Download Marketing Information and Research

Marketing Information and
Research
Chapter 5
Competition
• When products have limited differences,
businesses try to compete for sales emphasizing
such things as their name, availability, or price.
– You see this often when businesses compete in an
oligopoly – few businesses offer very similar products
• Example Airline industry
• Competition is becoming more and more intense
for most businesses. No matter what type of
competition they are facing
Data
Internal
• Internal information- is
information developed from
activities that occur within the
organization
• Businesses must keep detailed
and accurate records – Three
Types
• 1. Customer Records & Sales
Information
• 2. Production & Operations
Reports
• 3. Performance Information
• This can all be used for internal
marketing information
External
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External information- provides an
understanding of factors outside of
the organization
Marketers cannot plan effectively
without understanding consumers,
competitors, the economy, and other
changes around them
Trade and Professional Association
Business Publications
Commercial Data and Information
Service
Government Reports
Examples of these include US Census
Bureau, The Wall Street Journal, and
the Dun & Bradstreet business
database
Market Information Systems
• An organized method of collecting, storing, analyzing, and
retrieving information to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of marketing decisions
• The method includes five steps
• 1. Decision Making- the purpose of an MKIS is to improve
decision making
• 2. Output- the result of analysis given to decision makers
• 3. Analysis- the process of summarizing, combining, or
comparing information
• 4. Storage- the resources used to maintain information so
it can be used when needed
• 5. Input- information that goes into the system for
decision making
Using Marketing Research
• Marketing research- is a procedure designed to identify solutions to
specific marketing problems through the use of scientific solving
• The scientific method is used to ensure that a careful and objective
procedure is followed in order to develop the best possible solution
• 1. Define the problem
• 2. Analyze the Situation
• 3. Develop a Data-Collection Procedure
– Primary Data- information collected for the first time
– Secondary data- information already collected for another purpose
• 4.
• 5.
Gather Information
Propose a solution
Marketing Research
• Random sampling ensures that everyone in
the population has an equal chance of being
selected in the sample.
• Numerical data is much easier for researchers
to analyze than non-numerical data.
• The most important part of a marketing
research report is the accuracy of the
information and the presentation of the
results of the research.
Collecting Primary Data
• Ways to Collect Primary Data
– Conducting Surveys
– Making Observations
• collects information by recording actions without interacting or
communicating with the participant
– Performing Experiments
• A carefully designed and controlled situation in which all important
factors are the same except the one being studied is an experiment
– Test Markets
• are specific cities or geographic areas in which marketing experiments
are conducted
– Simulations
• are experienced when researchers create the situation to be studied
Surveys
• A planned set of questions to which
individuals or groups of people respond
• Two Types of questions
– Closed-ended questions- offer two or more
choices
– Open ended questions- allows respondents to
develop their own answers
• Often used when researchers are attempting to identify
the problem
Types of Information Needed for
Effective Marketing Decisions
• Most businesses today recognize that different
customers have different wants and needs.
• The business environment includes information about
types of competition, economic conditions, and
government regulations
• Information about consumers consists of age, gender,
brand preference, and income
• Information about the marketing mix elements consists
of product features, promotional message, and price
• Effective marketing information reduces the risk of
decision making.
Additional Info
• The most important performance measure for
a company is to compare actual performance
with expected or planned performance.
• KNOW THE VOCAB
• Be able to:
– Name the three categories of important types of
internal information and briefly describe each.
– Name the 5 steps of the marketing scientific
method and give a description of each.