Secondary Information, Syndicated Data and Standardized Services

Class Objectives:
Learn about secondary information and see some examples
Become knowledgeable on data mining
Understand syndicated data
Appreciate how standardized services operate
See pros and cons of these information types
Secondary Data Sources

Data in a standard format that is freely available

Internal Data (Proprietary)

Internal Databases (Data mining)
Other types (reports, etc.)
External Data (Not proprietary)
External databases (text, numerical, etc.)
Published sources

Databases & Data Mining

Structure of a marketing database

A
1
2
3
4

-basic database (aka panel data)

A=demographics, B=lifestyle, C=possessions, D=Etc..

Etc.

How data mining works

-data mining software

-looking for associations, relationships, etc..

Market Basket Analysis

-market basket analysis (what combination of goods such as dip & chips, fruits and juice)
-product positioning (close apart)
-cross selling (Got soda? Get chips!)
-promotions (discount 1, sell more of all)

Databases & Data Mining

Structure of a marketing database
Scanner database

Week
1

Week
2

Wee
k3

Week
4

Week
5

Week
6

Coke

Coke

Coke

Coke

Pepsi

Coke

-Person changed to Pepsi but went back to Coke. This could have been because of a Pepsi
promo, sudden decision to become price conscious, or they wanted to experiment.
Choice modeling (Brand choice pattern such as 4 Cokes in a row/see effects of promotion, price
cuts, etc.)

Secondary Data
U.S. Census

American FactFinder

SecondaryData.com

Pros & Cons of Secondary Data & Databases

Advantages:

-quick
-inexpensive
-readily available

Disadvantages:

Reporting units may not fit

o Ex. Census tracts v. target market
Measurement units may not work
o Ex. Age ranges versus target market range
Definitions may not match up
o Ex. Income v. wealth
Might be out of date

Standardized Services - a standardized method of data collection sold to clients

Standardized Services Examples
J.D. Power (Benchmarking studies; Mystery shopping)

Syndicated Data (aka: Standardized Data)

Definition: a type of data where the data collected and/or the data collection method are the same
(or standardized) for all users
Syndicated data (aka standardized data) data in a standard format and sold to subscribers
Standardized service a standardized method of data collection sold to clients
Syndicated Data Examples
Nielsen Video
Claritas Prizm

VALS

Take the VALS survey.

Pros & Cons of Standardized Data & Services
Advantages

Shared costs: no one subscriber pays for the entire service, so the price per subscriber is
manageable
Data quality is very high
Data disseminated very quickly (usually downloaded)
Research company has a great deal of experience in this data or data collection

Disadvantages

Standardized, no customized, so may not fit perfectly the buyers situation

Buyers have very little or no control over what data is collected and how
Buyers might have to commit to long-term contracts with providers
Because all firms buy the data, there is no strategic advantage to it