Development of a marketing information system for supporting sales in a Tea-beverage market

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a marketing information system for a Tea-beverage manufacturing firm for supporting sales management. The marketing information system aims at providing assistance in (1) performing efficient dissemination and management of information and sales documents, and (2) improving marketing and promotion processes. The framework is examined and explained in the context of a case study. The results show that it provides better support for managers as a result of improved communication and monitoring.

Introduction

Marketing information systems (MKIS) enable marketing and sales managers to identify, interpret, and react to competitive signals (Montgomery and Weinberg, 2002, Prabhu and Stewart, 2005) and are key elements leading to efficient marketing strategies and sales promotion strategies. As a global concept, marketing information can best be understood by its decomposition into marketing research and marketing intelligence. Both activities aim at collecting and providing information to management for the purpose of better and more timely decision-making. The marketing information system is a set of procedures and sources used to obtain everyday information about pertinent developments in the marketing environment (Kotler, 2002). Therefore, marketing information systems provide a continuous flow of information about very diverse market events that might affect the company’s competitive position.

Marketing information is mainly descriptive, essentially based on observation, and its goal is to provide managers with general enlightenment about an ongoing competitive market situation (Fuld, 1999, Moss, 2006). By contrast, market research activities are devoted to the collection and analysis of data linked to precise research questions such as new product acceptance or advertising effectiveness. Therefore, a piece of market research information corresponds to a defined goal and focused objectives. Collected marketing information must be precise, carefully measured, controlled and analyzed, and the results obtained should enable managers to reduce decision-making uncertainty (Deshpande & Zaltman, 2005).

Salespeople have long been recognized as primary sources of marketing information as their additional efforts to gather environmental information create few additional costs for the company (Webster, 1999). Because of their boundary position, salespeople can offer their company direct access to important marketing information about competitors and customers (Lorge, 2006). Due to their daily presence in the field and favored relationships with customers, salespeople can be exposed to rumors about their customers’ or competitors’ projects, learn about new product launches before they take place, discover new products in test market areas, gather information about the discount and pricing policies of competitors, note changes in customers’ or distributors’ policies and behaviors, gather point-of-purchase information on promotional activities and effectiveness, and so forth.

The study describes the research and development of a marketing information system for supporting sales in a Tea-beverage manufacturing firm. The framework is then examined and explained in the context of a case study. Finally, the case study provides better teamwork support as a result of improved communication and monitoring, which reduces sales cycle times. Other industries can use a similar approach to develop marketing information systems that can support the sales of their products or services. An understanding of the marketing information system development life cycle is essential for contemporary manufacturing practitioners, because most organizations need marketing information systems to survive and prosper. We will see from this study that innovative use of IT can help manufacturers gain competitive advantage through achieving better quality, greater flexibility, lower cost and higher speed over their competitors.