While scanning the pages of CNN.com, I found this: 66,207,896 bottles of beer on the wall.

It seems that Anheuser-Busch (proud sponsor of the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series) has been doing its homework in order to increase its market share and understand its customer base.

What they're doing is pretty impressive: If I were to buy a six-pack of Budweiser, the BudNet (stop laughing) would know what I paid, when it was brewed (i.e. 'Born-on Dating'), and whether it was warm or cold. The article points out that Anheuser quickly knows when it loses shelf space (a key component of grocery marketing) and can react accordingly. They also keep track of their competitors in terms of display location, type, and overall number of displays.

This is all well and good and aren't we Mr. McNamara with our numbers; hooray for PERT and TQM and all that, but here's why I (or someone who was a stockholder) care: Anheuser has posted double-digit profit gains for 20 straight quarters since the inception of this effor back in 1997. CNN notes that Coors and Miller have not matched this, so if you're a stockholder of them, either sell and buy Anheuser or figure out a way to get the boards of the two other retailers to intervene and pick management that will do something like this.

As an amateur interested in marketing techniques and management, I'm impressed at the technical prowess demonstrated in creating the BudNet. Likewise, I'm quite impressed with the ability of Anheuser to actually collate the raw data into a useful statistical product. Ain't technology grand?

There's just one thing that bugs me: Today it's the only major brewer to rely heavily on data from Information Resources Inc. -- which tracks every bar-coded product swiped at checkout and performs Nielsen-style consumer surveys -- and to conduct its own monthly surveys to see what beer drinkers buy and why.

I am distinctly concerned about there being a firm which exists to keep track of everything that's bought at a store and scanned on bar code scanners. I don't know why I'm concerned, but I'm rather leery of databases like that being about. Enh. Perhaps I'm paranoid, or else the creepy lotion smell emanating from the next carrel over is affecting my thought process.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:25 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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