Marketing science is a field that approaches

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

''—''the understanding of customer needs, and the development of approaches by which they might be fulfilled''—''predominantly through

scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...

s, rather than through tools and techniques common with research in

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. The field of marketing science, in the pursuit of "truths" in marketing, is related to, but more general than

marketing research Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative data, qualitative and quantitative data, quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how chan ...

, which is oriented towards a specific product, service or campaign. The earliest published works in Marketing Science are by Frank Bass and John Little . The two are considered to be the founders of the field of Marketing Science. Before marketing science was formally labeled, its activity appeared as

management science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

within the marketing framework. The interaction between academics and practitioners in marketing science dates back to 1961, with the founding of the

Marketing Science Institute The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) is a corporate-membership-based organization. MSI was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MSI financially supports academic research on topics of importance to business performanc ...

. Interest in marketing science as a field grew in the late 1980s and early 1990s as electronic

point-of-sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...

data grew and

barcode reader A barcode reader or barcode scanner is an optical scanner that can read printed barcodes and send the data they contain to computer. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens, and a light sensor for translating optical impul ...

s led to a "marketing

information revolution The Information Age is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology. ...

". Before conferences were organized with a "marketing science" label, four meetings were convened as "Market Measurement and Analysis" conferences from 1979 to 1982, sponsored by The Institute of Management Sciences and the Operations Research Society of America.Dick R. Wittink 2001. "Market Measurement and Analysis: The First ‘Marketing Science’ Conference." Marketing Science 20 (4): 349–356. {{doi, 10.1287/mksc.20.4.349.9758. The first officially labeled Marketing Science Conference was hosted by the School of Management at UCLA in 1983.

Marketing science and Big Data

The marketing profession has long relied on data. But as the data flood gets bigger, progressive marketers are turning to

big data Big data primarily refers to data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data processing, data-processing application software, software. Data with many entries (rows) offer greater statistical power, while data with ...

analysis methods as well as systematic observation, testing and measurement to study broad

behavioral pattern In software engineering, behavioral design patterns are design patterns that identify common communication patterns among objects. By doing so, these patterns increase flexibility in carrying out communication. Design patterns Examples of this t ...

drill down Data drilling (also drilldown) refers to any of various operations and transformations on tabular, relational, and multidimensional data. The term has widespread use in various contexts, but is primarily associated with specialized software design ...

from the aggregate to the individual and produce new insights that improve business outcomes.

References

Management theory Applied statistics Marketing analytics