BudNet: Making Customer Information the Lifeblood of the
Organization
CONDUCTING MARKETING RESEARCH
AND FORECASTING DEMAND
GROUP 3 - MEMBERS
My M987Z247
FernandoM987Z257
Eli M987Z254
Loan –
M987Z234
Ocha M987Z212
Joice M987Z224
COMPANY OVERVIEWS

In 1997, Anheuser started using BudNet system to
collect the consumer data. The result was
extensive and finely-tuned consumer and market
data network.

Works hand-in-hand with distributors both
wholesalers and store retailers; e.g. 7-eleven, Buy
N Save, liquor marts and restaurants to collect
useful information of consumer.

Distributors compile information and transmit it
daily to Anheuser corporate headquarters.
COMPANY OVERVIEWS
•
Sales reps. Collect new orders and rack competitors’
marketing efforts on PDAs and laptops.
•
Data from BudNet can be reveals trends by city, social
class, holiday activities, etc.
•
Since 1876, Market Share: 50%
•
Annual Revenue: $16 billion USD
•
Bought in 2008 by InBev for US$52 billion.
WHAT IS BUDNET?


BudNet is widely
considered to be the
most advanced, thorough
consumer gather system
in the marketing industry.
A system that uses
aspects from technology,
accounting, and
inventory in order to
create the most accurate
MIS possible
WHAT IS BUDNET? (CONT’D)


A marketing system that
accurately pinpoints who
is buying their products,
and from where. Then,
the marketing becomes
persuasive; thus
increasing sales.
The MIS network that
has increased sales and
allowing Anheuser-Bush
to be the market-leader
in their industry
THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS
Defining the Problem and the Research Objectives
Develop Research Plan
Collect the Information
Analyze the Information
Present the Findings
Make the Decisions
STEP DEFINING THE PROBLEM AND
THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES1:

Research Objectives
Knowing customers
buying patterns
and competitor’s
product position
Having an accurate
information for
decision making of
promotion strategy
To encourage sales
and to extend
market share
STEP 2:
DEVELOP RESEARCH PLAN

Data Sources
Data
Types
Primary
data
Variables
Numbers of sales
(and also providing
sales per location);
consumers tendency;
competitor’s product,
prices, and display.
Secondary Consumers
data
tendency (Nielsenstyle);
demographical data
Data Collection
Methods
Sources
Survey by working hand- Distributors that
in-hand with
directly gathering
distributors to collected store-level data.
store-level data.
Gathering additional
data from another
sources .
Information
Resources, Inc.;
U.S. Census.
STEP 2:
DEVELOP RESEARCH PLAN

Research Approaches
Research Method
Technical Implementation
Observation
Direct observation to the stores to gathering
information not only about own brands but also
about the competitor.
Survey Research
Monthly surveys to see what & why beer drinkers
buy.
Behavioral Data Analysis
Forecasting the trends by using another data
sources (secondary data), and crossing it with storelevel data to reveal more specific picture of the
market.
STEP 3:
COLLECT THE INFORMATION
Primary
Data
Information
Secondary
Data
Direct Observation:
1. Find out the customer’s buying
patterns (what, where, when, and why )
and their behavior
2. Works hand-in-hand with distributors
both wholesalers and store retailers e.g.
7-eleven, Buy N Save, liquor marts and
restaurants to collect useful information
of consumers.
Monitoring Competitor:
1. Buy and analyze competitors product
2. Monitor they sales (walks the
competitors store)
3. Check for new patents (products,
prices, and displays)
4. Examine various types of physical
evidence
Primary Data
Survey:
1. Monthly surveys to see what & why
beer drinkers buy
2. Using interactive website to make
people interested in participate and fill
the questionnaires
Experiment:
Using different combination of
marketing-mix variables (displays,
discounts, and promotions) to knows
which combination has the strongest
effect on sales or profitability
SECONDARY DATA
Internal Sources:
Collected from people inside of
the company (executives,
engineers, scientists, purchasing
agents, and sales forces).
Government sources:
1. U.S census data to figure out the
demographic and economic situation .
2. U.S. Security and Exchange
commission’s and U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office database to provides
financial information on public
competitors
Book and Periodical Sources:
Industry specific newspapers ,
magazines, books, etc.
Commercial (Online) Sources:
Information Resources, Inc, Dialog,
Hoover’s, DataStar, LexisNexis,
Dow Jones News Retrieval,
ProQuest, and Dun&Bradstreet’s .
STEPS 4:
ANALYZE THE INFORMATION
Analyzing the information in order to:
To figure out the
current market
situation
To forecast the
future market
situation
STEP 5:
PRESENT THE FINDINGS

The information gathered and analyzed was
sent directly to BUDNET data network, which
provides information about the market
preferences, inventory, packaging types used
by competitors, new products, the brand
space in the shelves, discounts, promotions,
etc.

In conjunction with U.S. census and other
sources of additional data was used by
managers to develop marketing campaigns
with a local precision never seen before (city,
neighborhood, holidays, and even store)
STEP 6:
MAKE THE DECISIONS
•
Anheuser through the utilization of budnet
was able to identify the specific needs of
their customers, and most important moves
made by its competitors.
•
This management tool gave to Anheuser a
big advantage in the beer market, because
with the available data the company could
be constantly changing
its marketing
strategy, design new products directed at
each segment of its market and anticipate
the movements of their competitors.
SUMMARY
Marketing research is of the important tasks to
conduct decision making and planning.
 By market research, companies can have a
picture of market situation in current and in the
future time.
 By understanding market situation, the
company could decide which is the strongest
strategy that would encourage its company’s
objectives.

CONCLUSIONS
The market information plays a crucial role in
any organization for the development and
application of their marketing strategies.
 Like we can see on the budNet example, the
market information system must be focused on
two points:

 The
first is referred to obtain valuable information
for the company and
 the second about protecting the valuable
company’s information from its competitors
REFERENCE

Kotler, et al. (2006), Marketing Management,
Pearson, 12th Edition

Ferrell, et al. (2008), Marketing Strategy,
Thomson, 4th Edition