Defining marketing

A prominent economist Philip Kotler defines marketing as «a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and values with others.» Marketing research is used to assess the market’s response to the firm’s marketing inputs which include promotional activities such as price discounting, placement of in-store displays, multimedia advertising, and couponing; expanding distribution; and product development and enhancement. The goal of marketing research is to assist the firm in determining the most effective, i.e. most profitable, mix of marketing inputs given knowledge of the marketplace.

As a formal scientific discipline marketing research began in the early twentieth century with most analyses being based on survey data. In the 1930s, the A. C. Nielsen Company began collecting in-store data using manual audits. Today, with the advent of scanning technology, the amount of timely data available from stores and household panels has grown exponentially. Coincident with this data explosion, the data delivery systems and the techniques used to analyze the data have become increasingly sophisticated. Marketing research is an integral part of organizations in both the consumer durable and nondurable goods sectors, and.in recent years •the use of marketing principles has become increasing prevalent among nonprofit and government sectors.

Marketing research is interdisciplinary requiring the knowledge of economists, operations researchers, psychologists, and statisticians. For the economist, the economic theory of consumer behavior and the theory of the firm provide basic building blocks. Marketing research can be viewed as an operational or tactical activity and as a strategic activity. Although both activities require knowledge of the workings of the marketplace at both the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels, tactical -analyses focus on monitoring a product’s performance and testing the effectiveness of marketing programs relative to competitors. Strategic research involves selecting and optimizing marketing opportunities.

In order to understand the marketplace, the researcher must define the market in terms of both the geographic unit and the product class and collect data. Data on consumer purchases permit an analyst to determine what was sold and how particular brands performed relative to each other. In addition to sales and price information, causal data assist the analyst in understanding the reason that sales took place. Examples of causal data лг*- newspaper advertising, which indicates the extent м retailer advertising support, display activity, and coupon ads. Another important source of information for understanding the source of sales is television advertising. Measuring the effects of television advertising is relatively difficult owing to the dynamic effects such advertising has on consumer behavior, however.

Once the data are collected, the analyst may choose to evaluate the information by simply looking at the raw series together over time or compute straightforward measures such as market share in order to arrive at a qualitative assessment of market activity. Statistical models might be estimated in order to address issues such as temporary price reduction, effectiveness, the extent of cannibalization due to promotional activity,

3. e. the extent to which sales of one specific product decline as a result of promoting another similar product produced by the same manufacturer, the competitive effects of promotions, differences between markets, competitive pricing points, and long-term price elasticities.

Forecasting is an activity likely to be undertaken by a business economist working in a marketing research department. Conventionally, business economists have been responsible for producing forecasts for the macroeconomic environment or for activity within industry groups. More recently, forecasting movements in mature product categories, in segments within categories, and in brands has increased in importance.

Forecasting the success or failure of new product introductions is also important. New product introductions require a considerable amount of a firms resources, and failure to read the marketplace correctly and early in the development process can lead to costly errors. The development of a new brand begins with the identification of new market opportunities. Consumer survey research directed at identifying the market response to the brand concept and elements of the marketing mix, e.g., pricing, is typically conducted. On the basis of the survey a firm may decide to continue with the development plans for the brand, revise current plans in response to the survey results and retest, or cancel development plans completely. Comparisons may also be made between attitudes toward the new concepts and existing products.

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