If I am not mistaken, Iran imports a considerable amount of the food that is consumed in the country. There is, of course, considerable domestic production of food but it does not meet the demands of a country of 70 million people. Perhaps if you looked at the value of Iran's food imports, you could gain some sense of how large the market is? That is one consideration.

Dear Jason

Iran produces many agricultural products. A small amount of food imports, but we are working on the production of organic products and would like to know the best way to market surveys to supply these products. Which method is more effective in developing countries. Is this method can be found the fact market in these country?

Hi Abbas, Please forgive my ignorance. I was not aware that Iran produced many agricultural products domestically. (I lived in Iran as a child in the 1970s and back then a lot of food was imported). To answer your question, in the US and Europe, surveys distributed by email generally have a much higher response rate than surveys distributed by traditional mail. Web based survey softwares such as Qualtrics (http://www.qualtrics.com/) have become very popular for conducting email surveys. I am sure that I am not telling you anything that you do not already know, however. In my own research, I generally use secondary data... I am sure that lots of Iranians would be receptive to organically produced vegetables and fruits. In many emerging countries- such as India- the uncontrolled use of pesticides and heavy metals have led to growing interest in organically produced food.

Hi

Dear Jason

From the time you lived in Iran, I am happy. I hope you have good memories of those times. It is better, more clear the current situation 's. As you know, Iran has a population of 75 million. Many people do not give importance to your health in the long term. In some areas also not have from minimum sanitary. Many people do not have enough money or even by enough money, do not give much importance to health. For example, when buying fruit the flavor and appearance, and price is more than its healthy pay attention. The farmers 's from fertilizer urea, phosphate, etc. are enormous. Use of herbicides and pesticides is much higher than the permissible limit. Most large cities like Tehran and Isfahan, air pollution  is constant. Import video and mobile devices and laptop machines is a major share of total imports. Agricultural production in the 's is high and in some cases, such as onions, melons, potatoes, etc. There's exports. But compared to Europe and America spend a much higher cost of production. For supporting government policies and lack of attention to the destruction of the environment, these costs can be negligible for farmers.

about use of an online survey market, I think that's not responded. Because many people are not willing to answer these questions. On the other hand, there is no institution or organization that can do that.

Hi Abbas,

I believe, first, you need to do a literature review and deepen your understanding of consumers' underpinning motives, desires, and decision processes when it comes to buying organic food (and perhaps green products in general). For example, in the past few years, our field’s top journals including JM, JCR, and even JMR, have shown a particular interest in this area of research and have published several excellent papers, which I’m sure you’ll find interesting (especially look for Journal of Marketing’s 2012 special issue on green marketing). Second, look for available secondary data in Iran. Start from Statistical Center of Iran (www.amar.org.ir). They reliably track Iranian’s consumption of every conceivable product category, but it might not be available for free and you might have to pay for the more detailed information (you can find the general annual reports for free on their website). Also check the databases of Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture and Central Bank. Their data bases more focus on supply side and the production of agricultural products in Iran. Third, to estimate Iran’s market size for a particular type of organic product you’ll need to do a comprehensive market research, which could be very costly. The cost of couple of researches that I did 6-7 years ago in clothing and food industries in Iran, passed the 10000 dollars mark at the time. To be able to gather any reliable data, you’ll need to hire multiple research assistants in each of Iran’s major cities and train them to interview the participants. Do NOT use a mail survey research because despite the size of the monetary stimulation that you provide, the response rate will be below 10 percent and data will be extremely skewed towards lower income segments of population. Good Luck!

Hi Abbas,

The question looks little confusing to me. First of all, are you trying to identify market or trying to do marketing research. Marketing Research is research done in the area of marketing like branding, consumer behavior, services etc. Now if you want to know how to do that in Iran, every marketing research has certain objectives, depend on the client need. But if you are trying to understand, what market exists in Iran, then that is separate issue. For that, you need to look at the domestic production, export import, you must have chamber of commerce, which keeps good record of that. And there might be several reports that talks in specific area like garment, agriculture, mining etc. These will be great resources. So, if you can share what you are trying to do in detail, I will be happy to talk more with you.

Hi

 Dear Rojan Baniya

Thank you for your answer.

We identifying markets for new products. We want to know what is the best way to identify potential market that can be used in developing countries? How can we gained the most information at the least cost?

Hi Abbas,

It involves scanning marketing environment that consists of understand the lifestyle, culture, and living standard of that nation. What are their consumption rate and discretionary incomes?If you can share what is the product it is much easier to answer, because without product (i mean without knowing its a tech product, or agriculture product or food product or etc), it is difficult to generalize. Basically, you need to understanding, needs, wants and demands, we will not know what to do.

And people's lifestyle, culture, their consumption pattern, existing products and service provide you lots of details. That way you can see your product or service has chance of being demanded or not!!!

Thank you.

Your information was useful.

Our work is product safe and organic agricultural such as vegetables and fruits.our community aim is big cities in Iran, such as Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad and Shiraz. Considering Industrial of this cities access to healthy vegetables is low.

The industries of the city is low access to healthy vegetables. On the other hand, the use of these products is important for good health throughout life. However, because of the excessive use of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, the production cost per unit goes up. Because the rate of production compared to the use of fertilizers and herbicides reduced. Now the question is whether, according to the specification (providing healthcare and higher prices), the people of this city are interested in buying these products. Can this be (due to the sale and consumption) is affordable?

The average income in the Iran is not high, especially after the policy targeted subsidies and rising fuel prices, the value be less. So people more try to buy cheaper food and the long-term healthy effects are little importance.

Sometimes they do not have the ability to pay for it. Inflation has been a dramatic increase in the last three years, resulting in reduced purchasing power.

That is why we need the information needed to be careful from the potential target population.