Marketing Study Guide — Chapters 7, 9, 10, and 11

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering marketing research, new product development, product life cycle management, branding, and pricing strategy.

Marketing research

The process of defining a marketing problem or opportunity (research question), systematically collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions to reduce risk and improve marketing decisions.

Primary data

New facts and figures collected for the problem at hand.

Secondary data

Facts and figures already recorded before the current project or for a different purpose.

Syndicated data

Data collected and sold by a research provider to multiple clients, such as Nielsen TV ratings and IRI retail scanner data.

Retail purchase data captured through scanning systems.

Scanner data

Panel data

Data collected from a panel of participants over time.

Qualitative research used to generate insights for future, more rigorous studies.

Exploratory research

Individual Interview

One-on-one, in-depth interviews.

focus groups

Group discussions used to explore opinions, reactions, or ideas.

Ethnography

Direct observation of consumers in a natural setting.

Mystery shoppers

People hired to evaluate customer experiences by posing as regular customers.

Projective techniques

Techniques used to assess things people may be unable to express, often because they are part of the subconscious.

Descriptive research

Quantitative research that systematically investigates a marketing problem, typically using large samples without manipulating variables.

survey

A method for asking people questions. Slide examples include open-ended/free-answer questions, two-way questions, scale-based questions, and demographic questions.

Attention-check question

A question with an obvious answer used to detect respondents who are not taking the survey seriously.

Incentivized survey

A survey setup that motivates respondents to think and answer carefully, where choices are realized with a certain probability.

Conjoint analysis

A statistical method used to understand how customers value different components or features of products or services.

Cross-sectional research

Research that collects information at one point in time.

Longitudinal research

Research that collects information over time.

Experimental/causal research

Research that attempts to understand cause-and-effect relationships through an intervention.

treatment group

A group in an experimental study that receives the intervention or treatment being tested, allowing researchers to observe its effects compared to a control group.

control group

A group in an experimental study that does not receive the treatment or intervention, serving as a benchmark to measure the treatment group's effects.

correlation vs. causation

correlation means variables are related; causation means one variable produces a change in another. Correlation alone does not establish causation.

Validity

The extent to which the research actually measures what it was intended to measure.

representativeness

Whether the selected sample represents the target population.

Reliability

Whether an assessment tool produces stable, consistent, repeatable results.

goods

Products with tangible attributes that can be owned.

services

Intangible activities or benefits provided by an organization to satisfy consumer needs; they do not involve ownership.

ideas

Thoughts that lead to actions. Goods, services, ideas, and people can all be products.

The essential benefit the customer wants (e.g., a hole for a drill-bit buyer).

Core product

Actual product

The physical good or delivered service that provides the benefit, including appearance, styling, packaging, and brand.

Augmented product

The actual product plus supporting features such as warranty, credit, delivery, installation, and after-sale service.

durable/nondurable product

Products classified by how long they last.

Products classified by how consumers buy them.

consumer products

buisness products

Products classified by who buys them and how they are used.

Convenience products

Frequently purchased items bought conveniently with little shopping effort (e.g., gum, milk, toilet paper).

Items consumers compare across alternatives using attributes such as price, quality, and style (e.g., appliances, cars, airline tickets).

Shopping products

Specialty products

Products for which a consumer has strong preferences and insists on a particular brand, rejecting substitutes.

Unsought products

Products consumers have little awareness of or interest in until a need arises, often requiring substantial advertising or personal selling (e.g., life insurance, funeral services).

product item

A specific product with a unique brand, size, or price.

A unique identification number for an item used for internal inventory management, created by retailers and varying across businesses.

SKU (stock keeping unit)

Product line

A group of closely related product items that satisfy similar needs, are used together, or are sold to the same customer group.

Product mix

A firm's entire range of product lines.

Product-mix width

How many different product lines the firm offers.

Product-line depth

The number of product items/varieties within a product line.

Concept test

An evaluation of a new-product idea, usually before a prototype exists, by presenting a concept statement to potential buyers or users.

full-scale operating model of a product or service.

Prototype

Standard test market

A test of the complete marketing plan (product, price, place, promotion) in geographic areas similar to the target market.

A test program run by an outside service that guarantees some distribution; it costs less and exposes the product to competitors but is less accurate.

Controlled test market

Simulated test market

A test market that costs less and minimizes or eliminates competitors' viewing, but is less accurate than a standard test market.

The 4 I's of Services

The four unique elements of services: Intangible, Inconsistent (variable/heterogeneous), Inseparable, and Inventory (perishable).

