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Business firms have Increasingly turned to the computer to help them perform the ITIL marketing functions in the face of the rapid changes of today’s environment. The internet and computers, therefore, because of its speed, memory capacity, versatility and accuracy, has been the catalyst in the development of marketing Information system, which Integrate the Information flow required by the many marketing activities. The internet proliferate business decision involving millions of naira and so saves man from a tremendous amount of time consuming work.
Today, the internet is used as a control system for controlling marketing costs, diagnosis of poor sales performance. Nevertheless, internet Is also used as research system for advertising strategy, pricing strategy and evaluation of advertising expenditure and continuous experiment. This research work is on internet based marketing information system is taken to critically analyze and fashion out ways of Implementing computer based marketing using Hallmark supermarket as case study.
It will most significantly design an up to date computer based marketing system which will involve an interactive system that will draw customers/ clients closer to the management to Hallmark Supermarket. 2. This research is also significant because it will help other students of Benson Adagios University when doing a likely research. 1. 4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of the study is to design a computer based marketing information system for Hallmark supermarket 1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study is attempted to analyze the marketing concept of Hallmark and the ways of improving its effectiveness with the aid of an improved computer based marketing system which will involve an interactive section to enable good communication between clients/customers and the organization 1. 6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The methods employed in this research include; personal observations and interviews with the marketing department of Hallmark where the research was aired out, published articles desk research as well as Journal logs from previous research were also used.
Multiple interviews were planned with each marketing staff in the current field of study in order to provide more in-depth data collection and opportunities for follow-up. The goal is to interview approximately up to 10 marketing personnel who embody a range of identity positions. The researcher will also design a database using; HTML. Myself,Css and Java programming language. We chose Java because Java is a general-purpose, concurrent, class-based, object-oriented computer arrogating language that is specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible.
It is intended to let application developers “write once, run anywhere” (WORD), meaning that code that runs on one platform does not need to be recompiled to run on another. 3. 4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Some problems cropped up in the course of carrying out the research. These are: 1. Financial constraints 2. Time factor 3. Insufficient information from the marketing department in the institution where the research is being carried out CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1 THE ROLE OF COMPUTER BASED MARKETING
Marketing is the process by which goods are sold and purchased. The aim of marketing is to acquire, retain, and satisfy customers. Modern marketing has evolved into a complex and diverse field. In today’s extremely competitive business environment businesses are searching for ways to improve profitability and to formula for success becomes more difficult. One particular thing has greatly aided companies in their quests to accomplish these goals and that is the computer. Some of the roles computers play in these changing marketing trends is as follows.
One role of computers in marketing is inventory control. Computers are now used to keep records of inventory. Inventory keeping allows Inventory control systems maintain information about activities within firms that ensure the delivery of products to customers. The subsystems that perform these functions include sales, manufacturing, warehousing, ordering, and receiving. Software like Simple Inventory, Microsoft Access, Mess Less Inventory Management System and Jump Box facilitate automated inventory management.
It makes it easy to retrieve, save and change stocks, customer details, market niches, and sales. Secondly, computers are used in product and market analysis. Systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about issues relating to marketing products and services are currently done using computers. The goal of this is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior quickly. Computers are able to analyze a greater sample of market niches and make forecasting more precise than the previous ways of getting the study done.
Chime (1990) defined it by saying that “Computers are looked upon as obedient servants who are ever ready to free man from tedious procedures and produce results as compared with human computing time”. Bobolink (1995), defined computer as a machine that is capable of accepting input data, store and process the data based on instructions given by the computer user and in this way produce expected results, generally called output. World Net describes an information system (I.
S) as “a system consisting of the network of all communication channels used within an organization, and includes software and hardware”. It may also be defined as “a system that collects and processes data (information) and provides it to mangers at all levels that use it for decision making, planning, program implementation and control. Marketing deals with customers more than any other business function, where building customer relationship based on customer value and satisfaction is the heart of modern marketing (Armstrong and Kettle, 2010).
