Role of Marketing Information System in Enhancing Sales
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study has its objective towards improving the effectiveness of marketing information system and to also improve the sales margin of companies in Nigeria. The objective involves how to analyse the information system bring out where the system has failed and to maker necessary recommendation. The specific objectives are to:
(i.) Determine the effect of marketing information system on sales volume;
(ii.) Examine the impact of usage of marketing information system on product performance.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Peter Druker (1986) he said that the aim of aim of marketing information system (MIS) is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or services rendered will be key to marketing decisions. He further said that, many business firms lack information sophistication. Many do not have a marketing research department where current and adequate marketing information will be given. Peter Durker is with the view that emphasis should be given on the importance of monitoring the marketing environment to keep products and marketing practices current. He said that management can not change customer wants, new competitor initiatives, changing distribution channels and so on, except they develop and manage information.
Kotler (1997) said that there are three developments that make the need for marketing information greater than at any time in the past:
From local to national to global marketing: As companies expand their geographical market coverage, their managers need more information more quickly than ever before.
From buyer needs to buyer wants: As buyers income improve, they become more selective in their choice of goods. To predict buyers response to different features, styles and other attributes, sellers must turn marketing research.
From price to non-price competition: As sellers increase their use of branding, product differentiation, advertising and sales promotion, they require information on these marketing tools effectiveness.
Kotler, further explained that the explosion of information requirements has been met by impressive new information technologies. The past 30 years have witnessed the emergence of the computer, micro-filming, cable television, copy machines, fax machines, tape recorders, video recorders, video is players, CD-Rom drives, multi-media packages and other devices that have revolutionized information handling.
Some firms have develop advanced marketing information systems that provide company management with rapid and incredible information about buyer wants preferences and behaviour.
Madrick (1988) viewed that managers have always had some form of marketing information system to guide their decision – making. In the past it was very informal. Some managers simply walked among their staff asking questions. Today the personal collection of data is not only impossible but unnecessary.  It is impossible because of the great amount of data that must be gathered, and it is unnecessary, because computers are now able to do much of this work. He went further to say that most modern marketing information systems are computer based,. The computerization of information needed for marketing started in the late 1950s at companies such as Pillsbury, Dupont and General Mills. Today, according to Madrick, 98% of firms with sales over and 50 million use some form of computerized marketing information system. Smaller companies and non-profit organisations have been slower to adopt such systems because of the expenses. But with the continued lowering of data processing costs, use of computerized marketing information system (MIS) is expected to spread in the future.
Shaw and Stone (1987), they said that marketing information system provides a more interactive approach to marketing communications uses individually addressable media (e.g. the sales force) to extend help to a company’s target audiences, stimulate their demand and stay close to them by keeping an electronic database memory of both actual and prospective customers and all communications and contacts to help improve all further contacts. They suggest that marketing information system is essentially a customer-oriented approach to information handling and its advantage is in the techniques it uses to apply computer/communications technology. In practice, MIS provides a store of historical customer data. This produces better efficiency internally due to better organised data, thus ultimately leading to more effective strategic improvements. They said that to achieve efficiency, it requires a study of an organisation’s current information base and its ability to monitor existing marketing activities. It also need the ability to use information to match the dynamics of a changing market and to report such changes to marketing management in order that appropriate planning action can be taken.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this chapter, we would describe how the study was carried out.
Research design
It is a term used to describe a number of decisions which need to be taken regarding the collection of data before they are collected. (Nwana, 1981). It provides guidelines which direct the researcher towards solving the research problem and may vary depending on the nature of the problem being studied. According to Okaja ( 2003, p. 2),” research design means the structuring of investigation aimed at identifying variables and their relationship, it is used for the purpose of obtaining data to enable the investigator test hypothesis or answer research question by providing procedural outline for conducting research”. It is therefore, an outline or scheme that serves as a useful guide to the researcher in his efforts to generate data for his study.
Sources of Data
The data for this study were generated from two main sources; Primary sources and secondary sources. The primary sources include questionnaire, interviews and observation. The secondary sources include journals, bulletins, textbooks and the internet.
Population of the study
A study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description (Prince Udoyen: 2019). In this study the population of the study comprises of all the staff in the marketing department of Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd in the Nigerian South West region, but due to the fact that Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd has plant in three out of the six states in the South west region, the researcher makes use of staff from the firm‟s plants in Kwara, Lagos and Oyo States, with a total of five hundred and twenty (520).
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Two hundred and twenty six (226) copies of questionnaires were administered to the respondents, Two hundred and eleven (211) copies representing 93.4% were returned, while 15 copies representing 6.6% of the questionnaires were not returned or not fit for the study (Appendix 2). This implies that majority of the respondents positively responded to the questionnaire making it relevant for the study. The hypotheses were tested using regression analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
In the light of the findings generated through statistical analysis, the study inferred that marketing information system have significant effects on product sales and performance. Management may not be able to change customer needs and wants, new competitor initiatives, changing market trends and so on, but it can develop and manage a better information system that can enhance its competitive edge in the target market. Also, the study shows that company with effective and efficient marketing information system will tend to develop competitive products that w i l l meet existing and potential buyers‟ expectation in the market than organisation that do not have well organized and good marketing information system. This implies that the company should further strengthen their marketing information system so as to improve the chances of better product performance.
Recommendations
Relying on the findings, the study proffered the following recommendations for better performance.
The company should develop/ maintain advanced marketing information systems that provide company management with rapid and incredible information about consumers‟ needs and wants, preferences and behaviour. This will provide the company with a good market advantage over its competitors. This is because effective marketing information system will enable the company to effectively survey the market and to obtain the information it requires to carefully evaluate its opportunities and choose its target markets to maximize profit. Moreover, the marketing information programs must communicate more internally to employees and externally with the customers so that the company can reach the market with a consistent, strong voice projecting the qualities and benefits of its products. This will ensure rapid improvement in sales volume of the company. This because companies that incorporate effective business-to-customers components into their MIS plans stand a better chance of making their products to remaining successful in future years.
References
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