Gathering Information
and Measuring
Market Demand^103pound employees treat citizens picking up their cars. Neiman Marcus employs the
same agency to shop at its 26 stores nationwide. “Those stores that consistently score
high on the shopping service,” says a Neiman Marcus senior VP, “not so coinciden-
tally have 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 report
are: How long before a sales associate greeted you? Did the sales associate act as if he
or she wanted your business? Was the sales associate knowledgeable about products
in stock?^8
Third, companies can learn about competitors by purchasing their products; at-
tending open houses and trade shows; reading competitors’ published reports; at-
tending stockholders’ meetings; talking to employees, dealers, distributors, suppliers,
and freight agents; collecting competitors’ ads; and reading the Wall Street Journal, the
New York Times, and trade association papers.
Fourth, the company can set up a customer advisory panel made up of representa-
tive customers or the company’s largest customers or its most outspoken or sophisti-
cated customers. For example, Hitachi Data Systems holds a three-day meeting with
its customer panel of 20 members every 9 months. They discuss service issues, new
technologies, 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 com-
ments.^9
Fifth, the company can purchase information from outside suppliers such as the
A. C. Nielsen Company and Information Resources, Inc. (see Table 1.2, part D). These
research firms gather and store consumer-panel data at a much lower cost than the
company could do on its own.
Sixth, some companies have established a marketing information centerto collect
and circulate marketing intelligence. The staff scans the Internet and major publica-
tions, abstracts relevant news, and disseminates a news bulletin to marketing man-
agers. It collects and files relevant information and assists managers in evaluating new
information.
ARKETING RESEARCH SYSTEM
Marketing managers often commission formal marketing studies of specific problems
and opportunities. They may request a market survey, a product-preference test, a sales
forecast by region, or an advertising evaluation. We define marketing research as follows:
■ Marketing researchis the systematic design, collection, analysis, and re-
porting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing
the company.
SUPPLIERS OF MARKETING RESEARCH
A company can obtain marketing research in a number of ways. Most large compa-
nies have their own marketing research departments.^10
■ Procter & Gamble P&G assigns marketing researchers to each product op-
erating division to conduct research for existing brands. There are two sepa-
rate in-house research groups, one in charge of overall company advertising
research and the other in charge of market testing. Each group’s staff consists
of marketing research managers, supporting specialists (survey designers, sta-
tisticians, behavioral scientists), and in-house field representatives to conduct
and supervise interviewing. Each year, Procter & Gamble calls or visits over
1 million people in connection with about 1,000 research projects.
■ Hewlett-Packard At HP, marketing research is handled by the Market Re-
search & Information Center (MRIC), located at HP headquarters. The MRIC
is a shared resource for all HP divisions worldwide and is divided into three
M