Site MapHelpFeedbackGlossary
Glossary
(See related pages)


80/20 rule  A concept that suggests 80 percent of a firm's sales are obtained from 20 percent of its customers.
account management policies  Specifies whom salespeople should contact, what kinds of selling and customer service activities should be engaged in, and how these activities should be carried out.
adaptive selling  A need-satisfaction presentation format that involves adjusting the presentation to fit the selling situation, such as knowing when to offer solutions and when to ask for more information.
advertising  Any paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organization, good, service, or idea by an identified sponsor.
attitude  A learned predisposition to respond to an object or class of objects in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way.
baby boomers  The generation of children born between 1946 and 1964.
back translation  The practice where a translated word or phrase is retranslated into the original language by a different interpreter to catch errors.
beliefs  A consumer's subjective perception of how a product or brand performs on different attributes based on personal experience, advertising, and discussions with other people.
blog  A web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual or organization.
bots  Electronic shopping agents or robots that comb websites to compare prices and product or service features.
brand equity  The added value a given brand name gives to a product beyond the functional benefits provided.
brand loyalty  A favorable attitude toward and consistent purchase of a single brand over time.
brand name  Any word, device (design, shape, sound, or color), or combination of these used to distinguish a seller's goods or services.
brand personality  A set of human characteristics associated with a brand name.
branding  A marketing decision by an organization to use a name, phrase, design, or symbols, or combination of these to identify its products and distinguish them from those of competitors.
break-even analysis  A technique that analyzes the relationship between total revenue and total cost to determine profitability at various levels of output.
brokers  Independent firms or individuals whose principal function is to bring buyers and sellers together to make sales.
business  The clear, broad, underlying industry or market sector of an organization's offering.
business products  Products that assist directly or indirectly in providing products for resale. Also called B2B products, or industrial products.
business marketing  The marketing of goods and services to companies, governments, or not-for-profit organizations for use in the creation of goods and services that they can produce and market to others.
buy classes  Consists of three types of organizational buying situations: straight rebuy, new buy, and modified rebuy.
buying center  The group of people in an organization who participate in the buying process and share common goals, risks, and knowledge important to purchase decisions.
capacity management  Integrating the service component of the marketing mix with efforts to influence consumer demand.
category management  An approach to managing the assortment of merchandise in which a manager is assigned the responsibility for selecting all products that consumers in a market segment might view as substitutes for each other, with the objective of maximizing sales and profits in the category.
cause marketing  Occurs when the charitable contributions of a firm are tied directly to the customer revenues produced through the promotion of one of its products.
channel conflict  Arises when one channel member believes another channel member is engaged in behavior that prevents it from achieving its goals.
choiceboard  An interactive, Internet-enabled system that allows individual customers to design their own products and services by answering a few questions and choosing from a menu of product or service attributes (or components), prices, and delivery options.
code of ethics  A formal statement of ethical principles and rules of conduct.
collaborative filtering  A process that automatically groups people with similar buying intentions, preferences, and behaviors and predicts future purchases.
communication  The process of conveying a message to others and requires six elements: a source, a message, a channel of communication, a receiver, and the processes of encoding and decoding.
competition  The alternative firms that could provide a product to satisfy a specific market's needs.
consultative selling  A need-satisfaction presentation format that focuses on problem identification, where the salesperson serves as an expert on problem recognition and resolution.
consumer behavior  The actions a person takes in purchasing and using products and services, including the mental and social processes that come before and after these actions.
