Loyalty, the Internet and the weather: the changing nature of marketing information systems? Available to Purchase

The use of IT in the customer service transaction has revolutionised the potential for data collection associated with customers and transactions. Two key tools in this transformation are loyalty cards and electronic or e‐shopping over the Internet. How can the customer and transaction data collected through these arenas be fully utilised? This article reviews the development of the significance of customer databases in marketing. It then considers the fundamental marketing questions, and contributions of the different types of marketing information systems. Loyalty cards and e‐shopping can be used to provide answers to some of the fundamental marketing questions, and also to provide input to each of the different types of marketing information systems. Loyalty cards are part of a service experience which is facilitated by information technology, whereas in e‐shopping the human service agent is supplanted by the computer. In both contexts, data may be gathered as part of the transaction. These data can be used to inform operational, tactical and strategic decision making, and, in general, the development of the relationship with the customer.