Businesses which require marketing information, demographic data and application needs traditionally had to go to several different vendors to get that information. Not only was this procedure costly and time-consuming but coordinating relationships among the data was often difficult.


A number of market research suppliers have solved this problem. One is National Decision Systems, an Encinitas, Calif., company which supplies up-to-date demographic, marketing and site selection information to such industries as retail, insurance, finance, advertising and consumer goods. NDS provides users with in-house marketing databases, software and target marketing tools, all of which are PC-oriented and usually compatible with the user's own software packages. These tools allow the user to report, manipulate, integrate, analyze and present the necessary data for any area of whatever size and shape in the U.S.

A wide-range of information can be retrieved with these databases: demographic data; data on millions of businesses; geo-demographic lifestyle segmentation; consumer expenditure data for major retail categories; employee data by type of business and location and color mapping for zip codes and census tract.

Depending on the needs of the user, these databases can be used for target marketing, customer profiling, site evaluation, demographic analysis, market segmentation, color mapping, business and competitive analysis and sales forecasting, marketing and advertising campaign development and strategic business planning.

NDS offers this extensive list of marketing databases by using laser optic technology. The system is capable of accessing information from all over the country, even for individual neighborhoods.

Aetna Life

Matthew Robertson, research administrator at AETNA Life & Casuality in Connecticut, says the databases are a good source of multiple demographics and computerized mapping. The supplier's system is used to support its target marketing efforts.

"We want to identify where the sizable markets are to penetrate and fine tune the markets we want to reach," says Robertson. "We want to effectively reach the markets that positively assure a sale, whether it's life insurance or auto insurance."

To help one of the 24 national AETNA branch offices identify the growth potential of these markets, the firm uses zip code and census tract information displayed on a map. The map identifies the expected growth rate in that particular area.

The report is then dispersed to field operations who then pass it on to branch offices.

The mapping capability is particularly attractive to AETNA. Prior to purchasing the mapping package, very little mapping was done, partially because the maps had to be purchased on an individual basis from a vendor whose software may not have been compatible with their own.

"We used to have to go to one supplier to do mapping, one for demographics and another for the software package to interface the demographics with the mapping. This meant we were charged each time for every service we got."

Being able to get everything all in one package - raw data, software and should you need it, hardware - was particularly appealing to the firm.

"You don't have to deal with independent vendors to access all the information you need and the supplier also generates the reports. Having an all encompassing package for one price was very important to us. It's like one-stop shopping."

Robertson cites other advantages to the software package:

"We like the idea that the software is PC-oriented and can produce results quickly. The greatest selling point was that it's user-friendly and simple to learn because we're not programmers. This feature has been especially helpful for our branch managers because their time can be used more effectively."

Dunkin' Donuts

The ability to access information quickly and easily are reasons which make the NDS databases appealing to John Rogozenski. Rogozenski, senior manager of market planning at Dunkin' Donuts of America, Inc., in Massachusetts, says the information which is available to them now is the same which the company purchased in "parts" years ago.

"The information has always been available to our us but the process of getting that information was more time-consuming and costly," says Rogozenski.

"First we'd call in our requirements over the telephone to the supplier. It would then take two days for the supplier to build the report and send it to us. Also, much of this information had to be retrieved manually using other reference sources. Now with the demographic databases as well as the shopping, employment and geo-demographic market segmentation databases right at our fingertips, we can get a number of site specific reports quickly."

"Within a matter of minutes," continues Rogozenski, "the computer accesses and formats all the data and then prints it into a hard-copy report. These reports can then be sent out immediately to our field organization."

Rogozenski also likes the idea that the data can be transferred into a standard software package they're currently using.

"Once we create a demographic file for a large geographical area, we can transfer the data into another software package that we use to analyze the data. This eliminates the need to extract the demographic information and type it back into our market data file."

Simultaneous capabilities

In addition to demographic data, Rogozenski says they can generate a number of databases simultaneously that are related to a specific store location.

A Dunkin' Donuts field executive, for example, may call the headquarters for a demographic report on a particular location. A member of the market planning staff locates the site on a map and then uses the system to determine the latitude and longitude coordinates of the location. The location coordinates and various other codes are used to develop a "site record," a fill-in-the-blank report detailing the location and the type of reports to be created.

Other than pure demographic data, Dunkin' Donuts can access a customer targeting and lifestyle segmentation database for a specified radius around a particular area. This database clusters neighborhoods with similar household lifestyles and classifies them into 48 geodemographic market segments. This system helps to identify, quantify and locate the "prime" customers in terms of purchasing, financial and media behavior.

Another report the company uses is a business/employee database. It allows the user to identify the business, competitive and employment mix in the selected area.

Homart

The ability to run reports and do more analysis with a very quick turnaround time has also saved Homart Development Co. time and money. The Chicago-based developer of shopping centers and office buildings can now more quickly look at more potential markets/sites for their shopping malls in any part of the country.

"The NDS system allows us to do preliminary screening very quickly and easily for markets and sites which need to be reviewed," says James Brand, real estate analyst at the firm. "This first pass analysis provides us with verifiable census data for the market areas we define."

Southland

Southland Corp., operator of the largest convenience store chain in the world such as 7-Eleven and Quik Mart, uses NDS databases in combination with other company reports.

The consumer expenditure database produces one-page reports with potential consumer expenditure data for 10 major retail trade categories, shopping center square footage and a retail saturation index for each trade area. These reports accurately identify areas of high and low demand for products and services.

"We use those reports with our known demographics to see if we get a 'fit,' and/or if that location would be a good spot for a particular type of store," says Jeriann King, research systems manager at Southland.

"This base report is just a building block," continues King. "We use that information along with other research data "

The base report is also used for developing promotional pieces for stores that are featuring special products or services.

In-house control

Like the companies previously mentioned, King says developing a report meant having to pull information from a variety of sources. This lack of synergy required a lot of extra effort in putting all of the data together.

"Now all of these random pieces of information - mapping, expenditure reports, shopping center reports - are wrapped up in one interlocking system which can be put into our mainframe and manipulated with other software packages. Having this in-house capability puts us in complete control."