Consumer Bill of Rights (1962)  Codified the ethics of exchange between buyers and sellers, including the rights to safety, to be informed, to choose, and to be heard.
consumer products  Products purchased by the ultimate consumer.
consumerism  A grassroots movement started in the 1960s to increase the influence, power, and rights of consumers in dealing with institutions.
consumer-oriented sales promotions  Sales tools used to support a company's advertising and personal selling directed to ultimate consumers. Also called consumer promotions.
cookies  Computer files that a marketer can download onto the computer of an online shopper who visits the marketer's website.
cooperative advertising  Advertising programs by which a manufacturer pays a percentage of the retailer's local advertising expense for advertising the manufacturer's products.
core values  The fundamental, passionate, and enduring principles of an organization that guide its conduct over time.
cross-channel shopper  A consumer who researches offerings online and then purchases them at retail stores.
cross-cultural analysis  The study of similarities and differences among consumers in two or more nations or societies.
cultural symbols  Things that represent ideas and concepts.
culture  The set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are learned and shared among the members of a group.
currency exchange rate  The price of one country's currency expressed in terms of another country's currency.
customer experience management (CEM)  The process of managing the entire customer experience within the firm.
customer service  The ability of logistics management to satisfy users in terms of time, dependability, communication, and convenience.
customer value  The unique combination of benefits received by targeted buyers that includes quality, convenience, on-time delivery, and both before-sale and after-sale service at a specific price.
customs  What is considered normal and expected about the way people do things in a specific country.
data  The facts and figures related to the problem, divided into two main parts: secondary data and primary data.
demand curve  A graph relating the quantity sold and price, which shows the maximum number of units that will be sold at a given price.
demographics  Describing a population according to selected characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, income, and occupation.
derived demand  The demand for industrial products and services is driven by, or derived from, demand for consumer products and services.
direct investment  A global market-entry strategy that entails a domestic firm actually investing in and owning a foreign subsidiary or division.
direct marketing  A promotion alternative that uses direct communication with consumers to generate a response in the form of an order, a request for further information, or a visit to a retail outlet.
direct orders  The result of direct marketing offers that contain all the information necessary for a prospective buyer to make a decision to purchase and complete the transaction.
disintermediation  Channel conflict that arises when a channel member bypasses another member and sells or buys products directly.
dual distribution  An arrangement whereby a firm reaches different buyers by using two or more different types of channels for the same basic product.
dumping  When a firm sells a product in a foreign country below its domestic price or below its actual cost.
dynamic pricing  The practice of changing prices for products and services in real time in response to supply and demand conditions.
economy  Pertains to the income, expenditures, and resources that affect the cost of running a business and household.
e-marketplaces  Online trading communities that bring together buyers and supplier organizations to make possible the real time exchange of information, money, products, and services. Also called B2B exchanges or e-hubs.
environmental forces  The uncontrollable social, economic, technological, competitive, and regulatory forces that affect the results of a marketing decision.
environmental scanning  The process of continually acquiring information on events occurring outside the organization to identify and interpret potential trends.
ethics  The moral principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group.
exchange  The trade of things of value between buyer and seller so that each is better off after the trade.
exclusive distribution  A level of distribution density whereby only one retail outlet in a specific geographical area carries the firm's products.
exporting  A global market-entry strategy in which a company produces goods in one country and sells them in another country.
family life cycle  The distinct phases that a family progresses through from formation to retirement, each phase bringing with it identifiable purchasing behaviors.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (1977)  A law, amended by the International Anti-Dumping and Fair Competition Act (1998), that makes it a crime for U.S. corporations to bribe an official of a foreign government or political party to obtain or retain business in a foreign country.
four I's of services  The four unique elements to services: intangibility, inconsistency, inseparability, and inventory.
Generation X  Includes the 15 percent of the population born between 1965 and 1976. Also called baby bust.
