Marketing information and marketing research. Marketing research Marketing information and marketing research in brief

Marketing information is collected, analyzed and distributed within the marketing information system, which is part of the organization's management information system.

The concept of this system arose and its practical implementation began in the early 70s.

Marketing Information system(MIS) is a set (single complex) of personnel, equipment, procedures and methods designed to process, analyze and distribute reliable information at a specified time necessary for the preparation and adoption of marketing decisions (Fig. 3.2).

MIS transforms data obtained from internal and external sources into information necessary for managers and specialists of marketing services. MIS distributes information among managers and specialists of marketing services who make appropriate decisions. In addition, MIS, interacting with other automated systems of the enterprise, delivers necessary information heads of other departments of the enterprise (production, R&D, etc.). Internal information contains data on product orders, sales volumes, product shipments, inventory levels, payment for shipped products, etc. Data from external sources is obtained on the basis of marketing intelligence (from the current external information subsystem) and marketing research.

Marketing intelligence is a continuous activity, based on the use of certain procedures and sources of information, to collect current information about changes in the external marketing environment, which is necessary both for the development and adjustment of marketing plans. While internal information focuses on the results obtained, marketing intelligence explores what can happen in the external environment.

Sources for obtaining current external information can be of a very different nature; formal and informal procedures are used to collect it. Similar information is obtained by studying books, newspapers, trade publications; as a result of conversations with customers, suppliers, distributors and other persons external to the organization, who should be effectively motivated to collect the necessary information; based on conversations with other managers and employees, such as employees of the sales services of this organization; by conducting industrial and commercial espionage (although foreign books write a lot about the ethical problems of marketing research).

Marketing research, unlike marketing intelligence, involves the collection and analysis of data on specific marketing situations that the company has encountered in the market. Actually, the study of the goals, content, procedures, methods and practices of implementing marketing research is the subject of this book.

Such information is not collected in the two previously discussed systems. Such activities are carried out periodically, and not continuously, as certain problems arise, based on the use of special methods for collecting and processing the collected data.

The MIS also includes a marketing decision support subsystem, in which, using certain methods (for example, correlation analysis models, break-even point calculation), based on the created marketing database, access to the information necessary for managers to make decisions, as well as its analysis in a given direction .

This system answers questions like: “what if?” gives immediate answers used in making marketing decisions.

The marketing decision support subsystem may include a set of procedures and logical algorithms based on the experience of experts and called expert systems.

The idea of an expert system is as follows. While traditional accounting programs deal only with facts, expert systems rely on "professional culture". Speaking of professional culture, have in mind the whole set of informal heuristic techniques, guesses, intuitive judgments and the ability to draw conclusions that are difficult to analyze explicitly, but which, in fact, form the basis of the expert's qualification acquired by him throughout his entire career. professional activity. Usually the expert himself is not fully aware of its presence and poorly understands exactly how it works. However, despite the incomprehensibility of expert knowledge, it was possible to put it into computer programs, thanks to which they can today compete in terms of competence with highly skilled practitioners.

Modern expert systems are able to give advice in such diverse areas of knowledge as the diagnosis of diseases, exploration, payment of income tax and the functioning of the defense system, and marketing problems. In each of these areas, one has to deal with information that is not rigorous, extremely complex, which makes it difficult to use the usual software; however, expert systems cope with it often better than purely formalized systems. The knowledge used in each such system has been obtained from experts in the field in the form of rules, usually many hundreds of them, which together form the "knowledge base" of the computer. An expert system consists of a knowledge base and an "inference" mechanism - a program that is able to find logical consequences from the entire set of rules in the system.

Survey of clients and potential clients. It is carried out in the following directions:

continuous study of the degree of satisfaction of guests;

annual study of the opinions of businessmen;

based on the study of the annual survey results of travelers, familiarity with the typology of trips, attitudes towards trips and the purposes of their implementation.

Fifty-nine percent of managers consider internal company data to be the most important source of marketing information, twenty-one percent of managers consider marketing intelligence to be the most important source of data, twenty percent are the results of specifically conducted marketing research.

From the point of view of management functions, MIS is most often used for planning and control purposes, indicated by 51 and 36% of respondents, respectively.

To the question: “Does the use of IIAs give a competitive advantage?” - 56% of respondents answered positively. A negative answer was given by 44% of the respondents.

Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed indicated that their firms have a formal, written marketing plan.

Further development of MIS will lead to its transformation into a marketing decision support system that is more flexible, easier to use, based on interactive procedures, and focused on making non-standard creative decisions.

Marketing research is aimed at obtaining reliable information about the needs of consumers in relation to certain goods, services or programs. It is a reliable tool that allows market entities to make competent and informed decisions aimed at effectively promoting their products and drawing attention to it from all sides. more clients.

Marketing research is the collection, analysis and generalization of information about a specific group of people, their problems and the degree of involvement in them, as well as a possible reaction to the proposed solution. Thus, marketing research is a unique tool that allows you to confirm or refute the hypotheses put forward regarding the developed strategy of the organization's marketing activities.

Unfortunately, not all marketing research is carried out in accordance with the methodological and methodological requirements for the research process. As a result, their results not only do not provide an opportunity to obtain an objective reflection of the existing reality, but also contribute to the formation of a negative attitude towards such studies on the part of both respondents and potential customers. Only objective marketing research is able to prove its worth and withstand competition against the backdrop of the development of the latest technologies and the improvement of opportunities to gain access to various commercial databases.

There are two types of marketing research: secondary (desk) research and primary (field) research.

Secondary research is the search and analysis of previously published materials and the results of similar studies on the problem under study, conducted by other organizations. Such a study allows obtaining information about the problem as a whole, possible ways and means of solving it, including those already tested, as well as their effectiveness. The processing of such secondary information saves time and material resources, which could be spent on research already done by someone.

Primary research aims to obtain in the course of a direct survey (interviewing) primary information directly related to the subject of this marketing research. Primary research can be conducted in the form of a personal, telephone, mail survey, it can be group and individual, take place at the place of residence or work, as well as in target audiences.

The combination of these two types of research contributes to the achievement of the best result, when at the first stage a secondary research is carried out, which makes it possible to draw up a methodologically sound program of primary marketing research, and only then a direct survey of respondents is carried out in accordance with the calculated sample. One of the components of marketing research is the study and analysis of market conditions. After all, the situation that develops in the market at a certain point in time as a result of the impact of a combination of various factors has a significant impact on the development of a marketing strategy.

Marketing research can be classified according to other criteria:

In accordance with the goal, intelligence, descriptive and analytical marketing research is distinguished. Pilot studies are a special type of analytical research.

Intelligence research is the simplest type of marketing research, which is carried out according to a simplified program using a small toolkit on a small surveyed population. The purpose of such a study is to collect information about the object and subject of research, clarify the basic concepts, form a detailed understanding of the problem under study, which allows one to correctly formulate working hypotheses. Usually such a study is a preliminary stage preceding the organization of a more serious descriptive or analytical study.

Descriptive research provides information about the nature of the phenomenon or process being studied, a marketing problem or a market situation. They allow you to identify priorities related to the nature of consumers of a particular product, its assortment, the place and time of the most active sales, as well as options for using a product or service.

Analytical studies allow you to establish causal relationships between the studied objects or phenomena. When conducting such studies, primary hypotheses are put forward, which, as a result of the study, must either be confirmed or refuted. In the latter case, secondary working hypotheses are put forward.

Experimental research is the most complex type of marketing research. Indeed, in order to use the results of the experiment, it is necessary to ensure its internal and external validity. Internal validity is the confidence that it was the variable introduced during the experiment, and not some other variable, that ensured the achievement of a particular result. External validity is the confidence that the results obtained during the experiment can be extended to other non-experimental situations.

According to the type of information collected, marketing research can be divided into qualitative and quantitative (statistical).

Qualitative research, as a rule, is carried out on small sample sets, and the respondents, whose number does not exceed 50, are most often specialists - experts in a particular field. The task of such studies is to probe the problem. With their help, you can get information about those behavioral patterns that are inherent in a particular group of consumers. Qualitative marketing research is carried out using such primary information collection methods as interviewing (in-depth interview), expert survey (method of expert assessments), focus group method, etc.

Quantitative research aims to obtain an assessment of the problem with the help of statistical inference. That is, the percentage of respondents who adhere to a certain behavioral model is analyzed. To obtain reliable statistical results, it is necessary to conduct quantitative studies on a sufficiently large sample: at least 100 and no more than 1200 people. Moreover, the level of statistical reliability is directly dependent on the number of the surveyed audience.

Marketing Information Research

Completed by: Leontiev A.S.

Plan.

The composition of the marketing information system. System

marketing research.

Methodology of marketing research.

1. Identification of problems and formulation of goals

research.

2. Selection of sources of information.

3. Research methods.

4. Collection of information.

5. Analysis of the collected information.

6. Presentation of the obtained results.

Importance of marketing information research and its

specifics.

In the process of analyzing, planning and conducting marketing activities, managers need information about customers, competitors and other forces operating in the market.

A marketing information system is a constantly operating system of interrelation of people, technical means and methodological methods, designed to collect, classify, analyze, evaluate and disseminate relevant, timely and accurate information that marketing managers use to improve planning, implementation and control. marketing activities.

The marketing information system usually includes internal reporting systems (it reflects the indicators of current sales, the amount of costs, the volume of material requests, the status and movement financial resources), collection of current marketing information (this is a set of sources and methodological techniques through which managers receive daily information about events occurring in the commercial environment), a marketing information analysis system (this is a set of effective methods for analyzing marketing data and marketing problems) and a marketing research system.

The marketing research system is applicable when managers need to study some situations in detail. For example: Tula State Pedagogical University named after L.N. Tolstoy seeks to get school graduates with above-average academic performance as students. The administration needs to know the percentage of graduates who have heard about the university, know what exactly they know, how they learned and how they relate to the university. This information would help the university improve its communications program.

This situation calls for a formal study. Since managers do not, as a rule, have neither the time nor the skill to do this, marketing research must be ordered.

Marketing research can be ordered in several ways. A small firm can attract students and teachers of a local economic university or college to conduct research, or can hire a specialized organization for this.

The largest companies have their own marketing research departments. In such a department there may be from one to several dozen employees. The marketing research manager usually reports to the director of marketing and acts as the head of research, administrator and consultant. Among the employees of the department there are developers of research plans, statisticians, sociologists, psychologists, specialists in mathematical modeling.

The most typical tasks of marketing research:

1. Studying the characteristics of the market.

2. Evaluation of the market potential.

3. Analysis of the distribution of market shares.

4. Sales analysis.

5. Analysis of business activity trends.

6. Study of competitors' products.

7. Short-term forecasting.

8. Evaluation of reaction to a new product.

9.Long-term forecasting.

10. Study of price policy.

Large companies such as RAO Gazprom, small firms, non-profit organizations like universities, politicians try to find out what their image is in the eyes of clients, for which they order research. Typically, research includes five main stages: identifying problems and formulating research objectives, selecting sources of information, collecting information, analyzing the information collected, and finally presenting the results.

Identification of problems and formulation of research objectives. In the first step, the marketing director and the researcher must clearly define the problem and agree on the objectives of the research. If a manager simply tells a researcher, "Go and collect data on the textbook market," he is likely to be disappointed with the outcome of his work later on. After all, the market can be explored by hundreds of different parameters. If research is to be useful, it must be directly relevant to the problem the firm is facing and needs to be addressed. Gathering information is too expensive, and vague or incorrect definition of the problem leads to involuntary costs. A well-defined problem is already halfway to its solution.

Research goals can be search, that is, they provide for the collection of some preliminary data that shed light on the problem, and possibly help develop a hypothesis. They may also be descriptive, that is, they provide a description of certain phenomena. For example, it is required to find out the number of air passengers

or the number of those who have heard of Aeroflot. There are also experimental goals that test the hypothesis of some kind of causal relationship, such as that a 15% reduction in tuition fees will cause an increase in the number of paid graduate students by at least 20%.

Selection of sources of information. At the second stage, it is necessary to determine the type of information of interest to the customer and the ways of its most effective collection. The researcher may collect secondary or primary data, or both.

Secondary data - information that already exists somewhere, that has been previously collected for other purposes. Primary data - information collected for the first time for a specific purpose.

The secondary data serve as the starting point of the study. They are cheaper and more accessible. However, the information needed by the researcher may simply not be available, or the existing data may be outdated, inaccurate, incomplete, or unreliable. In this case, the researcher will have to collect primary data at a much greater cost and time, which is likely to be both more relevant and more accurate.

Collection of primary data. Most marketing research involves the collection of primary data. Unfortunately, for some managers, collecting primary data comes down to compiling a questionnaire with several questions and interviewing a number of people. Data collected in this way can be not only useless, it can be misleading. So for the collection of primary data, it is best to develop a special plan. The plan should provide for preliminary decisions regarding the research method, research tools. Important are the plan and methodology of sampling, methods of communication with the audience.

Research methods. Conventionally, there are three ways of collecting data, namely: observation, experiment, survey.

Surveillance - a passive experiment is one of the possible ways to collect primary data, when the researcher observes people and the environment without interfering with events. Researchers trading company can settle in trading floors take measurements, listen,

what people say about different products, and notice how sellers deal with processing and issuing purchases. They can shop at their own stores and competitors' stores in order to learn about the quality of service. Such observations may lead to useful insights that the firm could evaluate.

Experiment provides a planned impact on events. it active method. Experimental studies require the selection of comparable groups of subjects, the creation of different environments for these groups, the control of variable components, and the establishment of the degree of significance of the observed differences. The purpose of such a study is to uncover causal relationships by sifting out those explanations of the observational results that contradict the facts.

Suppose researchers want to answer the following question: what would be the impact of providing first-class in-flight meals on the number of Aeroflot passengers?

For this purpose, an experiment is being carried out. Three similar airline routes are chosen, 20% of passengers on which declare that they prefer to fly with Aeroflot aircraft. Suppose, on the first route, Aeroflot, like other airlines, will feed passengers with standard hot lunches, on the second route it will limit itself to sandwiches, and on the third route it will offer specially prepared meals and drinks according to the highest standard of European airlines. If nothing depends on food, researchers should find that on all routes, the same 20% of air travelers speak in favor of Aeroflot. Assume that by the end of the experiment, Aeroflot is still favored by 20% of passengers on the route with standard hot meals, 10% on the route with cold sandwiches, and 30% on the route with luxury meals. It can be concluded that improved high-quality and hot meals increase the interest of passengers, and cold lowers it.

In addition, it is necessary to check and make sure that the sample is sufficiently representative and the results obtained cannot be explained by any other assumptions. If crews are more welcoming on a luxury catering route, it is their hospitality that can affect passenger satisfaction to a greater extent than food. Then perhaps the need for improved nutrition is not as important as attracting and training more welcoming employees.

Interview most convenient for exploratory and descriptive research. Firms conduct surveys to get

information about the knowledge and preferences of people, about the degree of their satisfaction, as well as assess their position in the eyes of the audience. So, with the help of a survey, researchers can find out how many people prefer Aeroflot to other airlines.

Research tools. To collect primary data, marketing researchers can choose from two main research tools: a questionnaire and technical tools.

The questionnaire is the most common research tool in the collection of primary data. In a broad sense, a questionnaire is a series of questions to which the respondent must provide answers. The questionnaire is a very flexible tool, questions can be asked in many different ways. The questionnaire requires careful development, testing and elimination of identified shortcomings before its widespread use. In a carelessly prepared questionnaire, you can always find a number of methodological errors.

During the development of the questionnaire, the marketing researcher selects the questions to be asked, chooses the form of these questions, their wording and sequence.

The most common mistakes are asking questions that cannot be answered or that they will not want to answer. A typical disadvantage is questions that do not require an answer. Often there are no questions that need to be answered. Each question should be tested for the contribution it makes to the achievement of the research results. Idle questions should be omitted as they prolong the procedure and get on the interviewee's nerves.

The form of the question may affect the answer. Researchers distinguish two types of questions: closed and open questions. Closed the question contains everything possible options responses, and the respondent simply selects one of them. Open The question gives the interviewee the opportunity to answer in their own words. Open-ended questions often provide more information because respondents are unrelated in their responses. Open-ended questions are especially useful in the exploratory phase of the study, when it is necessary to ascertain what people think. On the other hand, answers to closed questions are easier to interpret, tabulate, and subject to statistical analysis.

The wording of the questions also requires care. The researcher should use simple, unambiguous words that do not affect the answer. Questions should be pre-tested before the questionnaire is widely used.

The order of the questions is also important. The first of these should, if possible, awaken

respondents' interest. Difficult or personal questions are best asked at the end of the interview so that the interviewees do not have time to withdraw into themselves. Questions should be asked in a logical sequence. Questions that classify interviewees into groups are asked last because they are more personal and less interesting to the people who answer.

Although the questionnaire is the most common tool, technical means are also used in marketing research. To measure the intensity of interest or feelings of the respondent in the study of a particular advertisement or images use encephalographs and more primitive means - galvanometers. The galvanometer captures the slightest sweat, which is accompanied by emotional arousal. A device called a tachistoscope exposes an advertisement to the respondent in the exposure interval from less than one hundredth of a second to several seconds. After each show, the interviewed person tells about everything that he managed to see and remember. A special apparatus is used to fix eye movements, with the help of which it is determined where the gaze falls in the first place, how long it lingers there.

First, who to ask? For example, should the survey sample include entrepreneurs, or employees, or military personnel, or maybe it will be made up of combinations of them? The researcher must decide what information he needs and who is likely to have it.

Second, how many people should be interviewed? Larger samples are more reliable, but it is difficult for a researcher to hope to interview more than 1% of the population.

Third, how should sample members be selected? You can use the random selection method. You can select them on the basis of belonging to a certain age group or the fact of living in a certain area. The selection can also be based on the intuition of an experienced researcher who believes that this particular group of people can be a good source of information.

Ways to connect with the audience. How to contact the members of the sample? By phone, mail or personal interview.

Phone interview - the best way to quickly collect information. During the interview, the interviewer has the opportunity to clarify questions that are incomprehensible to the interviewee. The two main disadvantages of telephone interviews are that only those who have a telephone can be interviewed, and the interview should be short and non-personal.

Questionnaire, sent by mail can be a means of contacting individuals who either will not agree to an in-person interview or whose responses may be influenced by the influence of the interviewer. The mail questionnaire requires simple, clear questions. The percentage of return of such questionnaires is usually low.

Personal interview - universal method of conducting a survey. You can ask many questions, supplement the results of the conversation with your observations. This is the most expensive of those methods. It requires more careful planning and control.

Personal interviews are of two types: individual and group. Individual involve visiting people at home, at work, or meeting them on the street. The interviewer must achieve cooperation, the conversation can last from several minutes to several hours. In some cases, as compensation for the time spent, the interviewed people are given sums of money or small gifts.

At group interviews invite no more than 10 people to talk with a specially trained interviewer about a product, service, organization or problem. The conversation lasts several hours. The host must be highly qualified, objective, knowledge of the topic and industry, which will be discussed, and understand the specifics of the dynamics of group and consumer behavior. Otherwise, the results of the conversation can not only be useless, but also misleading. For participation in the conversation, you must pay a small monetary reward.

The conversation usually takes place in a pleasant environment. In order to further arrange the interlocutors, coffee and soft drinks are served. The facilitator begins the conversation with general questions, encourages a free and unconstrained exchange of opinions between interview participants in the expectation that the dynamics of group behavior will reveal their true feelings and thoughts. Statements are recorded using a tape recorder and then studied, trying to figure out how consumers make purchase decisions. Group interviews are one of the main marketing research methods to gain a deeper understanding of the thoughts and feelings of consumers.

The method widely used in Russian practice

group personal written questionnaire very often gives superficial and distorted results.

Collection of information. Having developed a research project, it is necessary to collect information. This is usually the most expensive and error-prone part of the research. When conducting surveys, you may encounter the following problems. Some respondents may not be at home or at work, and the attempt to make contact with them will have to be repeated. Others may choose not to participate in the survey. Still others may be biased. The leader himself may be biased and insincere.

Researchers need to be careful to match treatment and control groups, not to influence participants by their presence, to give instructions uniformly, and to ensure that all other conditions are met.

Analysis of the collected information. The next stage of marketing research is the extraction of the most important information and results from the totality of the data obtained. The researcher summarizes the data obtained in tables. On the basis of these tables, indicators of the empirical distribution are derived or calculated, compared with the standard ones. The researcher then decides which statistical methods to use. To obtain additional information, modern statistical methods and models are used.

Presentation of the results. The researcher should not be overwhelmed by the number and sophistication of the statistical methods he uses. It only confuses. It is necessary to present the main results that management needs to make the main, urgent marketing decisions.

The results of marketing research should be presented in the form of a report. The report includes a very brief summary containing the problem statement and main results, a description of the methodology and results of the study, conclusions and recommendations. Statistical materials, detailed explanations of the methodology should be included in the appendices.

Thus, we can conclude:

2. To get the right information at an affordable price, managers who resort to marketing research should know their specifics well. Otherwise, they may allow the collection of unnecessary information or misinterpret the results. In addition, it is advisable to involve highly qualified researchers, since information is needed that will allow making effective decisions.

Literature:

L.E. Basovsky "Marketing", lecture course, Moscow 1999

Introduction 2

1. The concept of a marketing information system 3

2. The role and tasks of the MIS in the organization's marketing 5

3. Benefits of a marketing information system 9

Conclusion 13

References 14

Introduction

The modern economy is characterized by the interaction of its three main subjects: the producer, the consumer and the state. Each of these participants in economic processes has specific goals, in accordance with which they build their activities. In the conditions of a market economy, for the successful work of its subjects, deep knowledge of the market and the ability to skillfully apply tools to influence the situation that is developing on it are of particular importance. The totality of such knowledge and tools form the basis of marketing.

Marketing is one of the management activities and influences the expansion of production and trade by identifying consumer needs and satisfying them. It links the possibilities of production and sale of goods and services with the aim of purchasing products by the consumer. Marketing doesn't start where production ends. On the contrary, the nature and scale of production are dictated by marketing. Efficient use of production facilities, new high-performance equipment and progressive technology is predetermined by marketing.

Marketing is used not only by manufacturing enterprises, but also by trade organizations, service organizations, and individuals. Therefore, marketing is not some kind of universal, unified concept, on the contrary, the directions and methods of its implementation require adaptation to the type of organization, conditions and possibilities of its application.

In order to function properly in a marketing environment, it is necessary to obtain adequate information before and after decisions are made. There are many reasons why marketing information should be collected when developing, implementing, and reviewing a firm's marketing plan or any of its elements. It is not enough to rely on the intuition of the judgment of leaders and the experience of the past.

1. The concept of a marketing information system

In successful enterprises, marketing information is collected, analyzed and distributed within the marketing information system (MIS), which is part of the enterprise management information system.

MIS is a set of personnel, equipment, procedures and methods designed to collect, process, analyze and distribute timely and reliable information necessary for the preparation and adoption of marketing decisions.

The concept of a marketing information system is illustrated in Fig.1.

Fig.1. Marketing Information System

The internal reporting subsystem is the basis of the MIS. It reflects information about orders, sales, prices, stocks, receivables and payables, etc. The analysis of internal information allows the marketing manager to identify promising opportunities and pressing problems of the enterprise.

While the internal reporting subsystem contains and provides data about what has already happened, the marketing surveillance system subsystem provides information about the situation in the market at the moment.

Marketing research, unlike marketing observation, involves the preparation and conduct of various surveys, analysis of the data obtained on a specific marketing task facing the enterprise. In other words, marketing research is conducted periodically, not continuously, as certain problems arise.

The MIS also includes a subsystem for providing marketing solutions, which is an interconnected set of data systems, tools and techniques with which the enterprise analyzes and interprets internal and external information. However, IIAs are expensive, and the necessary initial costs are high. The use of MIS in strategic marketing for monitoring the competitive environment and making appropriate decisions is shown in Figure 2.

Fig.2. Using MIS to Make Marketing Decisions

2. The role and tasks of the MIS in the marketing of the organization

The use of market research varies widely depending on the company and the type of information required. Despite the fact that most firms conduct research in one form or another, research departments are created in large rather than in small firms. Typically, a US firm with annual sales of $25 million or more spends about 3.5% of its marketing budget, while a company with sales of less than $25 million spends about 1.5%. In addition, consumer goods firms spend more on market research than manufacturing firms.

Good information allows marketers to:

get specific benefits

reduce financial risk and sample hazards

define consumer attitudes

monitor the environment

coordinate strategy

evaluate performance

get decision support

reinforce intuition

improve efficiency.

If you approach the collection of marketing information as a random, rare event that is needed only when you need to obtain data on a specific issue, you can run into a number of problems.

For example, a situation may arise when:

the results of previous studies are stored in a form that is inconvenient for use;

changes in the environment and the actions of competitors are imperceptible;

unsystematized collection of information is carried out;

there are delays when a new study is needed;

for a number of time periods, there are no data necessary for analysis;

marketing plans and decisions are analyzed inefficiently;

actions are only reactions, not foresight.

Marketing research should be considered as part of a permanent integrated information process. It is essential that the firm develops and maintains a system of continuous monitoring of the environment and storage of data so that they can be analyzed in the future. A marketing information system can be defined as a set of procedures and methods designed to generate, analyze, and disseminate information for proactive marketing decisions on a regular, ongoing basis.

First, the firm sets the company's goals, which determine the general direction of marketing planning. These goals are influenced by environmental factors (competition, government, economy). Marketing plans include the controllable factors identified in the previous sections, including target market selection, target marketing, type of marketing organization, marketing strategy (product or service, distribution, promotion, and price), and management.

Once the marketing plan is in place, an information network that includes research, ongoing observation, and data collection can be used to refine and satisfy the overall marketing needs for information. Marketing research provides accurate information to solve research problems. It may require stored information (internal secondary data) or collection of external secondary and/or primary information. Continuous monitoring is a procedure by which the changing environment is regularly analyzed. This may include reading news bulletins, getting regular feedback from employees and customers, attending industry meetings, and observing competitors. Data storage is the accumulation of all kinds of meaningful internal information (such as sales volume, costs, personnel performance, etc.), as well as information collected through market research and ongoing surveillance. This data helps to make decisions and is stored for future use.

Depending on the firm's resources and the complexity of the information needs, the HIS may or may not be computerized. Small firms can effectively use such systems without computers. Consistency, thoroughness and good storage technique are essential ingredients for the success of any system.

Marketing plans should be implemented based on data obtained from the information network. For example, as a result of continuous monitoring, a firm may conclude that the cost of raw materials will increase by 7% over the next year. This will give the company time to explore marketing options (switching to substitutes, reallocating costs, accepting additional costs) and choosing one of the alternatives to implement. If there was no observation, then the firm could be caught off guard and take on additional costs without any choice.

3. Benefits of a marketing information system

In general, a marketing information system provides many advantages:

organized collection of information;

avoiding crises;

marketing plan coordination;

speed;

results expressed in quantitative form;

cost and profit analysis.

Building a marketing information system can be tricky business. The initial costs of time and human resources are large, and great difficulties can be associated with the creation of a system.

Even though merchants need more and more marketing information, there is not enough of it. Marketers complain that they cannot collect enough of the accurate and useful information they need. In an attempt to solve this problem, many firms develop special marketing information systems (media).

Any company has internal reporting that reflects the indicators of current sales, the amount of costs, the volume of inventories, cash flows, data on receivables and payables. The use of computers has allowed firms to create excellent internal reporting systems that can provide information services to all their departments.

The information collected should make it easier for brand managers to make decisions about how much to spend on advertising by knowing the number of people already aware of the brand, knowing the size of advertising budgets and the strategic attitudes of competitors, the relative effectiveness of advertising in the promotional package, and so on.

The system for collecting external current marketing information provides managers with information about the latest developments. This is a set of sources and methodologies through which managers receive day-to-day information about events occurring in the commercial environment.

Executives gather outside current marketing information by reading books, newspapers, and trade publications, talking to customers, suppliers, distributors, and others outside the firm, and exchanging information with other managers and employees of the firm itself. Well-organized firms take additional steps to improve the quality and quantity of external current information they collect. First, they educate and encourage their salespeople to capture and report what is happening. After all sales agents are the eyes and ears of the firm. They are in an exceptionally favorable position to collect information that cannot be obtained by any other methods.

Second, the firm encourages distributors, retailers, and other allies to share important information with it. Some firms specifically appoint specialists responsible for collecting external current marketing information. In particular, firms send so-called "imaginary" buyers to the field, who monitor retail staff. You can learn a lot about competitors:

a) by purchasing their goods;

b) visiting "open days" and specialized exhibitions;

c) reading the reports published by them and attending meetings of shareholders;

d) talking to former and current employees of competing organizations, their dealers, distributors, suppliers, and freight agents;

f) reading newspapers and documents of professional associations.

Third, the firm purchases information from third-party providers of external current information. Clipping bureaus are used for a fee to obtain compilations of competitors' ads, information about their advertising costs and the range of advertising media they use.

Fourth, a number of firms have special departments for the collection and dissemination of current marketing information. Employees of these departments help managers in evaluating newly incoming information. Such services can dramatically improve the quality of information coming to marketing managers.

The marketing information analysis system is a set of advanced methods for analyzing marketing data and marketing problems. However, a number of firms consider this approach either too technical or too academic.

The basis of any marketing information analysis system is a statistical bank and a bank of models.

Statistical bank - a set of modern methods of statistical processing of information that allows you to most fully reveal the relationships within the data collection and establish the degree of their statistical reliability. These techniques allow management to get answers to questions like:

What are the main variables that affect my sales, and what is the significance of each?

What happens to sales if the price of a product is raised by 10% and advertising costs by 20%?

What traits are the most likely indicators that these consumers will buy my branded product over a competitor's product?

What are the best variables to segment my market, and how many segments are there?

These methods of statistical processing of information are described in many sources.

Bank of models - a set of mathematical models that contribute to the adoption of more optimal marketing decisions by market actors. Each model consists of a set of interrelated variables representing some real-life system, some real-life process or result. These models can help answer questions like “what if?” and “which is better?”. Over the past twenty years, marketing scholars have created a myriad of models to help marketing executives better manage the activities of establishing territory boundaries and sales plans, selecting retail outlet locations, selecting the optimal mix of advertising media, and forecasting the sale of new products.

Conclusion

AT modern concept Marketing study of the markets is of particular importance. These studies serve as the basis for the strategy and tactics developed by the enterprise to enter the markets, to conduct a targeted product policy.

The purpose of any market research is to assess the current situation (conjuncture) and develop a market development forecast. The program of such a comprehensive study depends on the characteristics of the goods, the nature of the enterprise, the scale of production of export goods and a number of other factors.

Market research is not an end in itself, but a source of information for making an effective management decision. This decision can apply to any aspect of foreign trade and marketing activities, so it is irrational to limit the cost of such research due to "cost savings": the losses caused by the wrong decision are usually 10 to 100 times greater.

List of used literature

Bozhuk S.G., Kovalik L.N. Marketing research. - M., St. Petersburg: "Peter", 2003.-298p.;

Golubkov E.M. Marketing research: theory and practice M.: - ed. Finpress, 2000;

Golubkov E.P., "Marketing Research: Theory, Practice and Methodology", Moscow, 2004;

Goldstein G.Ya., Kataev A.V. "Marketing", Moscow, 2005;

Romanova A.N. "Marketing", Moscow, 2000;

Utkina E. A "Marketing", Moscow, 2002.

One Sunday morning in the summer of 1986, six Marriott employees checked into an inexpensive hotel near the Atlanta airport. Settling into thirty-dollar rooms with standard shaggy red floor rugs and purple velor curtains on the windows, they went about their usual business. One of them called downstairs and said that his shoelace had broken. Could someone run to the store for new laces for him? Another carefully examined the toiletries: a brand of soap, shampoo, and towels. The third took off his jacket, collapsed on the bed and began to moan, groan and fidget on it so that the headboard pounded on the wall, and his colleague in the next room listened to these sounds and noted to himself that the soundproofing in the hotel was useless.

So for six months Marriott's scouts traveled the country collecting data on tourist hotels, a market the firm was keen to break into. Having at your disposal detailed information about the weak and strengths its supposed rivals, Marriott has committed $500 million to build a chain of hotels that will beat them on everything from bathroom soap to soundproof walls.

At the request of Marriott, the workforce accommodation firm interviewed 15 regional managers from five leading tourist hotel chains to gain insight into their requirements for the hotel managers they oversee, their views on career advancement and development opportunities , to hear their wishes regarding the salary scale Lee Pillsbury, a former employee of Marriott, believes that this collection of "intelligence" was not at all contrary to professional ethics, since team members, settling in hotels, did not hide that they worked for Marriott, and The interviewers directly told the regional managers that although there are currently no vacancies in the firm, there may be in the near future. In fact, Marriott selected five regional managers from among the interviewees.

The new hotel chain for tourists was named Fairfield Inns. Marriott continued to collect "intelligence" in the future before opening a new hotel in a new region. The firm is constantly actively engaged in market research, including telephone and mail surveys, in order to have an idea of its position in the market and feedback with the clientele. The attention given by the managers of the firm to the collection, interpretation, and use of this kind of information has greatly contributed to its growth and prosperity.

Summary of the chapter
Chapter 6 focuses on the basic principles of market research and emphasizes the importance of information gathering for every firm.

We begin the chapter with a description of the marketing information system, including the people, equipment, and procedures that are used to gather useful information, evaluate it, and communicate it to marketing decision makers.

We then discuss the four major steps that all marketing research goes through: defining the problem and setting goals, developing the research plan, conducting the research itself according to the plan, and finally interpreting the collected data and communicating it to stakeholders.

The chapter concludes with a discussion of ways bringing information to stakeholders - who needs it and when it needs it.

When conducting preliminary analysis, drawing up a marketing plan and putting it into practice, managers need a wide variety of information. They need information about the clientele, competitors, suppliers, and other market participants. One well-known marketing practitioner said this: "To manage a business means to manage its future, and to manage the future means to manage information."

In the last century, most hotels and restaurants were privately owned or part of a small regional chain. Managers collected the necessary information by talking to people, observing them and asking questions. In this century, not only more information is needed, but the information itself must be of better quality. As firms expand to a national or even international scale, they need information about larger and more distant markets. As firms become more specialized, they need more accurate information about how their clientele reacts to the particular products they offer. With more and more sophisticated marketing strategies, firms face more and more sophisticated forms of competition and need information about the effectiveness of their techniques. And finally, in today's rapidly changing world, managers need the latest information to make timely decisions.

The information flow is constantly growing. John Naisbitt once said that the United States is undergoing a tremendous transition from industrial to information society. He found that more than 65% of the workforce is now hired using the information system, while in 1950 it was only 17%. Modern computers and advanced technologies are able to process a huge amount of information. According to one study, due to the fact that a huge number of firms specialize in collecting information about products on the market, and all this information becomes available to any manager, every week an avalanche of new items can fall on his computer - from a million to a billion. According to Naisbit, "the main problem now is not how to get information, but how not to drown in it."

Nevertheless, one can constantly hear managers complain about the lack of necessary information and the excess of unnecessary information. Managers also complain that the company collects so much marketing information that it is very difficult to extract the most elementary facts from it. Quite often, subordinates withhold information that, in their opinion, can show their work in an unfavorable light. Important information often arrives so late that it is not possible to use it properly. Marketing managers need accurate and timely information. Many firms study the information needs of their managers and develop information systems that meet those needs.

Marketing Information System

Marketing Information System (MIS) includes the professionals, equipment and procedures that are used to collect useful information, its sorting, analysis, evaluation and timely communication to those who make marketing decisions. A schematic diagram of such a system is given in fig. 6.1.

A marketing information system starts with managers, ends with them, and it will not work unless all the managers of the firm are connected to it. First, MIS interacts with marketing managers, assessing the firm's need for information. Then begins the collection and processing of information coming from three sources: internal materials, marketing intelligence and market research. All this information, after appropriate analysis, is sent already processed to marketing managers, whom it should help in making decisions.

Now let's take a closer look at how this marketing information system functions.

Information need assessment
A good information system always presents some compromise between the information that managers would like to have and the information that is really needed and practical. available information. Some managers tend to demand information without even considering how much it will cost the firm to obtain that information, or whether they really need it. Others, due to being very busy, may forget to request the information they really need on time. Therefore, the leaders of the company must either constantly contact the managers themselves in order to know in advance about their need for information, or leave it to the machine to do it. For example, the restaurants of Mrs. Fields "Cookies provide their marketing managers with a sales forecast for each hour of work, and when the forecasted level is not maintained, the computer suggests certain measures to raise the sales level, in particular, to collect additional information about the market, to check the quality of the product by sampling, etc.

Managers need to anticipate the possibility of a new product entering the market. However, competitors usually carefully hide this kind of information. When Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was developing their famous little chicken sandwich, only a few of its managers knew about it. The firm developed new specifications for the ingredients and invited their suppliers to sign non-disclosure agreements because they didn't want competitors to know about the new product before prototypes were available. However, some of the competitors, who may have had good information systems, found out about KFC's plans. Maybe they heard that the bread supplier let slip that KFC had ordered smaller-than-usual hamburger buns. Or maybe they heard that one of the leaders of KFC said that their company is going to strengthen the menu for second breakfasts. So, even if a non-disclosure agreement is signed, something can leak out, and marketing managers must keep their eyes open so as not to miss a competitor's important move.

The firm must balance the value that this or that information may represent for it, and the price that will have to pay for its acquisition. The value of information is determined by how it will be used, and the judgment of this value can be very subjective. And the price that information will cost is sometimes quite difficult to determine. It is necessary to make quick calculations of the total cost of information, consisting of its receipt, processing, sorting and bringing it to interested parties. Sometimes additional information may have little effect on the marketing decision made by the manager, and its value may exceed its value. For example, a restaurant manager calculated that launching a new dish without collecting additional marketing information would bring in $500,000. net income, and if you gather this information for $30,000 or more, you can improve the marketing capabilities of a new product, bringing revenue up to $525,000. In this situation, it would be simply foolish to spend money on this additional information.

Receiving and processing information
The information that marketing managers need can be obtained from their own sources through marketing intelligence and marketing research. The analytical group processes the received material and provides it to managers in a form convenient for use.

Internal sources
Most marketing managers constantly use internal sources of information to make decisions about the ongoing planning, implementation and control of marketing operations. Internal sources- these are the working materials and archives of the firm, from which information can be extracted in order to assess the current marketing situation and marketing problems. Internal information includes company accounting reports on sales, costs, and cash flows. A restaurant's daily reports can include figures for total sales, sales per salesperson, sales per menu item, average revenue, and customer counts. The hotel's daily reports may include figures for room occupancy, number of guests, total revenue, unclaimed room reservations, and group rentals. Answering the questions proposed in Table. 6.1, the manager will be able to evaluate his own information needs.

Useful information is also found in the kitchen schedule, in sales volume reports, in reception reports, in demanded sales reports. Here are some examples of how internal sources help managers make marketing decisions.

In order to make a timely decision on the placement of an advertisement, hotel managers study reports on booked rooms and, in general, the registration book of residents. If most February vacationers book their rooms in November, then it will be too late to advertise their establishment in December.

Table 6.1

Questions to help assess the need for information

1.	What decisions do you usually have to make?
2.	What information do you need to make these decisions?
3.	What useful information do you receive regularly?
4.	What information would you like to receive but are not receiving?
5.	What information do you get even though you don't need it?
6.	What information would you like to receive daily? Weekly? Monthly? Annually?
7.	What topic would you like to receive information on regularly?
8.	What databases would you consider useful for yourself?
9.	What information analysis programs would you like to have?
10.	What are the four most urgent improvements that need to be made? information system you use.

The hotel registration book can give information about the best travel agencies. When a promotional type of event is planned, a hotel representative may call travel agencies or even come to the agency in person to invite agents to the event in order to promote better room occupancy in the future.

Information about guests
One of the most important elements in any marketing information system used in the hospitality industry is the process of using guest information. Without taking this information into account, it is impossible to improve service, create effective advertising campaigns and sales promotion programs, develop new products and improve existing products, and draw up marketing and sales plans. Unfortunately, most firms have a very vague idea about their guests.

Information about the guests relevant to the hotel is presented in Table. 6.2.

Table 6.2

Specific information that may be obtained from guests

Guest information	general characteristics hotel services
Name	Characteristics of the room
Address	regular number
Postal code	Apartments
Fax (home)	Luxury apartments
Fax (work)	Various services (mark with a cross)
Phone numbers:	long distance phone
home	Room service
worker	Mini bar
auto	health club
Purpose of the trip:	Other food offering services
business	Lounge and recreation
personal	Retail goods
How the room was ordered	Length of stay
personally	Days of stay (specify dates)
organization	How arrived
travel agency	by private car
Place of work	by rented car
Work place address	by tourist bus
Job title	by train
Payment method:	by taxi
credit card	by plane:
which:	airlines
in cash
company check
company account

At first glance, many of the items on this list seem redundant and even indiscreet. But nevertheless, more and more often in the hospitality industry, guests are asked to fill out such forms. Of course, one must have a sense of proportion and not interfere too much in the private life of the guest, and annoy him with various profiles. Information of this kind can be gleaned from registration books and from various reports.

Information about patterns in the behavior of the clientele
Without information about the patterns in the behavior of the clientele, it is impossible to either plan your own income or profit, or organize their receipt. The most relevant information of this kind for hotels, airlines, cruise lines and car rental agencies can be considered the following:

How is the booking made?
How is the booking cancelled?
- what is the percentage of actual booking compared to making inquiries on the subject;
- How is the booking in excess of requirements;
- fluctuations in the influx of clientele in high season, during normal times and in the "off season";
How does the season affect profits?

This kind of data cannot be obtained if their collection was not planned by the management of the company through the appropriate management of the information system. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to extract this information from a firm's records unless care is taken in advance about the form in which it may be needed by the marketing department.

Information about the guests should help the marketing department to know the habits and preferences of those who are not the first time using the services of the company. If a guest requested that a certain newspaper be delivered to his room, this should be reflected in his "personality", so that on his next visit he could be sure that this habit of his at the hotel would not be forgotten. If a guest receives a better room without a surcharge on his fifth visit, he will certainly stay at the same hotel for the sixth time.

Information collection process management
The accumulation of this extremely necessary information cannot depend on the whim of department heads and should be carried out not on a case-by-case basis, but according to a specific system that includes various methods.

Hand-filled journals and guest cards have practically disappeared from everyday life, surviving only in small town and country inns, in fisherman's houses, in guest rooms on a ranch or farm, in B&B1. Despite the fact that this technique smacks of the past century, for small enterprises in the hospitality industry, it remains quite suitable.

Guest Review Cards often distributed among diners in the dining room and handed to departing guests. They usually contain a lot of useful information that all interested parties should pay attention to. For example, a few negative reviews about food quality are a potential problem for food service workers. If after some corrective actions there has been an improvement, then these measures have been effective.

One of the disadvantages of guest review cards is that they may not represent the majority opinion. Usually only the most angry and most satisfied guests fill out these cards. Therefore, such a technique may be useful in identifying emerging problems, but it cannot be used to obtain an objective picture of the state of affairs.
_______________________________________
1 Bed and Breakfast

Registration card data transferred to a computer- this time-consuming procedure is of little practical use, because extracting information from this "raw material" is as difficult as from a conventional archive. The only advantage is in saving space, and therefore this procedure is still resorted to in small enterprises.

Automated systems. Increasing the capabilities of automated systems for archiving customer data and reducing the cost of these systems creates the prerequisites for closer ties between hospitality industry enterprises and their customers. Large firms such as hotel chains and cruise lines may well have the luxury of having such a system. Now there are a large number of ready-made systems on the market, and therefore, before purchasing one of them, it is necessary to carefully study and test it in action. remember, that automated system customer data archiving is part of a larger system such as a database for marketing and profit control.

This automated system can be of great help in marketing matters. With its help, you can find the coordinates of people who used to often use the services of the company, but then stopped. Retailers can reach out to former customers and ask if they are willing to re-engage.

An automated system for archiving guest data will allow you to gain an advantage over competitors, especially for a private enterprise or in a small hotel chain. Several hotels or small chains can create a unified automated system. Imagine how nice it is for a regular customer who, usually staying in a Boston hotel, to ask for a bottle of champagne of a certain brand or, for example, a special pillow for allergy sufferers, to be brought to his apartment in the Maui branch of the company, without even ordering!

An inspection disguised as clients. Firms often employ people who must approach the firm's enterprises for a service and then report how they were served. The management of the California restaurant chain Ruby's uses such disguised inspectors so that their managers keep their eyes open and all employees treat visitors, each of whom may be an inspector, with due respect.

The main thing in this technique is not only to punish for identified shortcomings, but also to encourage for good performance. Psychologists call this "positive reinforcement." If employees feel that the only purpose of a disguised inspection is to identify and punish bad workers educational potential of the program will not be fully realized.

Information from the point of sale. The point of sale journal also provides the ability to collect and then distribute through computer network very useful information, for example, about individual visitors paying with a credit card.

Some experts in the fast food industry believe that in the future outlets restaurants will be equipped with expert systems, i.e. they will use computer programs working on the principle of artificial intelligence. Data regarding the preferences of visitors, the size of the order and the range of dishes will be taken from the computer, which contains a program, conventionally called "computer burger". The program will predict what and in what quantities will be ordered in different time working day, and even she will make a general order.

Casinos show great interest in information systems at points of sale. Some gaming machines themselves are already capable of registering the number of plays and recording the wins and losses of players who have done so with a magnetic card. The casino can, with the help of special club cards, reveal the tricks of the players.

The Hilton hotel in Las Vegas has a system that can provide the necessary marketing information. This system includes:

A central tracking system that can provide information on the turnover of each of the gambling halls and systematize it by market segments;
- a system for tracking players in a casino, which can not only give the total number, but also classify players by market segments, that is, say how many are sitting at the tables and how many are at slot machines;
- a database of all guests who have stayed at the Hilton, with an indication of their cost amounts by market segment;
- marketing research regarding the demographics of guests, how often they stayed at the hotel, how much they spent by market segments.

Corporate clients and information about marketing intermediaries. The database of corporate bidders is very important for hotels and holiday homes that specialize in hosting conferences and meetings. For example, Benchmark Hospitality Conference Resorts shares its thoughts on the risks associated with this business. Before arranging a meeting with representatives of a corporation wishing to place an order, it is desirable for a hospitality industry enterprise to have the following information about it:

Place in the industry and growth prospects;
- income and expenses of the company from annual reports;
- the ratio of the company's debts and its assets;
- corporate culture;
- about how this company uses the premises during conferences.

This information can be extracted from annual reports, financial analyzes of organizations, various articles in professional journals such as Wall Street Journal and New York Times and just from conversations with employees of the company.

Marketing intelligence

Marketing intelligence include all day-to-day information about all changes in the market environment, helping managers develop a marketing plan and tactics for its implementation. The marketing intelligence service determines the sources of information and then collects it and delivers it in the appropriate form to marketing managers.

Internal sources of marketing intelligence

Data of interest to the marketing intelligence service may often come into view responsible workers firms, receptionists, service personnel, purchasing agents and sales representatives. But employees, unfortunately, are often too busy with their immediate duties to pass this information on to interested parties. Therefore, the company should pay them to work as information collectors and teach them how to extract intelligence data and report to whom it is necessary about all the interesting changes in the market. Managers must constantly instruct their subordinates about this.

Hotel owners and board members can play a significant role in gathering useful information. John F. Power, general manager of the New York Hilton and Towers, brought important information about the menu from Japan. “I realized,” he says, “how different a Japanese breakfast is from ours, and this must be taken into account when compiling the menu. If at lunch time most visitors do not mind trying our dishes, then they would still prefer to have breakfast in their own way.” ".

As a result of "intelligence" collected during Power's trip, the New York Hilton, like the usual Japanese morning buffet, now has miso soup, nori (dried seaweed), yakizakana (grilled fish) for breakfast. , raw eggs, natto (enzyme beans), oshiako (pickled vegetables) and boiled rice.

External sources of marketing intelligence
The hospitality industry cannot manage on its own to collect useful marketing information. Therefore, each specific firm should be interested in the organizations with which it works in contact (suppliers, travel agencies, conference bureaus) - in transferring information of interest to it. The data in which the company is interested can be divided into three categories: 1) information about the macro environment; 2) information about competitors; 3) information about various innovations and trends. The types of information in which any firm working in the hospitality industry is interested, and the sources of its receipt are indicated in Table. 6.3.

Table 6.3

Information types	External sources of information
Visitor Details Visitor Profile Main Visitor Trends Visitor Spending Days of Visits Purpose of Visits	Visitor Bureau (local, state, federal) Chamber of Commerce Colleges and universities Public companies Ski resorts
Leisure opportunities (desired and actual)	Newspapers and magazines National parks, reserves, land administration bureaus Airlines, cruise lines Associations (of hotels, restaurants, airlines, cruise lines, casinos, etc.)
Accommodation options (desired and actual)
Conservation organizations
Possibilities of catering units (desired and actual (used))	Museums and exhibitions Banks and other financial institutions
Private tour agencies
Retail store opportunities (desired and actual)
Information about competitors	Suppliers, retailers
Price policy	Consultants
Product range	Travel agencies
Planned expansion	Tour operators
Expansion of the product range	Airlines, cruise lines, bus and train companies
Consumers
Strategic Direction
Advertising campaigns and promotional tools	Print publications of competitors
Employee mood	Professional editions
Association Publications
Position with personnel, benefits	Conferences, meetings
Occupation of competitors
Representative trade associations
Innovations and trends
New technologies for the production of goods and services	Same as for collecting information about competitors
Innovations in pricing policy
Equipment improvement

Obviously, only a tactful and friendly approach can encourage people (suppliers, traders, potential employees, etc.) to collect this information for the firm. In order to develop informal contacts with them, members of the firm's management are encouraged to join professional organizations. A lot of useful marketing information can be collected at various events held by these organizations.

Sources of information about competitors
Information about competitors can be obtained from their annual reports, articles in professional journals, speeches, press releases, brochures and advertisements. Managers of hotels and restaurants should periodically visit the property of competitors.

One of the main points in the work of a service that collects information about competitors is to clearly determine which firms should be considered as competitors. In business, what seems obvious is often wrong. For example, an airport hotel may compete with other hotels located near the airport. But in reality they are only part of the competition. Since a passenger can go to a well-known hotel in the city center, and not stay overnight near the airport, this hotel is also a competitor of the airport hotel, as, however, under certain conditions, similar hotels at other airports.

Thus, at a conference of one of the associations held in an airport hotel, its president said that the next conference would be held in an airport hotel in the Midwest, and in which one it would depend on the price offered and the desire of the hotel management to cooperate with association. Cruise lines that sail between the mainland and Hawaii may find themselves in competition with a company whose route ends on the coast of Mexico. Colonel Williamsburg in Virginia has come to the conclusion that his main competitor is Disneyland and not some other restaurant located in a historic location. So managers first need to determine the circle of their competitors, and then start collecting information about them.

Commercial sources of marketing information about the market
The firm may also buy information on the side. One such source is a firm called Dialog, which has access to 350 US market databases. Sitting at a computer, a manager can get the information he needs about new products, industry trends and forecasts for the future, data on the financial situation of public and private enterprises. There are currently over 3,000 online databases available. For example, the current database called Adtrack contains all information about advertisements placed in 150 major need and business periodicals. Firms can use this database to gain insight into strategies and styles advertising campaigns competitors, find out how often they hold them and in what publications, etc.

The Donnelly Demographics database contains information about the demographic picture of the United States as a whole, as well as data for individual states and cities. The Electronic Yellow Pages contain extracts from nearly 4,800 telephone books issued by the US Post Office. This is the largest telephone directory. A firm like Burger King can use it to contact McDonald's restaurants anywhere in the country. There are ready-made and readily available databases for almost all aspects of marketing information needed.

Marketing research
Managers cannot always wait until they have enough information coming from the marketing intelligence service. It is often necessary to study specific situations. When McDonald's decided to add salads to their menus, planning departments needed to know which vegetables were preferred and what would be the best dressing for salads.

Ben's Steakhouse in Florida wanted to know what percentage of its potential customers had heard about their restaurants, how they found out about their existence, what they know about them and what they think about their signature dishes - steaks. This information would allow her to judge the effectiveness of marketing communication Ordinary marketing intelligence cannot provide information of this kind - specialized marketing research is needed.

In the process of marketing research, the company determines its opportunities for functioning in the market and the problems that arise in this case. She monitors and evaluates her marketing operations, which he then brings to his leadership.

Market researchers are interested in a variety of topics, the most typical of which can be considered the following "top ten": assessing the market potential of a company, analyzing market share, determining market characteristics, analyzing sales, studying business trends, short-term forecasts, studying competitors' products, long-term forecasts, studying collected information about the market and testing of manufactured products.

The firm can conduct market research in-house or hire outside researchers. Most large firms (more than 73% in fact) have their own marketing research departments. But even they use the services of other firms from time to time - for field work and special studies.

Frank Comacho, former vice president of marketing at Marriott, listed the following as his firm's top market research objectives:

Market segmentation and its size;
- development of the main concept of the company and product testing;
- efficiency of pricing policy;
- tracking the market;
- customer satisfaction.

Smaller hotels and restaurants can get market research help from local universities and colleges with relevant programs. Students can also be involved in the study - to collect information about prospective clients and conduct interviews with clients. Many educators take advantage of this to provide students with the opportunity to gain experience in marketing research work.

Marketing Research Process
Marketing research is a focused process that includes four steps: defining the problem and setting the goal of the study, developing a research plan for collecting information, implementing this plan, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting and presenting the results (Fig. 6.2).

Rice. 6.2. Definition of the problem and setting the goal of the study

To identify the problem and set research objectives, marketing managers and the research department need to work together. No one better than managers understands the importance of an emerging problem and the need to make an appropriate decision on it, and only research specialists can offer the best method for finding the information necessary to make this decision and organize its collection and processing.

The responsibility for interpreting the results rests primarily with the managers, who must have sufficient knowledge of marketing research not to draw the wrong conclusion from the data presented and not to require much more information from the research team than is absolutely necessary. But in any case, researchers must help managers identify the problem and draw the right conclusions from the results.

One day, a restaurant manager asked researchers to determine how aware the target market was of the existence of his establishment. It seemed to him that the restaurant had few visitors because people simply did not know about it. However, the researchers found that the level of awareness of potential patrons about the existence of this restaurant was high enough to calm the manager, although the restaurant's occupancy problem remained. The reason was that people viewed this restaurant more as a place to go to celebrate some important event than just to have lunch. As you can see, the manager incorrectly defined the problem and set the wrong research goal.

So, having identified the problem together, the manager and the researcher formulate the purpose of the study. According to their goals, marketing research is divided into three types: preliminary, if preliminary information is collected that helps to put forward a hypothesis, descriptive, if the structure or size of the market is described, and analytical, if they are used to test the hypothesis of causal relationships. Typically, the study begins with a preliminary part, then proceeds to the description and / or analysis of the data obtained.

An unfortunate example of a project that was launched without prior marketing research is the construction of hotels in Native American reservation areas. In anticipation of the influx of tourists, 52 hotels were built, but only two of them managed to survive. Due to ill-conceived placement, rarely visited places in remote regions were more often chosen for construction. Preliminary marketing research would reveal trends in the attendance of the region, market segmentation - the range of tourist preferences for marketing research is not difficult.

Research plan development
The second step in marketing research is identifying the need for information, without which it is impossible to solve the task, and drawing up a plan for collecting it.

Identification of the need for certain information is actually a translation of the abstract objectives of the study into the language of concrete facts. When Marriott decided to start building a network of new, low-cost hotels, he had two goals: to lure tourists away from competing firms and to do this without harming his existing hotels. To achieve these goals, he needed the following information:

What features should new hotels differ in?
- What should be their pricing policy?
- Where should they be placed? Can they be placed near existing hotels of the company without damage to them?
- What are the forecasts for sales and revenues?

Overview of secondary information. In order to satisfy the manager's need for information, the researcher can provide him with secondary information, primary information, or both types of information. Secondary information refers to already existing information collected by others on another occasion for some other purpose. Primary information refers to information collected specifically for a given case.

Researchers usually start with a review of secondary information, because it is faster to collect than primary information, and it costs much less. These are both internal sources and external (periodicals, business books, databases of commercial institutions, electronic databases).

For example, the National Restaurant Association's annual guide to US Restaurants provides annual sales forecasts both nationally and state-by-state. A firm interested in these numbers must choose between paying for a research group that can collect the information they need, or joining the Association to get that information through their publications. The latter is cheaper.

However, secondary information is often not enough to make decisions. First of all, the required information may simply not exist. But even if it does exist, it may turn out to be partial, not very adequate, or relating only to a certain moment. For example, one professional magazine wanted to rank hotel chains among business travelers and salespeople. Having enclosed the corresponding questionnaires in one of the issues, he distributed them among the subscribers. Although less than 0.05% of subscribers responded, the magazine placed its rating based on such a non-representative survey.

Thus, although it is good to start any marketing research with a review of secondary information, it cannot be considered sufficient for decision-making, and therefore the company must take care of collecting primary information.

Planning for the collection of primary information
Some managers believe that the primary information that they collect, having a few standard questions prepared and finding people to interview if necessary, is enough for them. But sporadic information gathering is often useless or, worse, misleading. As clearly shown in Table. 6.4, when planning the collection of primary information, it is necessary to consider the method of data collection, the type of contact, the sampling plan and the research instrument.

Table 6.4

Methods. The main methods used in marketing research are observation, interview and experiment. The method of observation collects information about the actions of certain people in certain situations. For example, a group of observers can visit a nearby restaurant to study their menu (prices, size and consistency of servings), observe how they serve customers. Or, to get an idea of how to locate your outlets, you can "peep" it from competing firms: how they placed their outlets, what is next to each of them, what is the transport support for their clientele. If you work in a hotel, it is even advisable to send observers as visitors to your cafes in order to know how the food is there, and the level of cleanliness and service.

Observation can collect information that people usually hide or cannot provide. Many plates of half-eaten food speak louder than any words about the quality of this food. However, the finer nuances that motivate the behavior of the clientele cannot be revealed by simple observation. It is very difficult to identify features that appear irregularly and rarely. Because of this well-known limitation, observational methods must be supplemented with interviewing methods.

Interviews are the best method of gathering descriptive information. Interview as a method of marketing research can be structured and unstructured. During a structured interview, pre-prepared lists of yes or no questions are presented to all respondents without any further explanation. An unstructured interview allows the interviewer to control the survey depending on the responses given by the respondent.

Questions can be direct or indirect. For example, when trying to find out the reasons for the low attendance of a restaurant, for example, Arby "s, the interviewer may directly ask the respondent: "Why don't you dine at Arby" s? Arby "s"? An analysis of the responses can reveal factors that affect the attendance of this restaurant, which the respondents were not even aware of on a conscious level.

The main advantage of the interviewing method is its versatility. In fact, it can be used to collect any kind of information and in a wide variety of marketing situations. With the skillful construction of a survey, you can collect information both faster and cheaper than using the observation method.

But this method also has its drawbacks. Some people find it difficult to answer questions for the simple reason that they have never thought about what they are doing and why. Or maybe they don't want to waste their time answering or don't want to answer such questions to a practically stranger. Some people do not like to answer questions in which they do not consider themselves experts, while others, without hesitation, answer any questions so as not to seem ignorant. And some respondents like to give answers that they think the interviewer likes. Skillful design of questionnaires can help minimize these problems.

In the early 1980s, the management of the Hardee's fast food restaurant chain, realizing the low efficiency of their work, conducted several surveys. These surveys revealed a very low awareness of the population even about the very existence of this restaurant chain. The survey results also showed that service needs to be improved and the very atmosphere of the institution.The management responded to the results of these studies - improved the interiors, purchased new equipment and developed new technology hamburger production.

If the method of observation is best used to conduct "reconnaissance", and interviewing is best used to collect information of a descriptive nature, then the experimental method is good for understanding the causal relationships of phenomena. The essence of the experiment may be to select a group of homogeneous subjects and, by controlling various unrelated factors, to trace the difference in the reactions of individuals to various influences.

Before introducing a new sandwich to the menu, a restaurant like Arby's might conduct an experiment to find answers to the following questions:

How will this new sandwich increase restaurant sales?
- How will its introduction affect the sales of other menu items?
- What type of advertising will have the greatest impact on the sale of a new product?
- What prices can be assigned to it and how they can affect the sale of goods?
- Whom should the new product be aimed at: adults, children, both?

For example, in order to test the effect of different prices, a restaurant might run this simple experiment: start selling the same sandwich at one of the chain's restaurants for one price, and at another restaurant in the same type of city for another. If these cities are really similar and all other marketing points are somehow identical, then the difference in sales should be directly related to the difference in price. The experiment becomes much more complicated if additional variables are introduced and the scale of the experiment is expanded to several cities.

Contact between the interviewer and the respondent may be by mail, telephone, or in person.

Contact by mail has many advantages. With the help of questionnaires sent by mail, you can collect a large amount of information at very little material cost. Respondents give more direct answers to sensitive questions by mail than in person or telephone interviews. Any impact on the respondent by the interviewer with this method of questioning is also practically excluded. This method is more convenient for respondents who can answer the questionnaire questions at their own pace. free time. This is practically the only way to work with people who are often traveling on duty, such as conference organizers.

But the method of contact by mail has a number of disadvantages. The questionnaire should consist of simple questions in simple language. These questions require the same simple and clear answers and in the same order. The interviewer can neither simplify nor complicate questions. This lack of flexibility means that interviews by mail take longer than face-to-face and telephone interviews. The practical absence of the interviewer's ability to influence the respondent reduces the percentage of response, that is, not all questionnaires are returned to the interviewers in completed form. And since this response rate is low, it means that the answers cannot be considered completely typical for the part of the population that the respondents represent.

Telephone interviews are a faster method of collecting information. It also gives more flexibility: the interviewer can explain unclear questions and, depending on the response of the respondent, omit some questions and add others. Telephone interviewing allows you to control contact with respondents: the interviewer himself can choose respondents who have the required characteristics, and the response rate here is much higher than when interviewing by mail.

However, telephone interviews also have their disadvantages: respondents are more reluctant to answer questions they consider sensitive, and although flexibility is a positive quality, it also comes with the ability of the interviewer to exert some pressure on the respondent: the very manner of speaking, building their questions, and other personal moments can influence the responses of the respondent. In addition, interviewers may interpret the same answer in different ways. And, to save time, some interviewers may attribute some responses to respondents without even asking the appropriate questions.

Unfortunately, in recent times the general public has shown an increasing reluctance to participate in telephone interviews. The fact is that some dishonest firms, under the guise of interviewing permitted by law, are engaged in fraud. Cases have also become more frequent when thieves, under the guise of interviewing, find out the time of day when their potential victims are most often absent from home.

There are two types of personal interviews: individual and group. Individual interviews usually take place at home, in an office, on the street, in a store. The interviewer must obtain the consent of the respondent to give him a certain amount of time - from several minutes to several hours. In the case of a long interview, some firms offer a small amount of money as compensation for lost time.

Individual interviews are widely used in studying the preferences of tourists. Perhaps this is the only way to find out anything about people who come to your city for a short time and whose name and address are unknown to virtually no one there. For example, in Colorado, Steamboat Springs interviewed 600 tourists visiting during their summer vacations. These types of interviews involve a rough sample: in search of potential respondents, the interviewer usually focuses on certain age groups (for example, 20% of respondents should be white girls under 20 years old, 20% black girls of the same age, 40% - people over 60 years old and etc.), and the interviewer can make a mistake here, incorrectly determining the age, race and even gender of the interviewees "by eye". In addition, he may have personal prejudices against people of a certain race or age.

Focus group interviews are usually conducted by a specially trained person with a group of six to ten people. The interviewer talks with the group for several hours about the organization of service, about a new product, etc. He must be objective, own the subject of the conversation, be able to communicate with a group of people, have an idea about the psychology of the consumer. Conversation participants usually receive small sums or a gift for their participation. The event is organized in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere, over a cup of tea. The interviewer starts with broader questions, gradually narrowing the topic of discussion, stimulating a group dynamic that promotes openness and freedom of expression for everyone. At the same time, he focuses the group's attention on a particular topic. Hence the name of the technique - focused interview. Everything that happens is filmed on videotape and further studied in order to identify information of interest to the research group. Sometimes the procedure is also followed by representatives of the management of the company and the advertising agency.

Focused group interviews are fast becoming one of the main tools of marketing research aimed at studying the mentality and behavior of the consumer. This technique fits easily into the job responsibilities of hotel and restaurant managers. For example, it is customary for some of them to invite representatives of a particular market segment to which the hotel or restaurant is oriented to a free dinner. During dinner, in an informal setting, the manager can chat with them about what they like about the work of this institution and what it could do to make their stay in this city even more enjoyable. Guests enjoy the attention of the hotel or restaurant management, and the management receives valuable information.

Here are examples of how the group interview technique can be used to improve the performance of a restaurant.

In one cafe suffering from a lack of clientele, two groups of customers were interviewed. One group was formed from those who said that they would never come to this institution again, and the second - from those who did not mind visiting again. From these conversations, the owners learned that patrons thought the café was a place to have a good time, but complained that the food was rather repetitive. The problem was solved by expanding the range and adding some trendy dishes to the menu.

Material from a group interview conducted with Andy Reis, owner of Cafe Provincial in Evanston, Illinois, revealed the root of his problems. He learned that customers would visit his establishment more often if the cafe had a parking lot for visitors' cars (the owner thought that there was enough parking available nearby). In addition, he learned that visitors did not like to dine on a terrace that was too poorly furnished for a decent cafe (glass tables and bentwood chairs). Andy Reis listened to the criticism: he changed the furniture on the terrace and equipped a parking lot for visitors' cars. The results were not slow to tell in the increased interest in the cafe in general and in the terrace in particular.

The face-to-face interview is a very flexible tool that can be used to collect a lot of useful information. Specially trained interviewers can work with a group of clients for quite a long time and clarify rather difficult questions. They can show respondents advertisements for goods, the goods themselves, the packaging of these goods, observe the reaction of respondents and record the features of their behavior.

The main problems with face-to-face interviews are rather high costs and limited sample size. They cost three to four times more than telephone interviews. And since it is necessary to limit the sample in group interviews to save time and reduce cost, it is often difficult to generalize from such specific material. Another problem is the influence of the interviewer's personality on the course of a personal interview, since he has quite a lot of opportunity to influence a group of respondents.

The success of any method based on the contact of the researcher with the clientele depends on what kind of information is needed, and on what kind of respondents one has to deal with. The introduction of computers into the communication process has had an impact on the methods of obtaining information. Some firms use computer-assisted interviewing techniques. From the monitor screen, the interviewer asks questions and enters the respondent's answers into the computer, bypassing the stage of coding and editing, which saves time and reduces the possibility of error. This type of interview is especially good for a hotel guest checking in or out. The computer can be installed in the lobby in full view of all guests. The presence of a computer that registers opinions and wishes contributes to creating a good impression for the guest about such a hotel.

sampling plan. In any marketing research, inferences about the sentiments of a significant group of consumers are made on the basis of "samples", that is, the opinions of selected representatives of this group. A sample or sample is a segment of the population selected to represent the population as a whole. Thus, in order to give the researcher the opportunity to judge the thoughts and behavior of a large part of the population, his sample should be as representative as possible.

Before making a sample, the following three questions should be considered. First, from whom to make it? It's not always easy to decide. For example, when studying family vacation decision-making, who should be interviewed: husband, wife, other family members, travel agency representative? Or maybe all of them? To answer this question, the researcher must decide what type of information he needs and who is most likely to have it.

Second, how many people should be interviewed? A larger sample gives more reliable results. On the other hand, to obtain reliable results, it is not always necessary to cut the entire market or even a significant part of it. Based on a sample of less than 1% of the population, reliable results can be obtained if this sample is made correctly.

Third, how to sample? Sampling can be random, where each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected, or purposeful, when the researcher chooses those members of the population who, in his opinion, are the easiest to obtain the required information. Or the researcher may select a certain number of participants from each of certain demographic groups (quota sampling). These and other sampling methods have different potential in terms of accuracy, the amount of time they require, and the amount of money they cost to apply. Usually, the very objectives of the study being carried out predetermine which sampling method can be most effective. Comparative characteristics different sampling methods are given in table. 6.5.

Table 6.5

random sample
Simple random sampling	Each representative has an equal chance of being selected
Stratified random sample	The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups (for example, by age) and a random sample is made from each
Cluster (areal) random sampling	The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups (for example, blocks) and a random sample is made from each
Non-random sampling
Sampling for simplicity	The researcher selects for interviews people from whom it is easiest to obtain information.
Sampling for Accuracy	The researcher selects for interviews people who can provide the most accurate information.
Quoted sample	The researcher selects for interview a certain number of people from each defined category.

Research toolkit. When collecting primary information, the researcher uses various methods: structured and unstructured interviews, computerized interviews, etc. These methods are based on the same technique - asking questions by the interviewer and responding to them by the respondents. This is usually done with the help of special questionnaires (when interviewed orally) and questionnaires (when written).

Questionnaires and questionnaires consist of a series of questions asked to the respondent, who must provide their answers. All these materials must be skillfully compiled and carefully checked before they are put into action. In carelessly prepared questionnaires and questionnaires, one can see the same typical mistakes(See Beacons of Marketing 6.1).

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Beacons of Marketing 6.1

Questions for the compilers of the questionnaires

Formulating questions in a questionnaire is far from easy. How would you react to the following questions if you saw them in the questionnaire that you were asked to fill out by the manager of the restaurant where you went to dine?

1. Could you give your last year's income to the nearest hundred dollars? (Even if you knew your annual income with such accuracy, would you really answer such a personal question to the first person you meet?)

2. How often do you eat out? (The question is not formulated specifically enough for this type of survey: you can dine "outside the house" in the factory canteen, but you are interested in restaurants?)

3. How often do you eat a full meal (breakfast?) during the work week?

1___2___33____4____5____ (The question does not cover all working people. What if someone does not have lunch at all? In this case, you need to add the item "O____".

4. How much do you spend on average for lunch?

0 to $2.00 __$2.00 to $4.00

$4.00 to $6.00 _$6.00 to $8.00

5. Would you like an orchestra to play in this restaurant on Friday and Saturday evenings? Yes ____ No ____ (Many people don't mind having an orchestra playing in a restaurant when they dine there, so they will mark the box "Yes___" with a cross. But does this mean that they are going to have dinner every Saturday? Also, the respondent should know that inviting a variety orchestra is usually done at the expense of increasing the cost of food or drinks.So it would not hurt to find out what the respondent thinks about this and what, in his opinion, should be priced: food or drink? And, Finally, it's important to clarify which orchestra you're referring to.Someone might put a cross, thinking they're going to invite jazz, and be very disappointed if it turns out to be hard rock.

6. When did you get more restaurant coupons: this April or last?

(Who can remember this?)

7. In your evaluation of a restaurant, what features are most relevant and attractive?

(What are "relevant and attractive features"? Do not use scientific terms in the questionnaire that may be incomprehensible to the respondent.)

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In preparing these materials, the researcher must decide what questions to ask, in what form to put them in, and in what order to list them. When designing questionnaires, researchers often forget to include important questions and give questions that cannot be answered or should not be answered at all. Each question should be weighed in terms of whether the answer to it helps to achieve the goal of the study or not. If not, then it is better to omit it.

The form in which the question is asked often influences the answer. There are two types of questions used in marketing research: closed questions and open questions. Closed questions offer a variety of responses, and the respondent must indicate one or more of them that he considers correct or best reflects his attitude to the issue raised. Open-ended questions require detailed independent answers from the respondents. For example, when looking at passengers' opinions of Delta Airlines, you might ask them, "What do you think of Delta Airlines?" Or you can ask them to complete the sentence: "When deciding which airline to fly with, I am guided by the following criteria ..." With the help of these and others open questions often you can get interesting information, because the respondents are not constrained by pre-prepared answers. These questions are used when the researcher is trying to find out what people think about an issue, rather than when he is trying to find out how many people think this way and not otherwise. Closed questions, on the other hand, are asked when the answers are fairly easy to predict and easy to process, interpret, and tabulate.

Particular attention should be paid to how the question is constructed. It should be direct, unambiguous and simple. The order in which the questions are asked is also important. The first of them should arouse interest in the topic being raised, the rest should follow it in a logical sequence. And the most difficult and personal questions should be asked at the end, when the respondent's hostile reaction can no longer spoil the interview. In table. 6.6 provides an overview of the most commonly used closed and open questions.

Researchers should be very careful not to inadvertently offend respondents with their questions or examples. A classic example of a mistake made during market research is the case of one of the US airlines. This company offered a special discount for companions of passengers invited to one of the advertising events of this company, believing that these companions would, of course, be wives. After this event, the company sent questionnaires to the wives, in which there was such an innocent question: "How did you like traveling on our plane as a companion of your husband?" Among the answers to this question of the questionnaire were the following: "What kind of trip? I didn't fly anywhere!" The airline management had to listen to a lot of angry rebuttals, in which there were threats to take them to court for intrusion into privacy or for the collapse of the family.

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Table 6.6

Closed questions

TYPE Descriptions Example

Alternative (Dichotomous) Question with two choices Did you book your ticket over the phone? Not really

Multi-choice Question with three or more multiple choice answers Who are you traveling with this time? With no one With spouse (goy) With spouse (goy) and children Only with children With friends/colleagues In a tourist group

Likert scale An indication of the degree to which the respondent agrees or disagrees with the gist of the statement made Smaller airlines usually provide better service Strongly disagree Disagree Don't know Agree Strongly agree

Semantic Differential Scaling of oppositions describing your perception of the phenomenon (put an X on the line between oppositions) Delta Airline Large Small Experienced Inexperienced Modern Retarded

Evaluation scale A scale that ranks any attribute from "unsatisfactory" to "excellent" Service at Delta can be considered Excellent Good Average Poor

Importance scale Indicates the importance of any characteristic from "not at all important" to "extremely important"

Attention to purchase scale Scale describing the respondent's attention to purchase If it were possible to use telephone services during a long flight, I would definitely use these services, probably would

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I'm not sure I would probably use it, I wouldn't use it for sure, I wouldn't use it

OPEN QUESTIONS

Question Type Description Example

Completely unstructured Word associations Question that can be answered in any way Words are given one after another, and the respondent is asked to say the first word that he remembers from the association What is your opinion of Delta? What other words come to your mind when you hear the following words: Delta Airline Travel

Finish the sentence (story) Unfinished sentences (story) are given, which the respondents must complete in the summer When I decide which airline to fly with, for me the most important factors are

Story from the picture (Respondents are asked to tell in this picture) what do they think about the picture

But the Observation City Resort in Perth, Australia provides an example of how market research can lead to brilliant results. The hotel entered a period of stagnation and management was puzzling over how to get it out of this state and achieve success. Statistics were collected on the guests, from which it became clear that if the hotel continues to focus only on vacationers, it is destined to vegetate forever. Managers also analyzed the state of affairs of competitors and found that they could lure away part of their clientele, namely, seconded business people who come to the city on weekdays. The management knew that in order to do this, a plan would have to be developed to attract this clientele, and that the plan would require the entire team to complete the plan.

