CHAPTER 4

Collecting Information and

Forecasting Demand

1
 Marketing Information System

It consists of people, equipment, and procedures

to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute
needed, timely, and accurate information
to marketing decision makers.

2
 Components of a Modern
Marketing Information System (MIS)

 Internal company records

 Marketing intelligence activities
 Marketing research

3
 Internal Records

i. Internal reports of orders

ii. Sales
iii. Prices
iv. Costs
v. Inventory levels
vi. Receivables
vii. Payables
viii. Order to payment cycle
Using Databases, warehousing, data mining

4
 Marketing Intelligence System

It is a set of procedures and sources that managers

use to obtain everyday information about
developments in the marketing environment

5
 Marketing Intelligence

i. Train sales force to scan for new developments

ii. Motivate channel members to share intelligence
iii. Hire external experts to collect intelligence
iv. Network externally
v. Utilize a customer advisory panel
vi. Utilize government data sources
vii.Purchase information
viii.Collect marketing intelligence on Internet

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 Marketing Intelligence on the
Internet

• Independent customer goods and service review forums

• Distributor or sales agent feedback sites
• Combo sites offering customer reviews and expert
opinions
• Customer complaint sites
• Public blogs

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Analyzing the Macro-environment

Fad

Trend

Megatrend

8
 Major Environmental Forces

Demographic

Political-legal Economic

Technological Socio-cultural

Natural
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Demographic Environment

•Population growth
•Population age mix
•Ethnic and other markets
•Educational groups
•Household patterns

10
 Economic Environment

GDP, Recession, Economic Policies, etc.

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 Socio-cultural Environment

• Core cultural values

– Values are passed from parents to children
and reinforced by social institutions

• Subcultures
– Groups with shared values, beliefs,
preferences, and behaviors emerging from
their special life experiences or circumstances

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 Natural Environment
•shortage of raw materials, especially water
•increased cost of energy
•increased pollution levels
•changing role of governments
• Corporate environmentalism
– Opportunities await those who can reconcile
prosperity with environmental protection

Government’s initiative to convert all modes of public transport to CNG-

powered vehicles helped reduce pollution levels in the cities drastically
13
Technological Environment

•Accelerating pace of change

•Opportunities for innovation
•Varying R&D budgets
•Increased regulation of change

14
Political-Legal Environment

Business Legislation

Growth of Special Interest Groups

Government Agencies

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