In this age of intense competition and globalization, firms should have an effective management information system to manage the vast information and data about consumers and their product preferences. With a well-programmed MIS, firms can easily reach out to customers and collect, understand, and assess external and internal information about their products.
The age of the information revolution has put much importance on the information. The internet is one medium where firms can collect customer information, in particular customer behavior and preferences about products. Information is not anymore an abstract thing to enhance or influence a product; it is a product by itself. In formulating and implementing strategies, firms use all possible information about customers and other marketing mix variables to gain a competitive advantage. Customer information can be stored in databases and retrieved later, for use in planning and product promotion, or in informing suppliers of what customers need (Reynolds, 2010).
All these necessitate a good information system; the internet is one effective tool for this. Big and small firms now use online marketing to affect sales. This shortens the time when customers make orders to the time the product reaches the hands of the customers. The internet also provides easy and direct communications between and among suppliers and other channels of the supply chain.
References
Reynolds, G. (2010). Information technology management. Singapore: Cengage Learning.