Marketing information systems analyze internal and external market research data to help managers make decisions related to promotional campaigns, product development, target markets, competitive activity, and consumer perception. They can also help evaluate a company’s performance and gain insight into customer behavior.
A marketing information system is a business intelligence software application that analyzes internal and external market research data. It helps managers make decisions related to promotional campaigns, product development, target markets, competitive activity and consumer perception. Data stored and analyzed in a marketing information system can also help evaluate the performance of a company, individual product categories and business units.
Many companies use a marketing information system to gain insight into their customers’ buying behaviors. Due to the wealth of data these systems collect, the software and server applications that analyze and organize the information are vital components. These systems collect information that the Company may not be able to collect or observe. For example, supermarket chains capture and analyze consumer buying behavior through a point-of-sale and loyalty card system with the assistance of an automated marketing information system.
Marketing involves discovering consumer needs and serving them profitably. To discover consumer needs, a company needs to conduct research. A marketing information system can help a company accomplish this through data mining techniques. Some consumers are not comfortable disclosing their true behaviors and perceptions in more expensive forms of primary research, such as focus groups and surveys. Computer systems can anonymously track real behavior and reveal patterns and parallels that research cannot.
In addition to examining internal records related to customer behavior, a marketing information system can collect and track information related to competitor activity. New product introductions and sales results can be obtained from external sources and entered into the system. Its analytical tools can perform a comparison between the sales growth of the competitor’s product and the company’s. This can help managers determine whether they need to be more aggressive in their marketing efforts or modify a product’s placement and distribution strategy.
Intelligence systems can reveal the performance of products in certain markets and distribution channels. For example, if a manufacturer distributes its products to several large supermarket chains, an intelligence system can break down the performance of its products in each chain relative to last year’s sales. This may indicate a need to increase shelf space, introduce more retailer incentives, sponsor more store-level promotions, and promote certain product categories. Depending on the chain’s base demographics and clientele, a manufacturer may find that certain product lines perform better at certain retailers, which a marketing information system can determine.
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