Geomarketing and the locational problem question in the marketing studies

Abstract

Objective:  This research seeks to reveal the real interest of the marketing researchers by the geomarketing issue, and to show how methodological aspects (implications of locational methods) and theoretical (conceptual differences) act in the stagnation and the low participation of the scientific production of studies of geomarketing. Method: Data collection through a questionnaire, systematic literature review, and demographic database, treated by statistical (t-test/regression) and locational methods. Main results: Marketing researchers’ interests for the locational issue are not reflected in scientific production volume. Few researchers of locational methods explore the implications of those methods on the marketing problem results. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the theoretical linkage of research to the seminal structure of marketing (regional school) are elements that make geomarketing research difficult, and as possible justifications for the low representativeness of geomarketing in the areas of business (administration and marketing). Theoretical/Methodological Contributions: Locational methods can be reproduced without the use of GIS. The implications associated with locational methods can be used as solution drivers for each research problem. The problems of geomarketing can be linked to the theory of marketing, provided that the place presents itself as an element of connection with the market and its dynamics, and not as disconnected object of consumer behavior. Originality/Relevance: The research shows how to avoid the inconsistent application of techniques, concepts, and geographical labels in the various empirical domains of regional marketing, a relevant point to increase the number of geomarketing researches by marketing researchers, in developing countries such as Brazil.