Design And Implementation Of Computer Based Marketing Information System

INTRODUCTION
The ultimate aim of manufacturers is to produce goods they can sell to users immediately at a profit. An interaction between the producer and the consumer tales place. This interaction is initiated, developed, and managed by producer’s marketing staff. The business function of marketing is concerned with the planning, promotion, and sale of existing products in the existing markets and development of new products and new markets to better serve present and potential customers.
Today marketing performs a vital function in the operation of a business enterprises i.e. (as the primary interface between the manufacturer and the customer). Performing the marketing function in business has become a much difficult assignment because of the dynamic environment of today’s activities which includes:
– Rapidly changing market demands
– Steadily increasing consumers pressure
– Proliferation of new products
– Intensified competition
– Growing government regulations.
Business firms have increasingly turned to the computer to help them perform the vital marketing functions in the face of the rapid changes of today’s environment. Computer, 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. Computer is also used to make business decision involving millions of naira and so saves man from a tremendous amount of time consuming work.
Today computer is used as a control system for controlling marketing costs, diagnosis of poor sales performance. Nevertheless, computer is also used as research system for advertising strategy, pricing strategy and evaluation of advertising expenditure and continuous experiment.
This project work, computer based marketing information system is taken to critically analyse and fashion out ways of implementing computer in Guinness (Nig) Plc.
In this chapter, the researcher established the aim, limitation and purpose of the study, scope, statement of the problems, assumption and definition of terms.

1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The Guinness (Nig) Plc produces and markets over four different brands of alcoholic drinks. These products are sent to the various stored and other branches or deport with the country. The large volume of stock coupled with the vast distribution not work creates some control and management problems.
The operation of the Enugu deport presently is completely manual and lacks some degree of information retrieval facilities. So, obtaining, storing and updating information on each of the items is not an easy task. It takes hours and at times, days, to locate any information acquired due to the volume of files involved.

1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to design a computer based marketing information system for Guinness (Nig) Plc.

1.3 AIMS OF OBJECTIVE
The aim of this research is geared towards finding the procedure employed by the management of Guinness (Nig) Plc in obtaining information from the marketing department and to keep track records of available items when needed, its re-order, and to indicate the product that are not selling in order not to waste money in keeping stock of the quantity of good purchases, sold, and produced.
The project objective is to find solution to the misinformation of the flow of data between the marketing procedure and the management decision, by introducing a computer based marketing information system which will reduce the misinformation, be faster, accurate, reliable and improve output report that will help the management in her plans and decision making.
Because of the above problem highlighted in the old system, it becomes necessary that a new computer based data base management system may be designed to handle the duties.

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is attempted to analyse the marketing concept of the Guinness (Nig) Plc and the ways of improving its effectiveness with the aid of computer.
The study is limited to Guinness (Nig) Plc Enugu depot with research from the marketing department.

1.5 LIMITATIONS
Some problems crop up in the course of carrying out the research. These are:
1. Financial constraint
2. Time factor
3. Insufficient information from the marketing department

1.6 ASSUMPTION
I assumed that computer could be applied only to the areas selected below:\
1. Distribution of products
2. Stock control
Data processing and information retrieval
3. Daily record form

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Some terms are defined as they relate to their particular usage in the study. The terms include: marketing, system, distribution, hardware, software, and information, Guinness.
Marketing: The selling of a particular product to individual that wish
to by.
System: Step we follow to achieve a particular goal. It is also an inter-related parts each of which can function independently.
Distribution: Transferring or dispatching of a particular product into different locations.
Hardware: Physical component that can make up or build up a
computer system.
Software: Programs written to activate the computer system
examples Dos, Window, Lotus etc.
Information: Data that have been interpreted and understood by the
recipient of the message.
Guinness: The establishment that produces gunnies drinks of all
sorts.