Chapter 3

Collecting Information and Forecasting Demand

Chapter Questions
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What are the components of a modern marketing information system? What are useful internal records? What makes up a marketing intelligence system? How can companies accurately measure and forecast demand?

Marketing Information System
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A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers. 3 components of MIS  Internal records  Marketing intelligence  Marketing research (Chapter 4)

Internal Records
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Order-to-payment cycle Sales information Databases, data warehousing, data mining

Marketing Intelligence System
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A marketing intelligence system is a set of procedures and sources that managers use to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment. The internal records system supplies results data, but the marketing intelligence system supplies happenings data.

Steps to Quality Marketing Intelligence
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Train sales force to scan for new developments Motivate channel members to share intelligence Hire external experts to collect intelligence Network externally Utilize a customer advisory panel Utilize government data sources Purchase information Collect marketing intelligence on the Internet

Demand Measurement
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The marketer’s first step to evaluate marketing opportunities is to estimate market demand and company demand. Company demand is the company’s share of market demand based on company marketing effort in a given time period.  It depends on how the company’s products, services, prices, and communications are perceived relative to the competitors’.

Demand Measurement
Demand for a product is the total volume that