Generation Y  Includes the 72 million Americans born between 1977 and 1994. Also called echo-boom or baby boomlet.
global brand  A brand marketed under the same name in multiple countries with similar and centrally coordinated marketing programs.
global competition  Exists when firms originate, produce, and market their products and services worldwide.
global consumers  Consumer groups living in many countries or regions of the world who have similar needs or seek similar features and benefits from products or services.
global marketing strategy  The practice of standardizing marketing activities when there are cultural similarities and adapting them when cultures differ.
goals  Statements of an accomplishment of a task to be achieved, often by a specific time. Also called objectives.
gray market  A situation where products are sold through unauthorized channels of distribution. Also called parallel importing.
green marketing  Marketing efforts to produce, promote, and reclaim environmentally sensitive products.
hierarchy of effects  The sequence of stages a prospective buyer goes through from initial awareness of a product to eventual action (either trial or adoption of the product). The stages include awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption.
idle production capacity  Occurs when the service provider is available but there is no demand for the service.
infomercials  Program-length (30-minute) advertisements that take an educational approach to communication with potential customers.
institutional advertisements  Advertisements designed to build goodwill or an image for an organization rather than promote a specific good or service.
integrated marketing communications (IMC)  The concept of designing marketing communications programs that coordinate all promotional activities—advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing—to provide a consistent message across all audiences.
intensive distribution  A level of distribution density whereby a firm tries to place its products and services in as many outlets as possible.
interactive marketing  Two-way buyer–seller electronic communication in a computer-mediated environment in which the buyer controls the kind and amount of information received from the seller.
involvement  The personal, social, and economic significance of the purchase to the consumer.
joint venture  A global market-entry strategy in which a foreign company and a local firm invest together to create a local business in order to share ownership, control, and profits of the new company.
laws  Society's values and standards that are enforceable in the courts.
lead generation  The result of a direct marketing offer designed to generate interest in a product or service and a request for additional information.
learning  Those behaviors that result from (1) repeated experience and (2) reasoning.
logistics  Those activities that focus on getting the right amount of the right products to the right place at the right time at the lowest possible cost.
major account management  The practice of using team selling to focus on important customers so as to build mutually beneficial, long-term, cooperative relationships; also called key account management.
manufacturer's agents  Agents who work for several producers and carry noncompetitive, complementary merchandise in an exclusive territory. Also called manufacturer's representatives.
market  People with both the desire and the ability to buy a specific offering.
market orientation  Occurs when an organization focuses its efforts on (1) continuously collecting information about customers' needs, (2) sharing this information across departments, and (3) using it to create customer value.
market segmentation  Involves aggregating prospective buyers into groups, or segments, that (1) have common needs and (2) will respond similarly to a marketing action.
market segments  The relatively homogeneous groups of prospective buyers that result from the market segmentation process.
market share  The ratio of sales revenue of the firm to the total sales revenue of all firms in the industry, including the firm itself.
marketing  The activity for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that benefit the organization, its stakeholders, and society at large.
marketing channel  Individuals and firms involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by consumers or industrial users.
marketing concept  The idea that an organization should (1) strive to satisfy the needs of consumers (2) while also trying to achieve the organization's goals.
marketing dashboard  The visual display of the essential information related to achieving a marketing objective.
marketing metric  A measure of the quantitative value or trend of a marketing activity or result.
marketing mix  The marketing manager's controllable factors—product, price, promotion, and place—that can be used to solve a marketing problem.
marketing plan  A road map for the marketing activities of an organization for a specified future time period such as one year or five years.
marketing program  A plan that integrates the marketing mix to provide a good, service, or idea to prospective buyers.
marketing research  The process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity, systematically collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions.
marketing strategy  The means by which a marketing goal is to be achieved, usually characterized by a specified target market and a marketing program to reach it.
marketing tactics  Detailed day-to-day operational decisions essential to the overall success of marketing strategies.
market–product grid  A framework to relate the market segments of potential buyers to products offered or potential marketing actions by an organization.
marketspace  Information- and communication-based electronic exchange environment mostly occupied by sophisticated computer and telecommunication technologies and digitized offerings.
measures of success  Criteria or standards used in evaluating proposed solutions to a problem.
merchant wholesalers  Independently owned firms that take title to the merchandise they handle.
mission  A statement of the organization's function in society, often identifying its customers, markets, products, and technologies. Often used interchangeably with vision.
moral idealism  A personal moral philosophy that considers certain individual rights or duties as universal, regardless of the outcome.