The 7 P’s of Services Marketing

An expanded marketing framework consisting of Product (branding), Place (convenient access), Promotion (tangible imagery), Price (capacity management), People (service staff), Process (sequence of service delivery), and Physical environment (the servicescape).

The concept describing the stages a product goes through in the marketplace: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

Product life cycle (PLC)

introduction

Full-scale launch; sales are low, failure rate is high, and marketing/production costs are high. Innovative products may have little competition; promotion builds awareness and primary demand.

Demand for the product category as a whole.

Primary demand

Selective demand

Demand for a particular brand.

growth

Sales grow at an increasing rate, competitors enter, and firms focus on getting customers to prefer their brand. Large firms may acquire pioneering firms; higher volume creates economies of scale.

Economies of scale

Cost advantages that can result from higher sales or production volume.

Sales increase slowly or plateau as the market approaches saturation; annual models may emphasize style over function; promotions are heavy and prices/profits fall.

maturity

The stage where a market is approaching the point where most potential buyers already have the product.

Market saturation

decline

Long-run sales drop as tastes change or substitutes are adopted; falling demand forces some companies out.

Deletion

Dropping a product from the product line during the decline stage.

Harvesting

Keeping a product during the decline stage but reducing marketing costs.

alternative PLC patterns

The slides identify classical, seasonal/fashion, and fad life cycles.

modifying the product

Changing one or more product characteristics to increase customer value and sales.

modifying the market

Finding new customers or changing when, how, and how often the product is used.

repositioning the market

Changing the image or place a product occupies in consumers' minds relative to competitors.

Adoption

The process by which a consumer or business customer begins to buy and use a new good, service, or idea.

Diffusion

How the use of a product spreads throughout a population.

Innovators

The first $2.5\%$ of users to accept an innovation; venturesome, risk-taking, and reliant on impersonal information.

Early adopters

The next $13.5\%$ to adopt after innovators; often trendsetters or opinion leaders whose recommendations influence others.

Adopts before the mean time of adoption; more deliberate and cautious than early adopters.

early majority

late majority

Generally older and more conservative; rely on peers and often wait until the product is necessary or peer pressure encourages adoption.

Laggards

The last $16\%$ to adopt; skeptical of change, resistant to new ideas, and adopt when the product may already be replaced.

Difficulty getting the first customers to adopt a product.

cold-start problem

usage barriers

the product is not compatible with existing habits.

value barriers

The product gives consumers no incentive to change.

risk barriers

Perceived physical, economic, or social risks.

psychological barriers

Barriers related to cultural differences, image, or other psychological factors.

brand

A name, term, symbol, logo, or other unique element—or combination of these—that identifies a firm's products and distinguishes them from competitors.

brand as a signal/promise

A brand signals information about the product (hopefully quality) and about consumers themselves.

Human characteristics associated with a brand, which consumers may choose to match their actual or desired self-image.

Brand personality

Brand equity

The value a brand adds beyond functional benefits, creating competitive advantage and increasing willingness to pay.

A strategy where a manufacturer brands products under a retailer's name (e.g., Costco Kirkland, Whole Foods 365).

private label

mixed branding

A firm markets products under its own names and under a reseller's brand name.

Multiproduct/family/corporate branding

Market all or a group of products under an umbrella brand.

Multibranding/individual brands

Give each product its own brand.

Co-branding

Two or more brands collaborating to create a product, service, or experience that benefits both.

brand comeback example

The slides describe Terence Reilly helping reposition Crocs through celebrity collaborations/social media and Stanley drinkware as a lifestyle brand.

price

The value customers give up or exchange to obtain a desired product. Payment can be money, goods, time, services, favors, votes, or anything else valuable to the other party.

Pricing architecture

How a firm receives payment for the value it creates; it is central to the business model.

The 3 C's

Company (own costs), Customer (demand), and Competitor.

demand-oriented pricing

Pricing based on consumer demand and willingness to pay.

Price skimming

Setting a high initial price, then lowering it over time to reach customers with lower willingness to pay.

Penetration pricing

Setting a low initial price to appeal quickly to the mass market.

odd-even pricing

Set a price just below a round number, such as $59.99.

Left-digit bias

The tendency for consumers to read prices from left to right, making a price like $59.99$ feel meaningfully lower than $60$.

prestige pricing

Use a high price to attract quality- or status-conscious customers; price can signal quality or prestige.

bundle pricing

Sell multiple products together as a package, often for less than the total of buying each separately.

competition oriented pricing

Set prices relative to competitors: above-market, at-market, or below-market.