Marketing Management, Millenium Edition - epiheirimatikotita.gr

pound employees treat citizens picking up their cars. Neiman Marcus employs thesame agency to shop at its 26 stores nationwide. “Those stores that consistently scorehigh on the shopping service,” says a Neiman Marcus senior VP, “not so coincidentallyhave the best sales.” The stores will tell salespeople that they’ve “been shopped”and give them copies of the mystery shopper’s report. Typical questions on the reportare: How long before a sales associate greeted you? Did the sales associate act as if heor she wanted your business? Was the sales associate knowledgeable about productsin stock? 8Third, companies can learn about competitors by purchasing their products; attendingopen houses and trade shows; reading competitors’ published reports; attendingstockholders’ meetings; talking to employees, dealers, distributors, suppliers,and freight agents; collecting competitors’ ads; and reading the Wall Street Journal, theNew York Times, and trade association papers.Fourth, the company can set up a customer advisory panel made up of representativecustomers or the company’s largest customers or its most outspoken or sophisticatedcustomers. For example, Hitachi Data Systems holds a three-day meeting withits customer panel of 20 members every 9 months. They discuss service issues, newtechnologies, and customers’ strategic requirements. The discussion is free-flowing,and both parties gain: The company gains valuable information about customer needs;and the customers feel more bonded to a company that listens closely to their comments.9Fifth, the company can purchase information from outside suppliers such as theA. C. Nielsen Company and Information Resources, Inc. (see Table 1.2, part D). Theseresearch firms gather and store consumer-panel data at a much lower cost than thecompany could do on its own.Sixth, some companies have established a marketing information center to collectand circulate marketing intelligence. The staff scans the Internet and major publications,abstracts relevant news, and disseminates a news bulletin to marketing managers.It collects and files relevant information and assists managers in evaluating newinformation.MA R K E T I N G R E S E A R C H S Y S T E MMarketing managers often commission formal marketing studies of specific problemsand opportunities. They may request a market survey, a product-preference test, a salesforecast by region, or an advertising evaluation. We define marketing research as follows:■Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reportingof data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facingthe company.SUPPLIERS OF MARKETING RESEARCHA company can obtain marketing research in a number of ways. Most large companieshave their own marketing research departments. 10■ Procter & Gamble P&G assigns marketing researchers to each product operatingdivision to conduct research for existing brands. There are two separatein-house research groups, one in charge of overall company advertisingresearch and the other in charge of market testing. Each group’s staff consistsof marketing research managers, supporting specialists (survey designers, statisticians,behavioral scientists), and in-house field representatives to conductand supervise interviewing. Each year, Procter & Gamble calls or visits over1 million people in connection with about 1,000 research projects.■ Hewlett-Packard At HP, marketing research is handled by the Market Research& Information Center (MRIC), located at HP headquarters. The MRICis a shared resource for all HP divisions worldwide and is divided into threeGathering Informationand MeasuringMarket Demand 103