Marketing Information System
Marketing Information System
The marketing information system distributes the relevant information to the marketers who can
make the efficient decisions related to the marketing operations viz. Pricing, packaging, new
product development, distribution, media, promotion, etc.
Every marketing operation works in unison with the conditions prevailing both inside and
outside the organization, and, therefore, there are several sources ( viz. Internal, Marketing
Intelligence, Marketing Research) through which the relevant information about the market can
be obtained.
1. Internal Records: The Company can collect information through its internal records
comprising of sales data, customer database, product database, financial data, operations data,
etc. The detailed explanation of the internal sources of data is given below:
The information can be collected from the documents such as invoices, transmit copies,
billing documents prepared by the firms once they receive the order for the goods and
services from the customers, dealers or the sales representatives.
The current sales data should be maintained on a regular basis that serves as an aide to a
the Marketing Information System. The reports on current sales and the inventory levels help
the management to decide on its objectives, and the marketers can make use of this
information to design their future sales strategy.
The Companies maintain several databases such as*Customer Database- wherein the
complete information about the customer’s name, address, phone number, the frequency of
purchase, financial position, etc. is saved.
*Product Database- wherein the complete information about the product’s price, features,
variants, is stored.
*Salesperson database, wherein the complete information about the salesperson, his name,
address, phone number, sales target, etc. is saved.
The companies store their data in the data warehouse from where the data can be
retrieved anytime the need arises. Once the data is stored, the statistical experts mine it by
applying several computer software and techniques to convert it into meaningful information
that gives facts and figures.
In order to have an efficient marketing Information System, the companies should work
aggressively to improve the marketing intelligence system by taking the following steps:
Providing the proper training and motivating the sales force to keep a check on the
market trends, i.e. the change in the tastes and preferences of customers and give suggestions
on the improvements, if any.
Motivating the channel partners viz. Dealer, distributors, retailers who are in the actual
market to provide the relevant and necessary information about the customers and the
competitors.
The companies can also improve their marketing intelligence system by getting more and
more information about the competitors. This can be done either by purchasing the
competitor’s product, attending the trade shows, reading the competitor’s published articles in
magazines, journals, financial reports.
The companies can have an efficient marketing information system by involving the loyal
customers in the customer advisory panel who can share their experiences and give advice to
the new potential customers.
The companies can make use of the government data to improve its marketing
Information system. The data can be related to the population trends, demographic
characteristics, agricultural production, etc. that help an organization to plan its marketing
operations accordingly.
Also, the companies can purchase the information about the marketing environment from
the research companies who carry out the researches on all the players in the market.
The Marketing Intelligence system can be further improved by asking the customers
directly about their experience with the product or service via feedback forms that can be
filled online.
The secondary data are publicly available, but the primary data is to be collected by the
researcher through certain methods such as questionnaires, personal interviews, surveys,
seminars, etc.
A marketing research contributes a lot in the marketing information system as it provides the
factual data that has been tested several times by the researchers.
4. Marketing Decision Support System: It includes several software programs that can be
used by the marketers to analyze the data, collected so far, to take better marketing
decisions.With the use of computers, the marking managers can save the huge data in a tabular
form and can apply statistical programs to analyze the data and make the decisions in line with
the findings.
Thus, the marketers need to keep a check on the marketing environment, i.e. both the internal
(within the organization) and the external (outside the organization, so that marketing policies,
procedures, strategies can be designed accordingly.