Marketing is defined as -??the process of creating, distributing, promoting, and selling the goods, services, and ideas to facilitate satisfying exchange relationship with customers in a dynamic environment] (Pride And Farrell, 2003). According to Kettle and Keller (2009), financial success depend on marketing ability, since finance operations, accounting and other functions will not really matter if here is no demand for the company’s products and services. Moreover, the competition is increasing day by day in the very fast growing global marketing, and marketing is affected by internal and external environment forces (Tate and Alas, 2009).
Due to those changes, marketing management is a necessity which is defined as the art and science of choosing target market, winning customer loyalty, and attracting new customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value (Kettle and Keller, 2012). Marketing managers have to know what to sell, when to sell and how to sell the goods and services and in-order to do so, the managers have to get certain information to be able to make the right marketing decision.
The value of information increases since it becomes one of the most marketing managers have to make marketing decisions such as service to provide, price of the service, promoting the service and the place to sell the service (McLeod and Shell, 2001). This means that the firms need a systematic organization and development of Marketing Information Systems (CABS) which can effectively collect, process and diffuse the necessary information available both to the internal and external levels (Panegyrics, 2006).
Computer Based marketing have been seen as a support system for the firms’ marketing management with its decision making process; in addition, to the management perspective, marketing information system can be an essential tool for the entire market organization. Kettle and Keller (2012), defines the Marketing Information Systems as -??an interacting structure of people, equipment and procedures to gather sort, analyze, evaluate and distribute, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers to improve their marketing planning, implementation, and control”.
An efficient Computer Based racketing (or) Marketing Information System captures the status of and the relevant changes in the marketplace while simultaneously ridding the reporting environment of redundant informational(O’Brien et al, 1995). Computers have a great impact on society in the field of advertising. Many companies prefer to advertise on the Internet than to use other electronic devices like television, radios mobiles and many other electronic devices.
This extensive and persuasive advertising of companies and their products on the computer Internet has a great impact on widening of the market that greatly leads to development of the advertising companies. Another reason why the advent of computers has made greater impact on society is that, it can store huge amounts of data in very small space and stored information is also very easy to organize, manipulate and retrieve as compared to other electronic devices and which eases commerce.
Compared to other electronic devices computers are greatly preferred for their speed; they are extremely fast. They may carry out millions of calculations per second, which eases the work of accountants and auditors. This has stimulated the business environment today. Computers are known to be so accurate that they hardly make any mistakes if correctly used. In fact they are capable of detecting and correcting any mistakes made, hence if a computer is given the right information it will always produce the right output. This introduces the computer jargon garbage in garbage out.
It is for this reason therefore that accountants prefer to use a computer compared to any other electronic device, hence its greater impact on society. Due to wide spread of computer technology, there has been increased efficiency in communication to business sectors for example in banks which connects with its other branches using computer technology. This reduces costs of movement and saves time. 2. . 1 Benefits and Importance of Computer Based marketing One of the very first benefits that a company derives from the use of IT-based Marketing is improvements in the reporting system.
Information processing becomes faster and the company’s management is able to relate pertinent information from different sources within the organization (Van Bragger et al. , 2001). Such information would be almost impossible to bring together in a meaningfully and integrated to integrate inputs from various organizational functions into a holistic and meaningful map of company’s activities, depicting its interactions with suppliers, customers, and so on. As a result of doing this in a timely fashion, decision making is enhanced by relying more on facts than gut-feeling and intuition (Van Bragger et al. 1998; Dateline and Sardine, 1995). This is a major prerequisite for developing realistic and successful marketing plans (McDonald and Payne, 2005), which in turn affects both the company’s marketing planning process and the outcome of this process (Married et al. , 1995; O’Brien et al. , 1995). Such improvements in the marketing planning effort have, among many other consequences, a positive direct effect on marketing operations (Baker, 2001). As companies assimilate the IT-based CABS, they eventually become capable of transforming marketing intelligence into concrete benefits for their customers (Brady et al. 2002), which in turn allows them to improve their marketing operations. CABS gives the management the opportunity to make better decisions by providing a flow of information continuously, such as prices, advertising expenditures, sales, competition, and distribution expenses (Pride and Farrell, 1987). CABS has been a tool for analyzing both internal and external effectiveness of marketing and for controlling marketing activities and environment. CABS can be seen as a natural expansion of traditional market research (Hisser et al. , 1987).
