fin doubt the real relationship between marketing variables. This is now gradually developing with the expansion of research facilities and there is much scope of development of research theories in marketing areas.
2. Cost of Experimentation: Experimental research is costlier. At least two group are required to test the hypotheses i ,e, the experimental group and control group. The data are collected twice in many cases. A large number of sample members is collected. Thus it is expensive enough to control a wide variety of data. The processing of data is allow very costly. Therefore the experimentation is used only when the benefits of the research are more then that of the cost involved in the experimentation. Test marketing require s tremendous resources, it would be wasted if the test failed.
3. Time : A longer time is involved in experimentation. At least one year is the permitted minimum period of research. The research may continue for a longer period. The long period involves additional problems of control and competitive reaction. The history and maturation effects may influence the ultimate decision. The conclusion derived after a long period may become obsolete to suit the current marketing decisions.
4. Other Problem: There are several test problems relating to collection of data and their interpretation. The survey and sample to be selected appropriately pose another difficult decisions. The cooperation poses another problem while collecting the data. This research design may not be useful in cases where secrecy is required to compete in the market because field research will reveal the purpose of research and the completion swill adopt competitive methods to beat the market.