This paper is a discussion in broad terms of the first two of these areas and in particular, the interaction between the two. Research data is one of the key inputs of the marketing planning process. However as with advertising or below-the-line promotion, its actual profit contribution is difficult to determine. Historically, expenditure on market research, has tended to be budgeted for, similarly to advertising, as a revenue expense. Such a placement of research expenditure within the accounting framework, is largely responsible for the size of the budgets set and the way in which they are spent.
The advertiser's concern is to maximize the profitability of his advertising investment. Television tine slot selection several months before actual airing of a campaign is made difficult and uncertain due to quick fluctuations in the audiences. This first problem is further compounded by the fact that there often exists a tine lapse between TV viewing surveys and the availability of the results. With the help of the YOUNG & RUBICAM advertising agency, we have developed a TV viewing survey and forecast method in order to minimize those uncertainties. This method aims at better identifying the real viewing audience at the moment an advertising spot is broadcast.
The advertiser's concern is to maximize the profitability of his advertising investment. Television tine slot selection several months before actual airing of a campaign is made difficult and uncertain due to quick fluctuations in the audiences. This first problem is further compounded by the fact that there often exists a tine lapse between TV viewing surveys and the availability of the results. With the help of the YOUNG & RUBICAM advertising agency, we have developed a TV viewing survey and forecast method in order to minimize those uncertainties. This method aims at better identifying the real viewing audience at the moment an advertising spot is broadcast.
Without wishing to be openly critical of current methods of research analysis I would like to suggest that data is often accepted at face value because it is thought to be uneconomical or inconvenient to subject the data to more critical testing. This paper suggests that the problem is either an historical one in that quick stabs at the computer used to be very expensive, or that the users are a little wary or even ignorant of the benefits or possibilities of interactive computing. By putting interactive survey analysis into perspective I hope merely to generate some reappraisal of analysis methods. By illustrating ways in which terminals can be used profitably I hope to generate the need for a reappraisal.
Some observers have hypothesised that the future growth of the drug industry will be poor; that the drug industry will become the chemical industry of the 1950s ; that the Golden Age is over. We agree that the Golden Age is over, but believe, nevertheless, that the world drug industry will continue to be growing and profitable. We believe that price increases on old products will be more important, while the growth rate of packs and the effect of upgrading may be less so. Profit margins of the industry are largely determined by volume growth, new products, productivity increases, and rates of inflation. We forecast that European inflation will moderate from its recent average of 13% per year. Should it return to the area of 5% per year, we believe that European industry profit margins can be maintained.
B.A.S.E. - Business Assessment Studies and Evaluation - is a market research based training package for improving retail outlet marketing and management skills for the profit of both the retailer and his suppliers. The system was developed to reinforce the links between an industrial company and its independent retailers and to improve the management and profitability of outlets to the mutual advantage of both the retailer and the supplier. In view of the success achieved, the author believes that the system has potential applications in other industries which are concerned and, to some extent, directly involved with the effectiveness of their outlets.
This paper has two parts: firstly, a general consideration of the theoretical and conceptual problems which researchers need to overcome if they are to provide retail management with useful findings in the major problem area of product range and line assortment selection; secondly, a report on a cross-sectional study of the responsiveness of 55 product groups to varying amounts of shelf space in British supermarkets.
Many factors have influenced magazine publishing and circulation strategies, particularly the emergence of commercial television. These have lead to the development of special interest publications and an emphasis on selective circulation marketing. Formerly regarded as primarily a physical distribution function, circulation management is now emerging as a real marketing opportunity and, as such, it is expected to "sell" magazines to the "right" reader and to make a contribution to profits. The application of the computer to subscription maintenance and sales has probably had the greatest single impact on circulation management. Presently under development is an "information system" capable of collecting, analyzing, and reporting the principal elements that influence subscription sales profitability. Several computer models have been constructed to assist in the analysis of the multitude of interrelated variables impacting optimum circulation marketing. One of these is a model of the complete publishing operation incorporating components for sales, manufacturing, and distribution. This system is used to evaluate the long-term financial impact of alternative publishing opportunities under varying constraints.
The paper, drawing on the experience of over thirty John Gordon Outlet Studies in various European retail situations, proposes that in order to maximise shelf sales and profitability a retailer must: 1. Examine current shelf profitability, taking into account not only sales and gross margins, but also the direct cost of achieving these sales. The result can then be expressed as Direct Product Profit per linear or cubic shelf meter, and can be used for comparisons between, or within, different sections of the store. 2. Direct Product Profit measurements, however, reflect solely the current shelf situation in the retailer's outlets. They do not take into account the potential based on outside marketing factors. This paper outlines how such a marketing audit should be carried out, linked to a total strategy for the section, and how the results influence the final layout plan of the section. The Outlet Marketing approach is illustrated from a U.K. Case Study on Health and Beauty Aids in Supermarkets carried out on behalf of a group of sponsoring manufacturers.
The high price of real estate today and the profit potential that lies in developing well-conceived retail developments, has encouraged many far-sighted and dynamic retailers to enter the field of real estate development. From the major tenant's point of view, such an undertaking can be financially interesting, since generally the relationship between the return and investment is the most advantageous at the time the major tenant lease is signed. Much of the preliminary development work is within the competence of an experienced retail organisation and the trend towards retailer-developers is likely to become more marked in future years.
Despite an increasing concern for marketing among industrial firms, many executives are disenchanted with their firm's marketing efforts and remain somewhat reluctant to undertake expensive market research. How much of this disenchantment is due to mutual misunderstandings by the client and the research organisation as to the specificity of industrial marketing and the contribution of marketing research to industrial management? In order to help answer this question, the paper indicates how much the time lag in extending marketing research to industrial markets may be explained through - the specific responsibilities of marketing in industrial firms, - the inappropriateness of data collection and processing methods used in industrial markets, - the marketing myopia of research organisations. The paper then presents some of the most immediate challenges of industrial marketing research: real understanding of the concept by its clients, transformation of market data into marketing information, contribution of such information to strategic planning, etc... Finally, a "new product offering" is suggested to the market research organisations, which may help them in contributing to the growth of both the profitability and the research budgets of their "new clients".
COSMOS is a man/machine sales area control system as well as for products within the lines of produce distribution chains. In compliance with the modern concept of a management system, man and the computer form a whole and complete each other. The computer is used to manage the process large volumes of data regarding sales and profits covering each product in each store . It digests such data and prepares, by means of an appropriate programming, recommendations which will be proposed to the managers of the chain - store managers, buyers, merchandisers. To this day, the system has shown two main qualities: realism, profitability.