Case study: Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply

The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply supports individuals and organisations engaged in purchasing and supply chain management. It promotes and develops high standards of professional skill, ability and integrity among its membership. CIPS assists the profession in the UK and across the globe.

CIPS objectives were to improve understanding of membership and customers in the UK and beyond:

• Better association with organisations
• Greater involvement with leaders of those organisations
• Growth of UK membership
• Greater concentration on membership renewal

Solution

A MarketGEM project was undertaken, a combination of database strategy, analytics and market research. MarketGEM not only delivers the 'who, what and when' but answers the question 'why' customers behave as they do.

The first task was to provide a Business Opportunity Assessment:

• Assimilate business processes and IT systems
• Audit and appraise CRM, Sales and Campaign and Website data
• Build membership and customer segmentation
• Identify 'gaps' and generate target subjects for bespoke market research
• Analysis workshop with CIPS management

The second stage was to conduct on-line market research:

• Current members
• Past members
• Non-members (customers)

The third stage was data fusion:

• The outcome of the UK research was fused into the analysis database
• Key findings extrapolated against appropriate records
• The enriched data was then subject to a second round of analysis; filling in the 'gaps' of knowledge
• Analysis workshop with CIPS management

NB. Research was conducted following the codes of the Market Research Society.

Benefits

The results identified:

• How current members, resigned members and customers view the institute, its products and services
• How these views influence purchase decisions and ultimately;
• How they, as a professional membership organisation, measure up to those expectations
  

Armed with this knowledge CIPS is ensuring their marketing strategy addresses:

• Any issues to pre-empt churn
• Increase business with existing members and customers
• Support new business development

Find out more about The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply