Gathering Information and Scanning the Environment

What is a Marketing Information System (MIS)?

A marketing information system consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort,
analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision
makers.MIS relies on internal company records, marketing intelligence activities and marketing
research.

Internal Records

Marketing managers rely on internal reports of orders, sales, prices, costs, inventory levels,
receivables, payables and so on. By analyzing this information, they can spot important
opportunities and prolems.

Order-to-payment cycle
The heart of the internal records system is the order-to-payment cycle. Sales representatives,
dealers, and customers send orders to the firm. The sales department prepares invoices,
transmits copies to various departments, and back orders out of stock items.

Sales information system

Marketing managers need timely and accurate reports on current sales. Wal-Mart operates a
sales and inventory data warehouse that captures data on every item, for every customer, for
every store, every day and refreshes it every time.

 Databases, warehousing, data mining

Today companies organizes information into databases– customer database, product databases,
salesperson databases- and then combines data from the different databases. For example, the
customer database will contain every customer’s name, address, past transactions, and
sometimes activities, interests, and opinions.A collection of current data, captured, organized,
and stored in a company’s contact center is called Data warehouse.The extracting of useful
information about individuals, trends, and segments from the mass of data is called data mining.

Marketing intelligence system

Marketing intelligence system is a set of procedures and sources managers use to obtain
everyday information about developments in the marketing environment.Marketing managers
collect marketing intelligence by reading books, newspapers, and trade publications; talking to
customers, suppliers, and distributors; monitoring social media on the internet via online
discussion groups; ing and meeting with other company managers.

Steps to Improve Marketing Intelligence

Train sales force to scan for new developmentsMotivate channel members ( distributors,
retailers, and other intermediaries) to share intelligenceNetwork externally ( watching the work of
competitors)Utilize a customer advisory panel( Gathering sophisticated customers)Utilize
government data sources ( Government provide data about population trends, demographics
characteristics, agricultural production and other data.Collect customer feedback online ( Online
customer review boards, discussion forums, chat rooms, and blogs can distribute one customer
evaluation of a product or a supplier to a large number of potential buyers.Purchase information (
information can be purchased from other agencies. Gallup Pakistan, and AC Nielsen ORG Media
Research.

Analyzing the Macro Environment Needs and Trends

Trends: a direction or sequence of events that has some momentum and durability. In the age of
30 people value physical fitness is a trend.Megatrends: large social, economic, political, and
technological changes that are slow to form, and once in place, have an influence for seven to
ten years or longer. Young people in the region are playing an increasingly important role in the
consumption of products and services.
Identifying the Major Sources Environmental Forces
Companies and their suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customers, competitors, and publics all
operate in a macro environment of forces and trends, increasingly global that shape opportunities
and threats. These forces represent “non controllable,” which the company must monitor and to
which it must respond. The beginning of the new century brought a series of new challenges: the
steep (falling or rising at a sharp angle) decline of stock market, which affected savings,
investment, and retirement funds; increasing unemployment;Within the rapidly changing global
picture, the firm must monitor six major forces: we will describe these forces separately, but
marketers must pay attention to their interactions, because these will lead to new opportunities
and threats. For example, explosive population growth (demographic) leads to more resource
depletion (reduction) and pollution (natural), which leads consumers to call for more laws
(political-legal), which stimulate new technological solutions and products (technological), which,
if they are affordable (economic), may change actually change attitudes and behavior (social-
cultural).

Six Major Environmental Forces

Demographic

Economic

Socio-cultural

Natural

Technological

Political-legal

1. Demographic

The main demographic force that marketers monitor is population, because people make up
markets. Marketers are keenly interested in the size and growth rate of population in cities,
regions and nations; age distribution and ; educational level; household patterns; and regional
characteristics.

Population and Demographics

Population growth
Population age mix

Educational groups

Household patterns

Geographical shifts

2. Economic EnvironmentThe available purchasing power in an economy depends on current

income, prices, savings, debt, and credit availability. Marketers must pay careful attention to
trends affecting purchasing power, because they can have a strong impact on business.

Economic Environment

Income Distribution

Savings, Debt, and Credit

Social-Cultural Environment
Society shapes the beliefs, values, and norms that largely define consumer tastes and
preferences.Regional differences in language, customs(something that people usually do), social
systems(relating to society in which people live together), values, habits, religions, and caste
systems make the social environment of the world.

4. Natural Environment

The deterioration of the natural environment is a major global problem. Companies should
manufacture those goods which are environment friendly. Environmentalists have been actively
campaigning against pollution-causing industries.Converting public transportation vehicles into
CNG fuel. Emission from vehicles(gas, light, and heat sent out) when is a major problem in
vehicles.

5. Technological Environment
Marketers should monitor the technological changes and trends. Because technology shaping
lives dramatically.Through the years, technology has released such wonders as penicillin( a type
of medicine which kills bacteria), open-heart surgery, and the birth control pill, and such horrors
as the atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb. It has also released such mixed blessings as cell phones
and video games.

6. Political-Legal Environment
Marketers should closely monitor political-legal environment. The political and legal environment
consists of laws, government agencies and pressure groups that influence and limit various
organizations and individuals. Sometimes these laws also create new opportunities for business.
For example recycling laws have given the recycling industry a major boost and the creation of
dozens of new companies making new products from recycled materials.

Most Popular Leisure Activities

Reading

TV Watching

Spending time with family

Going to movies

Fishing

Computer activities

Gardening

Renting movies

WalkingExercise

Listening to music

Natural Environment Shortage of raw materials Increased energy costs

Anti-pollution pressures

Governmental protections

Keys to Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia

Consumer Value Positioning

Calibration of Consumer Knowledge

Credibility of Product Claims

Reading Material from Book.

Technological Environment
Pace of change

Opportunities for innovation

Varying R&D budgets

Increased regulation of change