What is Market Intelligence? (MARKINT)
Posted on Tue, Jan 17, 2012
Market Intelligence (MARKINT) is another intelligence discipline that is often confused with the other intelligence disciplines. As surprising as it may sound, it is most often misperceived to be (or be part of) Business Intelligence. We hope our series of Definition Blogs help “put in order” these definitions to help professionals more clearly distinguish between them.
On Wikipedia, Market Intelligence is referred to as a “branch of market research, involving collation and analysis of available and relevant information and data on specific markets. Market intelligence typically involves collation of data from various sources such as company accounts, official statistics, data from trade bodies, interviews with business contacts, and research on consumer attitudes. Whereas market research is often considered a consumer-orientated discipline, market intelligence tends to offer a broader view of markets including business and sector data - such as market-sizing, -segmentation, and -share data. Major market intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Europe include Economist Intelligence Unit, Data monitor, Euro monitor International, and Mintel. Such companies publish market intelligence reports on specific sectors and undertake consultancy projects for individual clients.”
We can now see that Market Intelligence (MARKINT) is actually a rather very different discipline from Business Intelligence, and actually much closer to a pure “market research” activity. It is also often confused with Marketing Intelligence, about which you have read in our previous blog, mainly due to the fact that Market Intelligence (MARKINT) and MI research are often conducted by the same department and people.
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