From the planning point of view, analyzed data in CABS are used as a basis for planning, but planning itself is done in other systems and often manually (Dateline, 1995). Implementation and control of these plans is then performed with the help of management and operational CABS. The CABS can enable marketers to collaborate with customers on product designs and requirements. CABS systems are designed to be comprehensive and flexible in nature and to integrate with each other functionally. They are formal, forward looking and essential to the organization’s ability to create competitive advantage.
The CABS is the firm’s -??window on the world and, increasingly, it is the primary customer interface (Harmon, 2003). A CABS can support managers in their marketing decision due to the fact that CABS provide integration between functional departments or divisions (O’Brien et al. , 1995). CABS plays a major role in the international marketing decisions support system. CABS involves data collection, data management, data storing and retrieving, processing data into useful information, and disseminating information to people inside the firm who need the information (Album and Udder, 2008).
An CABS organizes the data that has been available to the firm in order for it to be available when needed. Most of the companies have information processing specialists who are assigned for making standard reports from the available data to help managers make better decisions (Perpetual and McCarthy, 1993). Married et al. (1995) mentioned, “Intelligent Marketing Information System (CUBIC) has the potential to address some of the pressing concerns facing marketers today.
It could alp in analyzing product features with customer data, evaluating channel and pricing options, creating and testing promotion plans, gaining instant feedback on concepts and plans, and moving marketing plans rapidly into production”. According to Harmon (2003), the primary benefits of the Computer Based marketing can be useful in the areas of functional integration, market monitoring, strategy Based marketing enables the coordination of activities within the marketing department and between marketing and other organizational functions. Market Monitoring: Through the use of market research and marketing intelligence activities he Computer Based marketing can enable the identification of emerging market segments, and the monitoring of the market environment for changes in consumer behavior, competitor activities, new technologies, economic conditions and governmental policies. * Strategy Development. The Computer Based marketing provides the information necessary to develop marketing strategy. It supports strategy development for new products, product positioning, marketing, pricing, personal selling, distribution, customer service and partnerships and alliances. Strategy Implementation. The Computer Based marketing provides support for reduce launches, enables the coordination of marketing strategies, and is an integral part of sales force automation (SEA), customer relationship management (CRM), and customer service systems implementations. The Computer Based marketing enables decision makers to more effectively manage the sales force as well as customer relationships. There are three roles for the marketing information system according to Easel (1993), which are data collection, analysis, and dissemination.
The Computer Based marketing must be able to collect relevant data from different sources such as customers, competition, and government. At the mean mime, the Computer Based marketing must be able to analyze the data, and disseminate the data to the management and the departments in the firm (Easel, 1993). The figure (2. 1) explains the role of Computer Based marketing: Fig 2. 1. The Role of Computer Based Marketing Source: www. Smartening. Net 2. 1. 3 Computer Based Marketing Functions According to Alkali (2010). The functions of nay the role of Computer Based Marketing are : 1.
Identify information needs. 2. Gathering information from different sources. 3. Data processing and preparing the information for use. 4. Disseminating information to the decision makers. . Saving and recording the information. 2. 1. 4 Factors helped in the spread of Computer Based Marketing As seen of the benefits and importance of Computer Based Marketing, there are some reasons why Computer Based Marketing is widely spread and used by the organizations. According to Alkali (2010), there are five factors helped in the spread of Computer Based Marketing : 1.
