.Marketing information has no value until it is used to gain customer insights and make better
marketing decisions. Thus, the marketing information system must make the information
readily available to managers and others who need it. In some cases, this means
providing managers with regular performance reports, intelligence updates, and reports on
the results of research studies.
But marketing managers may also need nonroutine information for special situations
and on-the-spot decisions. For example, a sales manager having trouble with a large cus-
120 Part Two|Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers
Grocery chain Kroger works with data mining firm
Dunnhumby to dig deeply into data obtained from customer
loyalty cards. It uses the customer insights gained for
everything from targeting coupons to locating and stocking
its stores.
tomer may want a summary of the account’s sales and profitability over the past year. Or a
retail storemanagerwho has run out of a best-selling productmaywant to knowthe current
inventory levels in the chain’s other stores. These days, therefore, information distribution
involves entering information into databases and making it available in a timely, userfriendly
way.