marketing

• marketing - identifying, anticipating customer wants and satisfying them profitably
• customer is a person, business or other organisation which buys goods or services from a business
• customer relationships is communicating with customers to encourage them to become more loyal to the business and its products
• market share is the percentage of total market sales held by one brand or business
• consumer buys goods or services for personal use - not to re-sell
• mass market - where there is a very large number of sales of a product
• niche market is a small specialised segment of a much larger market
• market segment is an identifiable sub-group of a whole market in which consumers have similar characteristics or preferences
• Market research is the process of gathering, analysing and interpreting information about a market.
• A product-orientated business is one whose main focus of activity is on the product itself.
• A market-orientated business is one which carries out market research to find out consumer wants before a product is developed and produced.
• A marketing budget is a financial plan for the marketing of a product or product range for some specified period of time.
• Primary research is the collection and collation of original data via direct contact with potential or existing customers.
• Secondary research uses information that has already been collected and is available for use by others.
• A questionnaire is a set of questions to be answered as a means of collecting data for market research.
• Online surveys require the target sample to answer a series of questions over the internet.
• A focus group is a group of people who are representative of the target market.
• A random sample is when people are selected at random as a source of information for market research. A quota sample is when people are selected on the basis of certain characteristics (such as age, gender or income) as a source of information for market research
• The marketing mix includes the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion
• USP stands for unique selling proposition and is the special feature of a product that sets it apart from competitors
• Brand name is the unique name of a product that distinguishes it from other brands
• Brand loyalty is when consumers repeatedly purchase the same brand instead of choosing a competitor's brand
• Brand image is the identity given to a product that sets it apart from competitors and gives it a unique personality
• Packaging is the physical container or wrapping for a product, used for both protection and promotion
• The product life cycle includes stages of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline
• Extension strategy is a method to keep a product at the maturity stage and extend its life cycle
• Cost-plus pricing is the cost of manufacturing the product plus a profit mark-up.
• Competitive pricing is when the product is priced in line with or just below competitors' prices to try to capture more of the market.
• Penetration pricing is when the price is set lower than the competitors' prices in order to be able to enter a new market.
• Price skimming is where a high price is set for a new product on the market.
• Promotional pricing is when a product is sold at a very low price for a short period of time.
• Dynamic pricing is when businesses change product prices, usually when selling online, depending on the level of demand.
• Price elastic demand is where percentage quantity demanded is greater than the percentage change in price, consumers are very sensitive to changes in price.

  Price inelastic demand is where percentage quantity demanded is less the percentage change in price, consumers are not sensitive to changes in price.
• Distribution channel is the means by which a product is passed from the place of production to the customer
• e-commerce is the online buying and selling of goods and services using computer systems linked to the internet
• marketing strategy is a plan to combine the right combination of the four elements of the marketing mix for a product or service to achieve a particular marketing objective