Restrictions on the time allocated for the manager to make decisions and the speed needed to make many decisions. 2. The diversity and complexity of marketing activities and it’s increase in depth. 3. Information revolution ND stunning development in information technology and computers. 4. The growing discontent of consumers due to the lack of adequate knowledge of management of their expectations, needs and desires. 5. Deficit in energy and other raw material resources necessary for the industry. 2. 1. Difficulties of Computer Based Marketing “Setting up a Computer Based Marketing requires a significant investment of time collected in the system. Vast amounts of data can be readily obtained with computerized systems; therefore, businesses sometimes have to prioritize the kind of information that is most useful to them. (Fares et al. , 2003). 2. 1. 6 Designing Computer Based Marketing Companies must design effective marketing information systems that give managers the right information, in the right form, at the right time to help them make better marketing decisions (Armstrong and Kettle, 2007).
There is no one CABS that is suitable for all companies, that is the reason why the companies design their system on a way that will best fit the needs. According to Alkali (2010), there are some factors that have to be taken in consideration when building the CABS. These factors are: 1. How to reach and get the needed data? 2. A continuous flow of information, and input it in the system in a timely fashion. 3. The ability to provide the reports to the management in a way that will help in the decision making process. 4.
The system must be flexible, which means that the system will be able to have some modifications whenever needed. 5. The system designer should be one of the decision makers in the firm. 2. 2 Components of Computer Based Marketing System 2. 2. 1 Technology The new technology is surrounding us in all aspects of life nowadays. The computers are one major technological innovation that is helping most of the people. The people SE it to communicate, the students use them to learn and the firms use them to store and analyze information. The technology has changed over the years and will continue to change.
Information technology is a term that generally covers the harnessing of electronic technology for the information needs of a business at all levels ( Today, Asana, and Lori, 1999). 2. 2. 2 Database Marketing -??The companies organize their information into customer, product and salesperson databases, and then combine their data” (Kettle, 2012). The decision makers in the firms should receive these data in a timely fashion in-order to make better decisions. The analysts can mine the data to get information about neglected customer segments, recent customers, and other useful information.
The new technology made easier for the firms to keep track of millions of customers, and millions of transactions easily and more efficient (Fares et al. , 2003). A marketing database, therefore, can be described as a collection of data, such as customers’ names, addresses and purchases, which provides marketers with information that enables them to make better decisions in working toward accomplishing the company’s objectives (Schoenberg et al. , 1997). All database marketing starts with customer information that is organized into a single, retrievable marketing database.
The database is usually compiled from internal sources such as orders, catalog inquiries, e-mail requests for information, trade show leads, warranty cards, and other promotional efforts. Database marketing takes advantage of information in the marketing database to develop and implement action plans to enhance marketing results. CHAPTER THREE 3. 1 INTRODUCTION Systems analysis and Systems design: System design is the process of planning a new business system or one to replace or complement an existing system.
But before this planning can be done, we must thoroughly understand the old system and determine how computer based system can best be used to make its operation more effective. System analysis, then, is the process of gathering and interpreting facts, diagnosing problems, and using the information to recommend improvements to the system. Systems analysts do more than solve current problems. They are frequently called upon to help handle the planned expansion of a business. In the case of the computer based marketing, the systems study is future oriented, since there is already an existing system.
Analysts assess as carefully as possible what the future needs of the business will be and what changes should be considered to meet these needs. In this instance and in most others, analysts may recommend alternatives for improving the situation. Usually more than one strategy is possible. Once this decision is made, a plan is developed to implement the recommendation. The plan includes all systems design features, such as new data capture needs, file specifications, operating procedures, equipment and personnel needs.
The systems design is like the blueprint for a building: it specifies all the features that are to be in he finished product. 3. 2 ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM The idea of storing customer data in electronic formats to use them for database- marketing purposes has been around for decades, the computer based marketing systems available in the present system shows a comprehensive history of client behavior on-screen while the business is transacting with each individual, producing thus real-time business intelligence for the company.