motivation  The energizing force that stimulates behavior to satisfy a need.
multibranding  A branding strategy that involves giving each product a distinct name when each brand is intended for a different market segment.
multichannel marketing  The blending of different communication and delivery channels that are mutually reinforcing in attracting, retaining, and building relationships with consumers who shop and buy in traditional intermediaries and online.
multichannel retailers  Retailers that utilize and integrate a combination of traditional store formats and nonstore formats such as catalogs, television, and online retailing.
multicultural marketing  Combinations of the marketing mix that reflects the unique attitudes, ancestry, communication preferences, and lifestyles of different races.
multidomestic marketing strategy  A multinational firm's offering as many different product variations, brand names, and advertising programs as countries in which they do business.
multiproduct branding  A branding strategy in which a company uses one name for all its products in a product class.
new-product process  The seven stages an organization goes through to identify business opportunities and convert them to a salable good or service.
North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS)  		Provides common industry definitions for Canada, Mexico, and the United States, which makes it easier to measure economic activity in the three member countries of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
objectives  Statements of an accomplishment of a task to be achieved, often by a specific time. Also called goals.
observational data  Facts and figures obtained by watching, either mechanically or in person, how people actually behave.
off-peak pricing  Charging different prices during different times of the day or days of the week to reflect variations in demand for the service.
opinion leaders  Individuals who have social influence over others.
order getter  Sells in a conventional sense and identifies prospective customers, provides customers with information, persuades customers to buy, closes sales, and follows up on customers' use of a product or service.
order taker  Processes routine orders or reorders for products that were already sold by the company.
organizational buyers  Those manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and government agencies that buy goods and services for their own use or for resale.
organizational buying behavior  The decision-making process that organizations use to establish the need for products and services and identify, evaluate, and choose among alternative brands and suppliers.
organizational culture  The set of values, ideas, attitudes, and norms of behavior that is learned and shared among the members of an organization.
packaging  A component of a product that refers to any container in which it is offered for sale and on which label information is displayed.
perceived risk  The anxieties felt because the consumer cannot anticipate the outcomes of a purchase but believes that there may be negative consequences.
perception  The process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world.
perceptual map  A means of displaying or graphing in two dimensions the location of products or brands in the minds of consumers to enable a manager to see how consumers perceive competing products or brands and then take marketing actions.
permission marketing  The solicitation of a consumer's consent (called opt-in) to receive e-mail and advertising based on personal data supplied by the consumer.
personal selling  The two-way flow of communication between a buyer and seller, often in a face-to-face encounter, designed to influence a person's or group's purchase decision.
personal selling process  Sales activities occurring before and after the sale itself, consisting of six stages: (1) prospecting,(2) preapproach, (3) approach, (4) presentation, (5) close, and (6) follow-up.
personality  A person's consistent behaviors or responses to recurring situations.
personalization  The consumer-initiated practice of generating content on a marketer's website that is custom tailored to an individual's specific needs and preferences.
points of difference  Those characteristics of a product that make it superior to competitive substitutes.
posttests  Tests conducted after an advertisement has been shown to the target audience to determine whether it accomplished its intended purpose.
pretests  Tests conducted before an advertisement is placed in any medium to determine whether it communicates the intended message or to select among alternative versions of the advertisement.
price  The money or other considerations (including other goods and services) exchanged for the ownership or use of a good or service.
price elasticity of demand  The percentage change in quantity demanded relative to a percentage change in price.
pricing constraints  Factors that limit the range of prices a firm may set.
pricing objectives  Specify the role of price in an organization's marketing and strategic plans.
primary data  Facts and figures that are newly collected for the project.
product  A good, service, or idea consisting of a bundle of tangible and intangible attributes that satisfies consumers' needs and is received in exchange for money or something else of value.
product advertisements  Advertisements that focus on selling a good or service and that take three forms: (1) pioneering (or informational), (2) competitive (or persuasive), and (3) reminder.