Marketing research was carried out to collect the information necessary to develop this plan.

O In order to balance supply and demand for hotel rooms in Perth's central business district and near the airport, surveys from Observation City Resort were distributed to visiting managers and employees of firms responsible for business travel.

O All large enterprises of the hospitality industry, known for their interest in business travelers, were taken under surveillance.

O The primary information was first collected staff members hotel personnel department, and then to the central and suburban

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Special study teams were sent to the districts to sample respondents and distribute questionnaires.

The results of the study exceeded all expectations. In four years, the percentage of business travelers staying at the hotel has increased from 8 to 40. This progress was made possible due to the fact that the management and employees of the hotel studied the market, approached potential clients and found a way to meet their needs.

Presentation of the study plan.

At this stage, the researchers present the plan in writing. This is especially necessary in the case of large-scale research or participation in the work of firms from outside. The plan should indicate all the problems to be investigated and set all goals, outline the range of information to be collected, mention sources of secondary information and methods for collecting primary information. Finally, the plan should contain suggestions about how the research should help marketing managers make decisions. Formed in the form official document the research plan is a kind of agreement between the company's management and the research group on all important aspects of the study - on issues of content and methodology. Before approving the project, management should review it carefully.

Implementation of the study plan

Having received a marketing research plan, the project manager proceeds to implement it. The plan is implemented in the process of collecting, processing and analyzing the necessary information. This work can be entrusted to employees of their own marketing research department, which gives the company greater control over the collection process itself and the quality of the information collected. On the other hand, inviting outside researchers also has its advantage, since they, being specialists in their field, can complete the work faster, and it will cost the firm less.

For market research, the biggest costs and the biggest risk of error usually come at the information gathering stage. The project manager must constantly monitor the work of technical executors, making sure that it is carried out according to the approved plan, that interviewers do not make mistakes and do not make omissions, that respondents who give biased or deliberately incorrect information do not put them on the wrong track.

The collected information must be verified and prepared for computer analysis. With the help of standard programs, the results are entered into tables, the arithmetic mean and other basic indicators are calculated.

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Interpretation of study results and report

Now it remains for the researchers to interpret the results of the study, draw the appropriate conclusions and submit a report to the company's management. It should not be overloaded with numbers and complex statistical calculations. Managers do not need them, but discovered patterns, the knowledge of which will help them make the right decisions. That is, it is not the data itself that is important, but their correct interpretation.

The responsibility for interpreting the collected material should not rest entirely on the shoulders of researchers, and managers should not blindly rely on them in this matter. Statistical data can be interpreted in different ways, and therefore, to be sure that this interpretation is correct, managers must participate in the discussion of the results of the study. Perhaps in the course of this discussion, managers will have additional questions, the answers to which can be found by analyzing the data of the study again. Researchers in this case should point to relevant information and help draw new conclusions based on it.

Interpretation is an important stage in the marketing process. Even a brilliantly conducted study will do nothing if the manager draws the wrong conclusions from it. The fact is that in matters of marketing it is sometimes difficult for him to maintain objectivity. Often he sees what he wants to see in the information provided, and does not notice what is contrary to his expectations. That is why the interpretation of analysis data should be the result of a joint effort between managers and researchers.

Interpretation and reporting is the last stage of the marketing research process. And since research is a process, it is necessary to treat it precisely as a process, that is, to move from stage to stage without missing a single one. Some of the problems that may arise during the research process are discussed in the section

Beacons of marketing 6.2.

Problem areas of research

1. Jumping to conclusions The owner of a restaurant was thinking about buying a piano and organizing evening performances by entertainers. A group of researchers developed a questionnaire, one of the questions of which was related to this project. Customers were asked if they had any objection to the entertainment program conceived by the restaurant management, without specifying, however, what type of this

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The program will. The patrons didn't mind, mostly thinking it was an orchestra they could dance to. The owner of the restaurant, having received an affirmative answer, has already given the order to buy a piano and start negotiations with the artists. One must think that he would have been quite surprised by the lack of enthusiasm of the public if his plan had been carried out. Fortunately, this did not happen. During the second survey, the question was formulated more precisely - and the answers of the majority of the respondents turned out to be negative.

The management of one country club wanted to know if club members felt that their building was in need of repair and refurbishment, but did not say how much this would require and how this would affect membership dues. Most members answered that they did. The manager invited highly paid consultants to develop plans for the redevelopment of the club's premises. When these drawings, along with an estimate and a proposal for an increase in membership dues, were submitted for discussion general meeting, the members of the club were horrified by such expenses and rejected the project.

Moral: If the initial survey had mentioned the cost of refurbishing the premises, it would have saved the club thousands of dollars that had to be paid to a group of consultants to develop a renovation project for the building.

2. Lack of quality information

Most of the reports on various surveys published in professional hospitality industry journals contain mostly descriptive information. For example, in a similar study, Procter and Gamble found that cleanliness is the number one factor that makes frequent travelers choose to stay in a hotel. Such information is too general to be qualitative. To use it properly, you need to know what criteria guests use when judging whether a hotel is clean or not. By talking to various groups, the manager can find out how guests rate the cleanliness of the room, what factors irritate them the most and make them think the room is dirty, etc.

3. After making a selection, do not forget about the segments

The results of the survey should be analyzed not only in order to find out the arithmetic mean, but also differences within the group covered by the study. Averages often hide differences between market segments. For example, one club conducted a survey of club members' opinions about the quality of meals in their canteen. The arithmetic mean was 2 points, consisting of different ratings: one person was very satisfied with the quality of the food, three people were quite satisfied and five were dissatisfied. When the experimental sample was divided into two segments (satisfied and dissatisfied), the results were more interesting for the manager than the average.

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It is arithmetic of 2 points: one group showed a high level of satisfaction - 1.5 points, and the other - an even higher level of dissatisfaction - 2.7 points. Now the management had to decide what to do: improve the quality of food, listening to the dissatisfied, or leave everything unchanged, as the contented wanted.

4. Misuse of statistics

One researcher determined the reasons for the very high influx of students in business schools in the specialty "hotel and restaurant business" (96%) and decided that in the teaching field, any demand is directly proportional to the number of teachers. He even gave his formula by which business schools can calculate the influx of students. If the school has 251 students with three hospitality and restaurant instructors, hiring two more will bring the number to 426. But business school leaders who decide to plan next school year according to this formula will be in for a big disappointment.

The above factors can lead to opposite research results. Sometimes it may seem that clients do not act according to the intentions expressed by them in the questionnaires, while the results were simply misinterpreted due to errors that occurred in one or another problem area of market research.

5. When the sample is called unrepresentative.

A sociological sample is a segment of people selected to represent the entire population. "Ideally, the sample should be representative to the extent that the researcher can, after examining the sample, make assumptions about the whole. Hotel managers often receive bonuses based on satisfaction with the work of the hotel, expressed in a survey conducted among guests. But sometimes some guests give a lower rating than the rest, although they seem to be satisfied with everything.For example, during one survey, respondents in the age group from 26 to 35 years old rated the level of service in a hotel lower than everyone else. But, as it turned out, they also rated the work of a competing organization in the same way: lower than other segments of the population.Outwardly, their discontent did not show in any way.They simply tended to give a lower rating than others.When too many or too few representatives of a similar category of the population come into the researchers' field of view, the overall picture of the phenomenon under study may turn out to be distorted: if there are too few of them, then the estimate ka will be overestimated, if there are too many - underestimated.

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Secondary information analysis

Marketing research usually has specific goals, but this does not mean that the information collected in the course of it cannot be used, say, for a broader statistical analysis or to establish any other patterns other than those that were the purpose of this study to identify . This additional analysis of already "worked out" data allows managers to go beyond the standard approach and answer questions such as:

O What are the main variables that affect sales and how important are each of them?

O If we raise prices by 10% and increase advertising costs by 20%, how will this affect sales?

O What is the best predictor of who will come to my hotel versus my competitor's?

O What are the most important variables to consider when segmenting a market, and what are those segments?

Math modeling real systems, processes and results can also help managers make sound marketing decisions. With these models, you can find answers to questions like "What if?" and "What's better?". Over the past 20 years, marketers have developed a large number of models with which managers can improve decisions on a set of marketing measures to influence the market (marketing mix), design a sales territory and a plan to stimulate it, choose best places for retail outlets, develop optimal advertising, forecast sales of new products.

Communication of information to interested parties

The value of marketing information is zero until managers use it to make a specific decision. Therefore, it is very important that the information collected during the research reaches the right managers at the right time. Large firms have centralized marketing information systems that provide managers with information about current work, the latest marketing intelligence, research reports. This day-to-day information is essential for managers to plan, execute, and control marketing operations. But they need not only such everyday information, but also specially collected for making operational decisions on specific situations. For example, a sales manager who is having problems in the market urgently needs last year's sales data, while a restaurant manager who finds that his

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The warehouse is overstocked with products for a popular dish, should know how things are with the supply in other restaurants of the chain. In firms with a centralized information system, all managers need to do in such situations is send their request to the marketing research department and wait for a response. Sometimes, however, this answer comes when it's too late ...

Recently, truly revolutionary changes have taken place in information transmission systems. In connection with the widespread introduction of personal computers, the improvement of processors and means of communication, many firms are engaged in the decentralization of information systems, giving their managers direct access to available information. Using a terminal at their workplace, they can request any information stored in the memory of a computer network, analyze this information, prepare a report on it using a text editor, and transmit this information over the network to other interested parties (see Marketing Beacons 6.3).

Beacons of Marketing 6.3

Decentralization of the marketing information system

In the last decade, centralized information systems have given way to systems that transfer control of information from experts to managers. Many firms are developing information networks that connect separate technologies such as text editing, data processing, and presentation of results into a system.

Imagine the working day of the manager of the future. Arriving at work, he presses the appropriate keys on the computer on his desktop and reads a report on the current situation. Then he switches to reports of all the incidents of the previous night, prints out what he has to do for the day. Noticing to himself that the people with whom he has to talk informally take a break at 10.30 for a cup of tea, he instructs his computer to remind him with a buzzer at 10.25 that it is time to go down to the buffet.

After making his rounds of the hotel, the manager returns to his computer and starts scanning the local hotel-related press and the Wall Street Journal. After reviewing the articles of interest to him, he decides that it would not hurt to get acquainted with them by his deputies, and instructs the computer to transmit this information to their monitors.

After dinner, he had to meet with Frank Crossan, one of the hotel's top corporate clients.

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In preparation for this meeting, he calls up information from the computer memory relating to Crossan and his firm, which will help to conduct this meeting in a more friendly and relaxed manner and get the information needed by the hotel management. Finishing the working day, he takes a laptop computer with him. After having lunch with his family, he goes to his office and, surfing the Internet, gets access to information that interests him: the opinions of tourists about Miami, the city where he lives and works. He learns what they think about city hotels, restaurants, city tours.

Rumor has it that the well-known Swedish company SARA is going to buy a hotel in Miami. The CEO asked him to prepare a report on this firm. So the manager accesses the CompuServe database and gets a few relevant files, then he accesses a few more reference databases and gets some newspaper articles about SARA. It copies these files to the hard drive.

The next day is a day off. The manager makes a printout of the necessary material and, using a text editor, writes a report for the general director. It then sends messages to department heads. Well, now he can go to the beach!

Such a system opens up great prospects. It allows managers to quickly obtain the necessary information and just as quickly adapt it to their goals. As this system becomes cheaper, more managers will master this technique, more hospitality enterprises will decentralize their information systems.

International marketing research

International marketing research goes through the same stages as similar research within one country: from identifying the problem to be researched and developing a plan, to interpreting the research results and submitting an appropriate report. However, in marketing research international level specific problems may arise. If inside the country we are dealing with fairly homogeneous markets, then in international practice we have to deal with the markets of countries that differ significantly from each other in terms of their economic development, cultural traditions and purchasing habits.

