Airlines to hotels to textbook suppliers rely heavily on direct computer interac

Question

Airlines to hotels to textbook suppliers rely heavily on direct computer interaction with consumers. While brick and mortar storefronts are not outdated, the use of the Internet has changed the landscape of shopping. Information technology has become the key to survival of some businesses in providing services to consumers as well as for producing marketing research to learn how to most effectively serve their customers. Write a 2-3 page paper to evaluate the various ways that information technology can be applied to marketing research. Include a discussion of decision support systems, web tracking, and electronic data interchange in your paper. Please write your assignment using Times New Roman, double spaced, size 12 font in Microsoft Word.

Explanation / Answer

From editing a business presentation, to checking e-mails, information technology has changed every aspect of our lives. Technology has changed market research. Advancements in IT are helping us become more efficient and agile. In terms of market research, technology has brought out new avenues for obtaining useful business intelligence.

Digital Surveys

Digital surveys, also referred to as online questionnaires, are research tools that ask consumers questions in a virtual environment. These surveys are a type of Online Research Method (ORM). Many of these ORMs are related to older research methodologies that have been re-invented and re-imagined to work with new technologies of a digital environment.

With the growing use of the Internet, online questionnaires have become a popular way of collecting information. With the growth of social media, new levels of complexity and opportunity have been created for using digital surveys to conduct market research. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ have broadened the horizon in which market research is conducted. Social media is evolving market research in exciting new ways. Social media is creating an environment that yields unbiased feedback. Great for reputation enhancement and brand awareness, market researchers can take advantage of the enhanced presence through social media.

Databases

A database is an organized collection of data that is organized to model certain aspects of reality in a way that supports the processes that require this information. In market research, a database contains information that is collected, analysed, and used to define segments of homogeneous consumers.

Consumer Databases in Market Research

Researchers keep consumer databases up-to-date regarding consumer behavior and product consumption. This customer information includes a variety of data, including name and address, history of shopping and purchases, demographics, and brand and product consumption. When companies want to conduct consumer market research, they use these databases to request consumers who fit a specific demographic and behavioral profile so that these prospective respondents can be contacted to participate in research studies.

Database Research

Database research is an extremely helpful tool in market segmentation research. There is a constant stream of new software to collect data. Beyond the traditional methods such as focus groups, paper surveys & interviews, technology enables researchers to be much more targeted in what they measure and how quickly feedback can be received. For instance, there is a mood-sensing retail device that's personalizing the shopping experience. It is a powerful tool for any retail business looking to boost its market share and learn more about customers.

Decision Support Systems

Decision support systems are tools that help companies assess and answer business questions in a timely and effective manner. With huge volume of data to collect, the ability to analyze that data is challenging as well. Technology is making data analytics easier and more sophisticated. With better analytics, companies can strengthen existing customer relationships.

Companies across all industries rely on decision support tools, techniques, and models to help them assess business situations. A DSS is a computer-based information system that helps businesses make better informed decisions by providing a flexible tool for analysis. With supporting software and hardware, this tool collects data that helps an organization gather and interpret relevant business information and converts it into a basis for marketing action.

Decision support systems is used by managers to obtain and tweak information as they are making decisions. It also serves the operations and planning activities of an organization by helping them make decisions, which may be fast changing and unique. Decision support systems can be either fully computerized, human, or a combination of both.

A key component to DSS is its business intelligence reporting tools, processes, and methodologies. DSSs also include knowledge-based systems and an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or business models.

In today’s global marketplace, companies need to respond quickly to market changes. Companies with comprehensive decision support systems have a significant edge over the others.

Competitive Intelligence

Competitive Intelligence (CI) is a hybrid process of marketing research and strategic analysis that can gives competitive advantage to companies.

Competitive Intelligence involves defining, collecting, analyzing, and distributing information about products, customers, and competitors and any aspect of the market environment needed to support managers in making strategic decisions for an organization. Competitive intelligence is not just about analyzing competitors. It strives to make the organization more competitive relative to its entire macro environment and stakeholders.

Although the Internet is the stepping stone in information gathering, CI requires spending more time and effort towards information gathering by means of primary research, such as speaking with one’s own employees, customers, suppliers, or outside industry experts. CI can typically be executed via the following methods:

Technology has been quite impactful on how to perform market research with advanced capabilities and an transformed approach to data. At this point, there is an unlimited source of data and insights, which will ultimately help in getting to know customers better. Technology ensuring its possibility.

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