Marketing information systems gather, analyze, and distribute market data to aid marketing decisions. They represent a balance between manager needs and economic feasibility. MKIS have four main components: marketing control, planning, research, and decision support systems. MKIS are organized with information flowing from production to customers and back to the company through manufacturers.
Marketing research systematically studies marketing problems to inform solutions. It became popular in the 1950s while MKIS emerged in the 1960s using computers. Research is retrospective while MKIS is continuous. Both aim to aid decision-making but MKIS has a broader scope.