Dealing with the markets foreign countries, the researcher finds it difficult to navigate the secondary information. If reliable data are found in the USA,

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Which kind is not difficult: there are dozens of local research centers, then in a huge number of Third World countries there are no such centers at all. Even the largest international marketing centers may not work in all countries. For example, A.C. Nielsen, the largest firm of its kind, has offices in only 28 countries outside the United States. So even when the necessary secondary information exists, it has to be extracted drop by drop from various sources, agreeing on each specific case at the interstate level, in order to bring this information together, and it turns out to be very difficult to compare and work with it.

Due to the eternal shortage of secondary information, international marketing research projects are forced to collect their own primary information. But here, too, researchers face problems that their colleagues working with national markets do not suffer from. For example, it is sometimes difficult for them to make even an elementary sample. While US researchers can use phone books, recent census data, and a myriad of other sources of sociological information, such data may simply not be available in many countries. So it's incredibly difficult to decide even on the question of the respondents. But even when the problem of identifying respondents is overcome, it is often impossible to simply contact them by phone, mail, or in person, as in the United States. In some countries, a telephone is a rarity. For example, in Egypt, four people out of a thousand have a telephone, in Turkey - six, and in Argentina - thirty-two. In some countries mail is extremely unreliable. In Brazil, for example, up to 30% of letters do not reach the addressee at all. In many developing countries poor roads and even worse transportation systems make many areas virtually inaccessible and in-person interviews difficult and costly.

Differences in national cultures pose additional challenges for international marketing research. The most serious of them is the language barrier. For example, questionnaires prepared in one language must then be translated into the languages of all countries covered by the study. And the answers should also be translated from all national languages into the language in which the questionnaire was written. All this increases the costs associated with research and is fraught with various errors.

Translating questionnaires from language to language is not as easy a task as it might seem. Many nuances are lost, because set phrases in different languages can have different meanings. One international marketer from Denmark suggested the following experiment: ask for a translation back to English language a page of a questionnaire translated into one of the exotic national languages. You may be in for a shock! One translator decided that the English expression "out of sight, out of mind" (out of sight - out of mind) means "invisible things are insane."

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The behavior of a person in the role of a buyer, especially when he decides to buy or not to buy, is very different in different countries, further confusing researchers in the field of international marketing. People also differ in their attitude to the study itself. In one country they take part in it with great desire, in others their refusal of any cooperation is one of the main problems. In some Islamic countries, residents, especially women, are generally forbidden to enter into any contact with foreigners, and in this case, the researcher will not be able even by phone to find out about their attitude to a particular company and, in general, about the features of their buying behavior. The high level of illiteracy in many countries makes it impossible to use the method of written questionnaires when working with some groups of the population. And middle-class people can be cunning, answering questions in order to seem more successful than they really are. For example, when studying tea consumption in India, researchers found that more than 70% of respondents said they usually buy one of the few most expensive teas, while more than 60% of tea sold in India is statistically to the cheapest varieties.

However, despite all these difficulties, intensive research on international marketing in recent years has increased interest in these problems in many countries. International corporations cannot do without international market research, although they have a small chance of success. International market research is expensive and there are plenty of problems with it, but giving it up is even more expensive. Having made a lot of mistakes and missed great opportunities, many businessmen are aware of this. Many of the problems associated with international marketing research can be overcome by people who realize their importance.

Beacons of Marketing 6.4

Marketing research in small business

So far in this chapter, we have viewed marketing research—from defining research objectives to reporting on its results—as a lengthy and purposeful process organized by big firms active in marketing. But many small, low-income businesses also use market research. It is not necessary to use the expensive and complex techniques described in this chapter.

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Almost any enterprise can use low-cost methods of marketing research. And you don't have to be an expert to use these methods. They are so simple that almost everyone can handle them.

A lot of marketing information can be gathered just by observing what is happening around. The manager of a small restaurant may well estimate the composition of his own clientele, simply counting the number of his visitors at different times of the day and determining their status by eye. It is not difficult to get an idea of competitors' advertising by regularly watching local television programs and reading local newspapers.

Managers can do small-scale research using informal contacts with clients. The manager of a travel agency can learn about the cravings of his clients by inviting a small group to a restaurant. And the manager of the restaurant does not even need to invite them - they themselves come. You just need to be able to talk to them. And you can find out about the quality of food in the hospital canteen by talking with patients. Restaurant managers can make phone calls, randomly dialing numbers, and get people's opinions about their own establishment and competing organizations. They may also perform simple experiments from time to time. By slightly changing the tactics of contacts with customers, you can find the best option. By varying the fonts and general design of newspaper advertising, a manager can observe changes in the overall effect of its impact on potential customers.

Secondary information is equally available to large and small businesses. The Chamber of Commerce, local media, government agencies produce a lot of publications of interest to small businesses. The US Small Business Bureau alone publishes dozens of free brochures with advice on a wide variety of topics. Local newspapers often publish articles related to the buying habits of citizens.

Sometimes the local college may volunteer to help with some simple research. For colleges, small businesses are of great interest as a case study for marketing students.

Even very small organizations with very small budgets can collect secondary information, observe and conduct experiments. Although the cost of simple market research is much less than full-scale, but their preparation should be taken seriously: carefully consider goals, formulate questions in advance, skillfully extract useful information, and remember to systematically adjust the results. If the study is carefully planned and this plan is skillfully implemented, then the "chamber" marketing research can provide reliable information, the use of which can increase the effectiveness of marketing decisions.

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Chapter Summary

A marketing information system (MIS) includes the people, equipment, and procedures that are used to gather useful information, evaluate it, and communicate it to marketing decision makers.

MIS begins with managers, it also ends with them, and it will not work if all the managers of the company are not connected to it. First, MIS interacts with marketing managers, assessing the firm's information needs. Then begins the collection and processing of information coming from three sources: internal materials, marketing intelligence and the marketing research process. All this information, after appropriate analysis, is sent in the right form and at the right time to marketing managers, whom it should help make specific decisions in the field of drawing up a marketing plan, its implementation and control.

I. Assessment of the firm's information needs. The data collected by a good information system is always a compromise between the information that managers would like to have and the information that is actually needed and practically available.

P. Obtaining and processing information. The information that marketing managers need can be extracted from their own materials, through marketing intelligence and marketing research. The analytical group processes the received material and presents it to managers in a form convenient for use.

1) Internal sources are the firm's own working materials and archives from which information can be extracted when it is necessary to assess the current marketing situation or identify marketing problems and opportunities.

2) Marketing intelligence data includes daily information about all changes in the marketing environment, helping managers to develop a marketing plan and tactics for its implementation. Intelligence data can be obtained from internal and external sources.

A) Internal sources through which a firm can obtain intelligence are the firm's owners, its executives and employees.

B) External sources include employees of competing firms, government agencies, suppliers, professional magazines, business magazines, newspapers, bulletins of professional associations and conferences, databases that can be obtained through the Internet system.

C) Marketing research is the process of collecting and analyzing information that determines marketing

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Opportunities and challenges, ongoing marketing operations are monitored, useful information about the market is analyzed and delivered to interested parties. Marketing research is a purposeful process that has a beginning and an end. It includes four stages: defining the problem and setting a goal, developing a research plan, implementing this plan, interpreting and presenting the results.

1) Problem definition and goal setting. According to their goals, marketing research is divided into three types:

A) Preliminary, if with their help a problem is defined and a hypothesis is proposed.

B) Descriptive, if the structure and size of the market are described.

C) Analytical, if the hypothesis of cause-and-effect relationships is being tested.

2) Development of a plan for collecting information.

A) Identification of the company's needs for certain information is actually the translation of abstract research goals into the language of specific facts of information needs. To satisfy them, researchers collect information of two types: secondary and primary. Secondary information refers to already existing information collected by others on a different occasion and for other purposes. Primary information refers to information collected specifically for the occasion.

B) Research methods. The main methods used in marketing research are observation, interview and experiment.

Observation is the collection of primary information about the actions of certain people and certain situations through observation.

An interview (structured or unstructured, direct or indirect) is the best way collection of descriptive information. An experiment is the best way to collect information of an analytical nature.

C) contact methods. Information can be collected by the interviewer in person, by mail, and by telephone.

D) Sampling plan. Conclusions about the preferences of a significant group of consumers are often made on the basis of the opinions of selected representatives of this group. There are three issues to consider before sampling:

O Who to sample

O How many people to interview

O How to sample

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D) Research tools. When collecting primary information, researchers use various techniques: interviewing (structured and unstructured), mechanical tools, structured models (for example, test marketing). In a structured interview, standardized questionnaires (questionnaires) are used.

E) Presentation of the study plan. At this stage, the study plan is presented in writing for interested managers to review.

3) The implementation of the research plan is carried out in the process of collecting, processing and analyzing information.

4) Interpretation of results and report. At this stage, the research team gives its interpretation of the research results and submits a report to the company's management.

5) Secondary analysis of information. Marketing research usually has specific goals, but this does not mean that the information collected during the study cannot be used again for another, broader statistical study, or to identify any additional patterns. Secondary information analysis looks for answers to questions like "What if?" and "What's better?"

III. Providing information to interested parties. The value of marketing information is zero until the manager uses it to make a marketing decision. Therefore, it is important that the information collected in the process of marketing research reaches the right managers at the right time.

Issues for discussion

1. What role does marketing research play in the implementation of the company's marketing concept?

2. What is the difference between a marketing information system and a marketing intelligence system?

3. Specify and discuss the main stages of marketing research.

4. Think about what specific tasks can be assigned to researchers if you are concerned about the following problems: decision on distribution policy, decision on product policy, decision on an advertising campaign, decision on personal selling, decision on price policy.

5. Explain why defining a problem and setting goals for researchers are often considered the most difficult steps in the research process.

6. Researchers usually begin the process of collecting the necessary data

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Nykh from the study of secondary information. What sources of this information can be used by the manager of a large restaurant, who is interested in trends in consumer preferences.

7. Discuss the positives and negatives of using special customer review cards in a restaurant.

8. What type of research is most productive in the following situations and why: a) McDonald's wants to know what effect children have on the marketing of its products; b) Hilton wants to collect information about what visiting businessmen think about the variety of menus, the dishes themselves and about the service in their restaurant; c) Bennigan's is considering opening its branch in a rapidly growing suburb; d) Arby's wants to test the effect of two hot sandwich ads in two cities; e) the official responsible for tourism in your area wants to know how best to spend the representation money.

9. "Focus groups" - one of the most representative methods of marketing research in the hospitality industry. What are its advantages and disadvantages?

Key terms

Analytical research (causal research). Marketing research conducted to test the hypothesis of causal relationships.

Internal sources of information (internal records information). Working materials and archives of the firm, from which information can be extracted to help assess the current marketing situation and identify marketing problems and opportunities.

Secondary information (secondary data). Pre-existing information collected for other purposes.

Sample. A segment of people selected for market research to represent the entire group of interest to the researcher.

Closed questions (closed-end questions).

Questions that offer multiple possible answers for the respondent to choose from.

Inspectors under the guise of customers (shoppers). People who have received the task of visiting a hotel or restaurant under the guise of customers and then report their impressions to management.

Interview (survey research). Collection of primary information, during which respondents are asked questions regarding their preferences, attitudes, awareness and characteristics of their purchasing behavior.

Focus group interviewing. A long (up to several hours) conversation of a specially trained interviewer with a group of six to ten people, during which their attitude to the product, service, organization is clarified.

The interviewer focuses the conversation on issues of interest to him.

Marketing information system (MIS) (marketing information system). A system of experts, equipment and procedures that collects, sorts, analyzes, evaluates and distributes the necessary, timely and accurate information to help make marketing decisions.

Marketing research. The systematic collection, accumulation, analysis and presentation to management of data and conclusions relevant to the specific marketing situation in which the firm is located.

Marketing intelligence. Everyday development information marketing environment to help managers develop and refine marketing plans. observation (observational research).

A method of collecting primary information in which researchers observe certain people, their actions and certain situations.

Descriptive research. Marketing research undertaken to describe marketing problems, situations and markets, such as market potential for a product or consumer demographics or attitudes.

Open questions (open-end questions).

Questions that respondents should answer in their own words, not prompted by the interviewer.

Primary information (primary data).

Information collected specifically for this case.

Preliminary research (exploratory research). Marketing research to collect preliminary information that helps to identify the problem and propose a hypothesis.

Experiment (experimental research).

A primary information collection method that selects groups of respondents who receive different tasks, controls for interrelated factors, and identifies different responses to marketing exposure.

Marketing information and marketing research. Marketing research Marketing information and marketing research in brief

Marketing Information System

Marketing intelligence

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