PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, 26 January 2006

When Zapera was established back in 2000 concentrating fully on Nordic Internet-based market research, it marked a reshaping of the research market in the region. Now Zapera is doing it again with the introduction of Internet-based qualitative research, and at the same time becoming the first full-service Internet-based market research institute in the Nordic region.

“When we were established 6 years ago as the first Nordic institute to concentrate exclusively on internet-based research, there were many critical voices among our colleagues in the industry”, says managing director Lars Lund-Nielsen. “Since then they have been completely silenced, and today no one questions the method. We expect to see the same development in internet-based qualitative research. We will initially be concentrating on focus groups and personal interviews.”

In the USA, the Internet has been used for qualitative research since the mid-90s, while Europe has been substantially slower in adopting the method. In the American research industry, there is no longer any discussion about whether the method can be used, but merely discussions about how to ensure the highest quality. It is still difficult to find figures on the proportion of the qualitative market using the Internet as a tool, but some sources estimate that it is as high as 5-8% (and growing steadily).

“Compared with market penetration of Internet-based quantitative methods, I estimate that the development of the qualitative market will proceed in a completely analogous manner”, predicts Lars Lund-Nielsen. “Europe will follow 3-5 years behind the USA, where the online share of the total research market is now approximately 35%. We will be seeing equivalent figures in Europe within a few years, and Zapera will be pleased to lead this development at the Nordic level”.

With the introduction of its qualitative research, Zapera also becomes the first Internet-based full-service institute in the Nordic region.

“I expect that we will be in a position to offer our clients an even better service by supplementing our experience of quantitative research with the qualitative analytical tools”, says Research Manager Jens N. Laugesen. “I am particularly pleased about the opportunities to create greater consistency in research by being able to cover the client’s problems using qualitative research and subsequently to quantify them using our 90,000 strong Nordic panel.”

“I estimate that in Denmark alone there is a total qualitative market of approximately 150 million Danish kroner waiting for us”, concludes managing director Lars Lund-Nielsen. “With 40 skilled analytical staff, I am looking forward to change the perception once again of what is possible and what is not within the industry!”

Read more about Internet-based Qualitative market research here (DK):

For further information:

Managing Director Lars Lund-Nielsen, mobile +45 40 80 80 40 or email lln@zapera.com.

Research Manager Jens N. Laugesen, mobile +45 25 16 19 95 or email jnl@zapera.com.

About Zapera:

Zapera was founded in January 2000 as the first market research institute to concentrate exclusively on Nordic online research. Via its international partners, the company is now able to carry out online research throughout the western world. Zapera has companies in Finland, Sweden and Denmark and services around 300 clients in the Nordic region. The company employs approximately 40 staff and has built up a panel of around 90,000 respondents in the Nordic countries, Poland and Estonia. Zapera has had an average growth rate of 38% p.a. for the last 4 years and is among the most profitable companies in the market research industry!