A marketing information system is a management information system designed to support marketing decision making.

Jobber (2007) defines it as a "system in which marketing data is formally gathered, stored, analysed and distributed to managers in accordance with their informational needs on a regular basis."

Kotler, et al. (2006) define it more broadly as "people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers."

A formal MkIS can be of great benefit to any organization whether profit making or non profit making, no matter what its size or the level of managerial finesse. It is true today that in many organization an MkIS is integrated as part of a computerized system. To manage a business well is to anage its future and this means tha management of information, in the form of a company wide"Management Information System" (MIS) of which the MkIS is an integral part, is an indispensable resource to be carefully managed just like any other resource that the organization may have e.g. human recources, productive resources, transport resources and financial resources.