Marketing in the Australian Food Industry: The Information Base

Abstract

Marketing staff in Australian food manufacturing firms were questioned on use of and expenditure on advertising and marketing information services, on the sources from which they derive new ideas, and on favoured strategies for different aspects of their work. The thirty replies are presented in the framework of marketing theory and of Australian food marketing practice. Some clear contrasts arise between high and low information users though the sample is too small to reveal systematic variations according to size of firm, type of industry, etc. The most striking findings are the high value placed by the marketers on product movement data, the difficulty in getting expenditure data, and the lack of use of formal external information sources, especially the online databases, whether those specialising in marketing data or those with demographic and general economic data of relevance.