Question

Topic: Career/Training

Use Of Marketing Statistic Tools In Fmcg Sector

Posted by Anonymous on 1/1/2010 at 12:45 AM ET 250 Points
I have just graduated from university and will be starting my career in a multinational FMCG manufacturer in a 2 year management trainee program in the marketing stream.

I have been informed that marketing MT's will work in three main areas:
1) branding
2) consumer research
3) trade marketing

I would like the advice of anyone who has completed/undergoing these sort of programs, or anyone else who works in the FMCG sector on the extent that relevant people in the organisation utilise statistical modeling tools eg ANOVA, regression analysis, conducting t-tests, null hypothesis, etc.

Is it normal practice for any or certain in house staff to understand and utilise these concepts, or rather, are they contracted to specialist marketing research agencies?

Is it enough for managers and people in the organisation to simply interpret a finalised report?

The reason is that marketing research statistics was one marketing course at uni I really didn't grasp and sort of cruised through. I understand the basics of the concepts, however I feel I would struggle if I had to do the actual data analysis work.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 1/1/2010 at 3:08 PM Accepted
    Consumer goods marketers do often have some knowledge of the statistical techniques you've mentioned. However, the time and resource demands of their jobs often requires them to get outside help in executing any studies or performing analysis. It's important for consumer goods marketers to know the basics so that they can question interpretation and understand what it will mean in terms of implementation, but frequently they do rely upon outside help. It would probably serve you well to brush up on these skills so that you can ask good questions and draw educated interpretations of any data analysis conducted for you. Good luck!
  • Posted on 1/1/2010 at 5:33 PM Accepted
    jlevin is right. You probably don't want to spend your time on detailed analysis, but you should understand it well enough that you COULD if you had to. Only that way will you truly understand the meaning and the limitations of what your outside experts are telling you.

    To this day I am constantly reminded of the importance of understanding the techniques available to a good analyst and being able to discuss alternatives and make a meaningful contribution to decisions about methodology.

    It would be a mistake to gloss over this just because you didn't quite get it when you were a student. Sooner or later it will catch up to you.
  • Posted on 1/2/2010 at 2:37 AM Author
    Great, that is probably what I expected as well. However what about the marketing research dept? I will get a rotation there, and surely they're whole job is not just contracting with research agencies? Is it likely for big FMCG'ers to have in house research staff?
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