product differentiation  A marketing strategy that involves a firm using different marketing mix activities to help consumers perceive the product as being different and better than competing products.
product item  A specific product that has a unique brand, size, or price.
product life cycle  Describes the stages a new product goes through in the marketplace: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
product line  A group of product or service items that are closely related because they satisfy a class of needs, are used together, are sold to the same customer group, are distributed through the same outlets, or fall within a given price range.
product mix  All of the of product lines offered by an organization.
product placement  A consumer sales promotion tool that uses a brand-name product in a movie, television show, video, or a commercial for another product.
product positioning  The place an offering occupies in consumers' minds on important attributes relative to competitive products.
product repositioning  Changing the place an offering occupies in consumers' minds relative to competitive products.
profit  The money left after a business firm's total expenses are subtracted from its total revenues or sales and is the reward for the risk it undertakes in marketing its offerings.
profit equation  Profit = Total revenue − Total cost; or Profit = (Unit price × Quantity sold) − (Fixed cost + Variable cost).
promotional mix  The combination of one or more communication tools used to: (1) inform prospective buyers about the benefits of the product, (2) persuade them to try it, and (3) remind them later about the benefits they enjoyed by using the product.
protectionism  The practice of shielding one or more industries within a country's economy from foreign competition through the use of tariffs or quotas.
public relations  A form of communication management that seeks to influence the feelings, opinions, or beliefs held by customers, prospective customers, stockholders, suppliers, employees, and other publics about a company and its products or services.
publicity  A nonpersonal, indirectly paid presentation of an organization, good, or service.
publicity tools  Methods of obtaining nonpersonal presentation of an organization, good, or service without direct cost. Examples include news releases, news conferences, and public service announcements.
pull strategy  Directing the promotional mix at ultimate consumers to encourage them to ask the retailer for a product.
purchase decision process  The five stages a buyer passes through in making choices about which products and services to buy: (1) problem recognition, (2) information search, (3) alternative evaluation, (4) purchase decision, and (5) postpurchase behavior.
push strategy  Directing the promotional mix to channel members to gain their cooperation in ordering and stocking the product.
questionnaire data  Facts and figures obtained by asking people about their attitudes, awareness, intentions, and behaviors.
quota  A restriction placed on the amount of a product allowed to enter or leave a country.
reference groups  People to whom an individual looks as a basis for self-appraisal or as a source of personal standards.
regulation  Restrictions state and federal laws place on business with regard to the conduct of its activities.
relationship marketing  Linking the organization to its individual customers, employees, suppliers, and other partners for their mutual long-term benefits.
relationship selling  The practice of building ties to customers based on a salesperson's attention and commitment to customer needs over time.
retail life cycle  The process of growth and decline that retail outlets, like products, experience. The retail life cycle consists of the early growth, accelerated development, maturity, and decline stages.
retailing  All activities involved in selling, renting, and providing goods and services to ultimate consumers for personal, family, or household use.
retailing mix  The activities related to managing the store and the merchandise in the store, which includes retail pricing, store location, retail communication, and merchandise.
reverse auction  In an e-marketplace, it is an online auction in which a buyer communicates a need for a product or service and would-be suppliers are invited to bid in competition with each other.
sales forecast  The total sales of a product that a firm expects to sell during a specified time period under specified environmental conditions and its own marketing efforts.
sales management  Planning the selling program and implementing and controlling the personal selling effort of the firm.
sales plan  A statement describing what is to be achieved and where and how the selling efforts of salespeople are to be deployed.
sales promotion  A short-term inducement of value offered to arouse interest in buying a good or service.
sales quota  Specific goals assigned to a salesperson, sales team, branch sales office, or sales district for a stated time period.
salesforce automation  The use of computer, information, communication, and Internet technologies to make the sales function more effective and efficient.
scrambled merchandising  Offering several unrelated product lines in a single store.
secondary data  Facts and figures that have already been recorded before the project at hand.
