Component of Marketing Information System:
1. Internal records system: Marketing managers rely on internal reports such as orders, sales, prices, inventory level, and receivables, payable and so on. By analyzing this information they can spot important opportunities and problems. It gives details about past trends which in trun helps marketing manager to know the possible future implications. The various types of internal record system include.
- sales record.in
- order to remittance cycle.
- complain from customers.
- receivables and payables.
- inventories.
- marketing intelligence system.
2. Marketing Intelligence system internal record system supplires reasulit data where as marketing intelligence system supplires happenings data marketing intelligence is defined as a set of procedures and sources used by mangers to obtin everyay information about developments in the marketing environment .
Marketing intelligence may be collected by the following ways:
1) Sales force: organizations train and motivate the sales force to spot and report new developments as they are the eyes and ears of the company the company must sell its sales force on the their importance as intelligence gatheres the sales force should be provided with easy reports to fill out sales representatives should know which types of information to send to different managers.
i) Middlemen: the company motives distrbuters reailers and other middement to pass along important information.
ii)ghost shoppers: some companies appoint specialists to gather marketing intelligence they send ghost shoppers to monitor the presentation of thir dealers or branches they learn about competitors through purchasing their products attending their stockholders meeting talking to their former employees and present empoyessdealers distributors supplires and freight agent and collecting competitors ads.
iii) Purchase information: the company may purchases information form out side supplires such as research agencies and advertising agencies.
iv) Internal marketing information center: some companies have established an internal marketing information center to collect and circulate marketing intelligence. The staff scans major publications abstracts relevant news and disseminates a news bulliten to marketing managers.
3. Marketing Research: this is the third component of MIS. Marketing research offers special information on request when marketing executive encounter typical marketing problems demanding unique information for solving these problems. The employess of the organization may conduct marketing research or company's can hire the services of marketing research firm.
4. Decision Support System: a large number of organizations are using marketing decision support system to help their marketing manager make better decisions. A marketing decision support system is a coordinated collection of data systems tools and techniques with supporting software and hardware by which an organization gathers and interprets relevant information from business and environmental and turns it into a basis for marketing action.