Anheuser Busch Marketing Case Analysis
Anheuser Busch Marketing Case Analysis
“We happen to be a marketing company that sells beer.”- William Hickman, Vice President and CIO of Anhesuer-Busch (Field, 2000)
Introduction
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For years, companies have been relying on market research, data tracking, and data warehousing to help create marketing strategies. Marketing managers rely on this data to spot opportunities and problems and try to stay ahead of the competition.
Anheuser-Busch (AB) could arguably be called the “King of Data Collection” and much of the organization’s recent success can be credited back to their emphasis on data gathering and data sharing. AB is now the leader in the alcoholic beverages industry with 48.4% of all beer sales in America in 2006 (www.anheuser-busch.com).
The secret to their superior data mining and collection is BudNET, an online system that connects wholesalers, retailers, and other business partners by allowing them to gather data on sales, products, customers, and competitors. In addition, the advanced technology allows AB to link to other data sources which include portable transaction computers carried by delivery personnel and bar code scan information. The company pioneered this new high-tech strategy and positive results are driving competitors to re-evaluate their own strategies.
Key Success Factors
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Getting wholesalers and retailers to agree to collect the data at the front lines
The success of AB’s BudNET could greatly be attributed to the organization focusing on fine-grain data and quick distribution of results. The best way for them to capture the detailed information was to request the responsibility be handed over to the front line, delivery people, wholesalers, and retailers. The buy-in from the wholesalers and retailers was critical to implementing the process changes, and became effortless when the distributors would benefit from access to this data as
“We happen to be a marketing company that sells beer.”- William Hickman, Vice President and CIO of Anhesuer-Busch (Field, 2000)
Introduction
________________________________________
For years, companies have been relying on market research, data tracking, and data warehousing to help create marketing strategies. Marketing managers rely on this data to spot opportunities and problems and try to stay ahead of the competition.
Anheuser-Busch (AB) could arguably be called the “King of Data Collection” and much of the organization’s recent success can be credited back to their emphasis on data gathering and data sharing. AB is now the leader in the alcoholic beverages industry with 48.4% of all beer sales in America in 2006 (www.anheuser-busch.com).
The secret to their superior data mining and collection is BudNET, an online system that connects wholesalers, retailers, and other business partners by allowing them to gather data on sales, products, customers, and competitors. In addition, the advanced technology allows AB to link to other data sources which include portable transaction computers carried by delivery personnel and bar code scan information. The company pioneered this new high-tech strategy and positive results are driving competitors to re-evaluate their own strategies.
Key Success Factors
________________________________________
Getting wholesalers and retailers to agree to collect the data at the front lines
The success of AB’s BudNET could greatly be attributed to the organization focusing on fine-grain data and quick distribution of results. The best way for them to capture the detailed information was to request the responsibility be handed over to the front line, delivery people, wholesalers, and retailers. The buy-in from the wholesalers and retailers was critical to implementing the process changes, and became effortless when the distributors would benefit from access to this data as
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