This ability enables what is called one-to-one marketing or personalization. The present system uses this to store data not only for direct marketing purposes but to manage the complete relationship tit individual customer contacts and to develop more customized product and service offerings. However, a combination of CRM, to an extent, content management and business intelligence tools are making delivery of personalized information a reality. 3. 3 PROBLEMS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM The present system has certain disadvantage because; the primary medium for reaching their clients is via E-mail addresses.
Practically, potential customers usually ignore these notifications sent directly to E-mail due to the process it entails to access their E-mail account. The present system may not be able to reach potential customers during promotional sales, I. E the period of promotional sales might already be over by the time they check their E-mail. Unlike getting these messages directly to your mobile phone. 3. 4 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION During the research work, data needed for the project will be gathered from various sources.
In gathering and collecting necessary data and information needed for system analysis, two major fact-finding techniques will be used in this work and they are: (a) Primary Source This refers to the sources of collecting original data in which the researcher made SE of empirical approach such as personal interview with resource persons in the current field of study. (b) Secondary Source this current study, Journal, Newspapers, Library source and Internet downloads. The data collected from this means have been covered in literature review in the chapter two of the project. . 4. 1 Oral Interview This will be done between the researcher and the management staff of Hallmark. Also various departmental heads will be interviewed. Reliable facts were gotten will be based on the questions posed to the staff by the researcher. 3. 5 OBJECTIVES OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM The objective of the existing system is to enable potential customers shop online at their own convenience, also view products and services offered through other social networks like, faceable, twitter and namespace.
Customers who view their pages from these social networks or directly from their official website can learn about their services and mode of delivery. Their website was also designed to enable customers view their products and at the same time shop online. 3. 6 FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM 1. Mobile Compatibility As more and more people use their mobile phones to access the Internet, creating a bile optimized website has become a necessity. 2. Accessible to All Users A user-friendly website should also be accessible to everyone including disabled or the elderly. These users typically use screen-readers to access the Internet.
The 508 website accessibility guidelines highlights simple web design techniques that can be applied to make sure our database can be accessed easily on-screen readers, making it available to a larger audience. 3. Well Planned Information Architecture How information is organized and presented on every website is vital for good usability. However, it is often neglected. It has become even more important today as websites offer a wide range of information and resources to attract their target market. Plan sections and categories carefully and present information in a way that it is easy for users to find.
We think from the perspective of our users. 3 Fast Load Times Nothing is more annoying for website visitors than a website that takes long to load. In fact, slow speed is one of the main reasons why visitors leave a website. Making sure your website loads within 4 to 6 seconds is important for good usability. It also affects search engine ranking. Customer expectations have changed significantly in cent years. A typical customer will only wait for a few seconds for your page to load, after which they will most likely navigate away to a competitor’s site never to visit again. Browser Consistency Browser compatibility can be easily overlooked. Even the websites of some of the most reputable companies suffer from this problem due to neglect. This is bad for branding and has a negative effect on website usability. Our system behaves consistently across all major browsers such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firebox, Safari and Opera. Simple things like this set a professionally designed website apart from the rest. Effective Navigation Good navigation is one of the most important aspects of website usability.
Simple HTML or JavaScript menus tend to work best and appear consistent on all browsers used to create slides on our home page. 6 Linked to Social Networks We believe in this present age, social networks are the largest interactive websites you can market your goods and services, this gives you an edge in online marketing. 3. 7 DESIGN OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM System design is the first stage which the basic approach to solving the problem is selected. 1. Preliminary or General Design: In the preliminary or general design, the eaters of the new system are specified.
The cost of implementing these features and benefits to be derived are estimated. 2. Structured Detailed Design: In the detailed design stage, computer oriented work begins in earnest. At this stage, the design of the system becomes more structured. Structured design is a blue print of a computer system solution to a given problem having the same components and inter-relationships among the same components as the original problem. Input, databases, forms, codification schemes and processing specifications are drawn up in details.