Page 56 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Unit 2: Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

competitive advantage. New applications are being developed at a faster pace. The ultimate Notes
focus of most such systems is to enable marketers to know enough about any given customer
and the competitive context, to fine-tune their marketing efforts to better serve the target market
so that customer’s needs are met perfectly. This is the ultimate dream for every marketer.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
16. The general idea is that less than 80 per cent information regarding competitive intelligence
is public knowledge.
17. The company can also purchase competitors’ products to pass along relevant intelligence.

2.7 Marketing Research Process

While the Marketing Information System has its focus on managing the flow of relevant
information to decision-makers in the marketing department, marketing research is concerned
with the function of generating information for marketing decision-makers.
There are occasions when there are no easy answers for a variety of marketing situations that
marketing managers face. Such situations may call for conducting formal marketing studies of
specific problems and opportunities. Marketing research is intended to address carefully defined
marketing problems or opportunities. It helps in identifying consumer needs and market
segments, furnishes information necessary for developing new products and formulating
marketing strategies, enables managers to measure the effectiveness of marketing programmes
and promotional activities, develops economic forecasting, helps in financial planning, and
quality control. Research undertaken without precisely defining the problem and objectives,
usually results in wastage of time and money.
For conducting marketing research, companies develop systematic procedures for collecting,
recording, and analysing data from secondary and primary sources to help managers in making
decisions.

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Caution Marketing research is different from market research, which is information
collected about a particular market or market segment.

Did u know? In the process of marketing research, companies collect a lot of different
types of information. David G. Bakken is of the opinion that it is easy to think of all these
in terms of 3Rs of marketing:
1. Recruiting New Customers.

2. Retaining Current Customers.
3. Regaining Lost Customers.
To recruit new customers, the researchers study different market segments to develop the right
products and services consumers need and want. To retain customers, the marketer may conduct
customer satisfaction studies. Marketers realise that good relationship with customers is
important for long-term positive sales results. Regaining lost customers can be a formidable
problem. It needs innovative marketing and outstanding communications. The information
collected with respect to the first and the second R helps regaining the lost customers.

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