Component 2: Market analysis — Eduqas A-Level Business
Test yourself on Component 2: Market analysis with EDUQAS A-Level practice questions.
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Component 2: Market analysis explained
Numbers tell a firm how many and how much; words tell it why, and a good answer uses both on the same decision.
Read the full explanation
Survey counts, till data, loyalty card records and market share figures size the opportunity and can be projected forward; focus groups, interviews, online reviews and observation explain the motive behind the number, which is what tells a firm whether a fall in sales is price, quality or fashion. The usual decisions are segmentation, positioning against rivals, product feature choice and pricing. The trade-off is depth against representativeness: a focus group of eight people is rich and cannot be extrapolated, while a survey of two thousand is projectable and cannot tell you why anybody answered as they did. Evaluation marks come from interrogating the research itself, its sample size, sampling method, age, response rate and who paid for it.
Calculate price and income elasticity of demand
Both measures are a ratio of percentage changes, and both need the percentage worked out first: new value minus old value, divided by the old value, multiplied by one hundred. Price elasticity of demand is the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price, and it has no units because the units cancel. Income elasticity of demand is the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in real consumer income. If a coffee shop raises a latte from two pounds to two pounds twenty, a rise of ten per cent, and weekly sales fall from five hundred to four hundred and fifty, a fall of ten per cent, price elasticity is minus one. The firm uses the figure to test a price change before making it, so the arithmetic is only worth marks when the answer says what the size and sign mean for revenue.
Interpret numerical values of price and income elasticity of demand
The size of the price figure, ignoring the sign, is what matters: bigger than one means demand is price elastic and quantity moves proportionately more than price, smaller than one means demand is price inelastic, and exactly one is unitary so revenue is unchanged. Petrol and branded medicines sit near the inelastic end; a single brand of crisps in a crowded aisle sits near the elastic end. For income, the sign matters first: a positive figure marks a normal good, a negative figure an inferior good such as supermarket value ranges, and anything above one marks a luxury whose sales swing harder than the economy does. A firm reads these to set price, plan for a downturn and choose its product mix. The blind spot worth writing about is that any figure is an estimate from past data, assumes nothing else changed, and shifts as rivals, incomes and tastes move.
Evaluate the impact of changes in price and income on business revenue
Total revenue is price multiplied by quantity sold, so the effect of any price move depends entirely on how strongly quantity reacts. Where demand is price inelastic, raising price raises revenue because the fall in volume is proportionately smaller; where demand is price elastic, a discount raises revenue because extra volume more than covers the lower margin per unit. A firm facing a figure of minus nought point four that raises price by five per cent loses about two per cent of volume and gains roughly three per cent of revenue. Income works through the income figure: in a downturn, luxury sales fall faster than incomes while value ranges gain. The judgement marks sit in what revenue does not tell you, namely costs, contribution and whether discounting damages a premium brand or simply invites a competitor to match the cut.
Your focus
- Analyse quantitative and qualitative research data in order to better understand the position of the business in the market and the requirements of customers at present and in the future
- Calculate price and income elasticity of demand
- Interpret numerical values of price and income elasticity of demand
Show all 4 objectives
- Evaluate the impact of changes in price and income on business revenue
Component 2: Market analysis exam tips
Marking Points
- Using a number and a customer comment together, so the analysis explains both the scale of a problem and its cause for the named business.
- Naming the method behind the data, such as a stratified sample, a focus group or secondary market reports, and saying what that method can and cannot support.
- Judging reliability explicitly through sample size, response rate, how old the data is and whether the questions were leading, then adjusting the recommendation accordingly.
- Linking the finding forward to a decision the firm must take, for example a repositioning, a new segment or a price change, rather than stopping at describing the research.
- Showing the two percentage changes as separate working, each calculated on the original value, before dividing one by the other.
- Putting quantity on the top and price or income on the bottom, and stating the answer to two decimal places with a sign.
- Keeping the minus sign on price elasticity for a normal good, or stating clearly that the sign is being ignored and only the size is being compared with one.
- Following the number with a sentence of meaning, such as demand being price inelastic so a price rise would raise total revenue for this firm.
- Comparing the size of the price figure with one and drawing the revenue consequence, rather than simply labelling it elastic or inelastic.
- Using the sign of the income figure to classify the good as normal, inferior or luxury and naming a product from the case study that fits.
- Explaining why the figure takes the value it does for that firm, referring to substitutes, brand loyalty, the share of income the product takes, or whether it is a necessity.
- Qualifying the interpretation by noting that elasticity is estimated from historical data, holds only over a limited price range, and changes over time.
- Working the revenue effect through price multiplied by quantity rather than asserting that a higher price always means more money coming in.
- Separating revenue from profit by bringing in variable costs, contribution per unit and whether the extra volume fits within existing capacity.
- Applying the income figure to the state of the economy described in the case study, for example real incomes falling and a luxury product losing sales faster than the market.
- Reaching a supported judgement with a condition attached, such as recommending a price rise only while the product keeps its brand distinctiveness and rivals hold their prices.
Examiner Tips
- 💡This is a favourite setting for assess and evaluate questions, so plan the answer around the strength of the evidence rather than around a list of research methods.
- 💡If the case study gives both a survey table and a customer quotation, examiners expect both used; an answer that ignores one of them caps itself in the lower bands.
- 💡Calculations here are worth two to four marks and method marks survive an arithmetic slip, so always show the percentage changes even when using a calculator.
- 💡The paper almost always follows the calculation with a question on what the firm should do, so leave room to use your own answer rather than recalculating from scratch.
- 💡Interpretation is usually the second half of a calculation question, so write the meaning in the firm's own context, naming its product, not in textbook generalities.
- 💡For an evaluate question, the strongest limitation is the reliability of the estimate itself, so keep one line for the age of the data and the assumption that all else stays equal.
- 💡This is a standard extended response stem worth around ten to twenty marks, so structure it as two developed effects plus a judgement rather than as a list of points.
- 💡Use the figures in the case study to size the effect in pounds; an answer that quantifies the revenue change outscores one that only says revenue would rise.
Common Mistakes
- Treating qualitative research as automatically weaker, when it is the only source that explains motive; the correct criticism is that it is not representative, not that opinions are worthless.
- Describing the difference between the two types of data for most of the answer and never applying either to the position of the named firm in its market.
- Assuming stated purchase intention equals actual sales, when consumers routinely say they would buy a greener or healthier product and then do not.
- Dividing the raw change in units by the raw change in price instead of dividing one percentage by the other, which gives a number that depends on the units used.
- Calculating the percentage change against the new value rather than the original, which understates a rise and overstates a fall.
- Inverting the formula and putting the percentage change in price on the top, turning an elastic result into an inelastic one.
- Reading a price elasticity of minus two as more inelastic than minus nought point five because minus two looks smaller on a number line, when the sign must be set aside first.
- Calling every negative income elasticity a mistake, when a negative value is the correct signature of an inferior good and tells the firm its sales will rise in a recession.
- Saying inelastic demand means demand does not change at all, when it means demand changes proportionately less than price.
- Concluding that a price cut boosts profit because revenue rose, when the lower contribution per unit can leave total profit below where it started.
- Ignoring competitor reaction, so the predicted volume gain from a discount is assumed to arrive in full when rivals can match the price within days.
- Treating the elasticity figure as fixed, when it differs over the price range, over the seasons and once a rival launches a close substitute.