Spotting a Business Opportunity | Edexcel GCSE Business (1BS0)
Spotting a Business Opportunity
- 76 questions
- 5 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Spotting a Business Opportunity is examined in Paper 1, Investigating small business (Theme 1).
It covers customer needs, purpose and methods of market research, market research data and its reliability, market segmentation and the competitive environment.
Sample questions from Spotting a Business Opportunity
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Customer needs
What is meant by convenience as a customer need?
Show the answer
Convenience means a product is easy to get and use, saving the customer time and effort. Late opening, home delivery and online ordering all add convenience. -
Customer needs
Why might a business struggle to meet every customer need at the same time?
Show the answer
Higher quality and wider choice usually raise costs. Higher costs push up the price, so the business must decide which needs matter most to its customers. -
Purpose and methods of market research
What is primary research?
Show the answer
Primary research is new information collected first-hand by the business for its own purpose. Primary research is also called field research. -
Purpose and methods of market research
What is secondary research?
Show the answer
Secondary research uses information that already exists, collected by someone else for another purpose. Secondary research is also called desk research. -
Market research data and its reliability
Give an example of a closed question and the type of data it produces.
Show the answer
A question asking how many coffees someone buys each week gives quantitative data. The answers can be counted and averaged. -
Market research data and its reliability
What does it mean for market research data to be reliable?
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Reliable data gives an accurate and trustworthy picture of the market. A business can base decisions on reliable data with confidence. -
Market segmentation
How can lifestyle be used to segment a market?
Show the answer
Lifestyle segmentation groups people by how they live, such as their hobbies, values and habits. A fitness brand might target people who run or cycle regularly. -
Market segmentation
What is a market map?
Show the answer
A market map is a diagram that plots products or businesses against two features, such as price and quality. The map shows where each competitor is positioned.
The 5 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Customer needs | Price, quality, choice and convenience as customer needs, how needs differ between segments and change over time, and why meeting them drives sales, loyalty and survival. | 15 |
| Purpose and methods of market research | Why businesses research their market, finding gaps and reducing risk, surveys, questionnaires, focus groups and observation, secondary sources, and choosing research for a new service. | 16 |
| Market research data and its reliability | Qualitative and quantitative data and their strengths and weaknesses, survey percentages, social media as a research tool, and why samples, bias and leading questions make data unreliable. | 15 |
| Market segmentation | Segmenting a market by location, demographics, lifestyle, income and age, why segmentation helps targeting, and how a market map reveals gaps and competition. | 15 |
| The competitive environment | Judging rivals on price, quality, location, product range and customer service, how competition shapes decisions and products, and how a small business responds to a large competitor. | 15 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
Edexcel GCSE Business Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 672 questions with their answers.