selective distribution  A level of distribution density whereby a firm selects a few retail outlets in a specific geographical area to carry its products.
self-regulation  An alternative to government control where an industry attempts to police itself.
services  Intangible activities or benefits that an organization provides to satisfy consumers' needs in exchange for money or something else of value.
situation analysis  Taking stock of where the firm or product has been recently, where it is now, and where it is headed in terms of the organization's plans and the external factors and trends affecting it.
social audit  A systematic assessment of a firm's objectives, strategies, and performance in terms of social responsibility.
social forces  The demographic characteristics of the population and its values.
social responsibility  The idea that organizations are part of a larger society and are accountable to that society for their actions.
societal marketing concept  The view that organizations should discovers and satisfy the needs of consumers in a way that provides for society's well-being.
spam  Communications that take the form of electronic junk mail or unsolicited e-mail.
strategic marketing process  The approach whereby an organization allocates its marketing mix resources to reach its target markets.
strategy  An organization's long-term course of action designed to deliver a unique customer experience while achieving its goals.
subcultures  Subgroups within the larger, or national, culture with unique values, ideas, and attitudes.
supply chain  A sequence of firms that perform activities required to create and deliver a good or service to consumers or industrial users.
SWOT analysis  An acronym describing an organization's appraisal of its internal Strengths and Weaknesses and its external Opportunities and Threats.
synergy  The increased customer value achieved through performing organizational functions more efficiently.
target market  One or more specific groups of potential consumers toward which an organization directs its marketing program.
tariffs  A government tax on goods or services entering a country, primarily serving to raise prices on imports.
technology  Inventions or innovations from applied science or engineering research.
telemarketing  Using the telephone to interact with and sell directly to consumers.
total cost (TC)  The total expense incurred by a firm in producing and marketing a product. Total cost is the sum of fixed cost and variable cost.
total logistics cost  Expenses associated with transportation, materials handling and warehousing, inventory, stockouts (being out of inventory), order processing, and return goods handling.
total revenue (TR)  The total money received from the sale of a product.
trade-oriented sales promotions  Sales tools used to support a company's advertising and personal selling directed to wholesalers, distributors, or retailers. Also called trade promotions.
traditional auction  In an e-marketplace, it is an online auction in which a seller puts an item up for sale and would-be buyers are invited to bid in competition with each other.
traffic generation  The outcome of a direct marketing offer designed to motivate people to visit a business.
ultimate consumers  The people who use the goods and services purchased for a household. Also called consumers, buyers, or customers.
usage rate  The quantity consumed or patronage (store visits) during a specific period.
utilitarianism  A personal moral philosophy that focuses on the "greatest good for the greatest number," by assessing the costs and benefits of the consequences of ethical behavior.
utility  The benefits or customer value received by users of the product.
value  The ratio of perceived benefits to price; or Value = Perceived benefits ÷ Price.
values  A society's personally or socially preferable modes of conduct or states of existence that tend to persist over time.
vendor-managed inventory  An inventory-management system whereby the supplier determines the product amount and assortment a customer (such as a retailer) needs and automatically delivers the appropriate items.
vertical marketing systems  Professionally managed and centrally coordinated marketing channels designed to achieve channel economies and maximum marketing impact.
viral marketing  An Internet-enabled promotional strategy that encourages individuals to forward marketer-initiated messages to others via e-mail.
web communities  Websites that allow people to congregate online and exchange views on topics of common interest.
wheel of retailing  A concept that describes how new forms of retail outlets enter the market.
word of mouth  The influencing of people during conversations.
World Trade Organization (WTO)  A permanent institution that sets rules governing trade between its members through panels of trade experts who decide on trade disputes between members and issue binding decisions.





To learn more about the book this website supports, please visit its Information Center.
(c)2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Any use is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Notice.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education is one of the many fine businesses of The McGraw-Hill Companies.


MarketingOnline Learning Center

Home > Glossary