MCS

Need

A basic human requirement for survival or wellbeing.

• Example: Needing water when thirsty.

Want

A specific way to fulfill a need, shaped by culture or personality.

• Example: Wanting a Coca-Cola instead of plain water.

Exchagne

Trading something of value between two parties so both are satisfied.

• Example: Paying $5 cash for a cup of coffee.

Value

The customer's perception of benefits compared to the cost of getting them.

• Example: Buying a reliable $20 umbrella that lasts for years.

Value Co-creation

When a company and its customers work together to create custom value or products.

• Example: Designing your own custom sneakers on Nike's website.

Market

The total group of actual and potential buyers for a product or service.

• Example: All pet owners looking to buy pet food.

Target Market

A specific group of consumers a company focuses its marketing on.

• Example: Teenagers aged 13–18 for a new acne skincare line

Goods

Physical, tangible items you can touch and own.

• Example: Buying a new smartphone.

Services

Intangible activities or benefits performed for customers.

• Example: Getting a haircut at a salon.

Ideas

Concepts, philosophies, or opinions promoted to change behavior or attitudes.

• Example: An advertisement encouraging people to "Recycle to save the planet."

B2B

Companies selling products or services to other businesses.

• Example: A software company selling payroll tools to a retail store.

B2C

Businesses selling directly to individual everyday consumers.

• Example: Buying a t-shirt from an online clothing store.

C2C

Consumers selling products or services directly to other consumers.

• Example: Selling your old bicycle to someone on Facebook Marketplace.

Supply Chain

The network of all people, organizations, and activities involved in creating and delivering a product.

• Example: From cotton farmers $\rightarrow$ clothing factories $\rightarrow$ shipping companies $\rightarrow$ retail stores.

Marketing

The process of creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and building relationships.

• Example: Running TV commercials and social media ads for a new car.

Marketing mix (Four P’s)

The four core tools of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

• Example: Launching a new energy drink (Product) at $2.50 (Price) in local convenience stores (Place) with a free-sample giveaway (Promotion).

Marketing plan

A written document outlining a company's marketing goals, target audience, and strategies.

• Example: A gym's strategy document for gaining 500 new members over the next year.

Custom Relationship Management (CRM)

Software and strategies used to manage interactions with current and past customers.

• Example: Using Salesforce software to track past customer purchases and follow up with special discounts.

Relational Orientation

A business focus on building long-term, loyal connections with customers rather than just making a quick one-time sale.

• Example: A coffee shop giving you a punch-card for a free drink after 10 visits to keep you coming back.

Situation Analysis (SWOT)

Assessing a company's internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and external Opportunities and Threats.

• Example: A restaurant noting its great chefs (strength), slow delivery (weakness), rising food trends (opportunity), and new rival restaurants (threat).

Planning Phase

The stage where managers define the mission, evaluate the situation, and set strategic goals.

• Example: A tech company holding meetings to decide their main goals for the upcoming year.

Implementation Phase

The stage where plans are put into action through marketing mixes and resource allocation.

• Example: Launching the new app features and running the ad campaign designed in the planning phase.

Control Phase

Evaluating how well strategies worked using performance metrics and making adjustments if needed.

• Example: Reviewing monthly sales data to see if the ad campaign hit its revenue goals.

Mission Statement

A brief declaration of a company’s core purpose and why it exists.

• Example: "To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time" (Starbucks).

Strategic Business Unit (SBU)

A self-contained division or part of a company with its own specific mission and competitors.

• Example: A large corporation treating its snack food division as a separate SBU from its beverage division.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage

An advantage over competitors that can be maintained consistently over a long period.

• Example: Apple's unique ecosystem of hardware and software that keeps customers loyal.

Operational Excellence

Winning through efficient operations, excellent supply chain management, and low prices.

• Example: Walmart's ability to keep everyday items inexpensive through supply chain efficiency.

Product Excellence

Winning by offering high-quality, top-performing, and innovative products.

• Example: Dyson known for high-tech, powerful vacuum cleaners and fans.

Locational Excellence

Winning by having a prime physical location or easy-to-use digital presence.

• Example: A Starbucks placed right inside a busy airport terminal.

Customer Excellence

Winning by providing exceptional customer service and loyalty programs.

• Example: Ritz-Carlton empowering staff to spend up to $2,000 to solve a guest problem instantly.

Market Penetration Strategy

Selling more of your existing products to your current target market.

• Example: Offering a "buy one, get one 50% off" deal to current coffee shop regulars.

Product Development Strategy

Launching a new product to your existing target market.

• Example: A coffee shop starting to sell branded coffee beans to its regular customers.

Market Development Strategy

Selling your existing products into a new market or region.

• Example: An American coffee chain opening its first stores in Europe.

Diversification Strategy

Launching completely new products into entirely new markets.

• Example: A clothing brand starting to sell electric cars.

Market Segment

A group of consumers who share similar needs, responses, or characteristics.

• Example: Budget-conscious college students looking for cheap textbooks.

Market Segmentation

Dividing a broad target market into smaller, distinct groups of buyers.

• Example: Splitting gym members into bodybuilders, casual joggers, and yoga students.

Target Marketing / Targeting

Evaluating market segments and choosing which one(s) to focus on.

• Example: A luxury car brand deciding to target high-income earners aged 40–60.

Market Positioning

Designing a product's image so it occupies a distinct, valued place in the customer's mind relative to competitors.

• Example: Positioning a watch brand as the ultimate status symbol of luxury.

STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning)

The three-step core marketing process of dividing a market, picking a target, and positioning the product.

• Example: Grouping car buyers (Segmentation), picking families (Targeting), and promoting safety (Positioning).

Market Growth Rate

How fast the overall market is expanding annually.

• Example: The electric vehicle market growing by 25% each year

Relative Market Share

A company's market share compared to its largest competitor.

• Example: If your brand has 40% of the soda market and the top rival has 20%, your relative share is 2.0.

Product Line

A group of related products made by the same company.

• Example: Nike’s line of running shoes.

Metric

A measurable value used to track and assess business performance.

• Example: Website conversion rate or monthly profit margin.

Macroenvironmental Factors

External forces outside a company's direct control that affect its business (like the economy, culture, or laws).

• Example: Changes in government tax laws or global economic shifts.

Economic Situation

The overall health of an economy based on factors like employment, income levels, and growth.

• Example: Consumers having more disposable income during a strong economic boom.

Inflation

A general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money over time.

• Example: Milk costing $3 last year and $3.50 this year due to rising costs.

Recession

A period of temporary economic decline where trade and industrial activity drop significantly.

• Example: People cutting back on dining out because companies are laying off workers.

Interest Rates

The cost of borrowing money, set by banks and financial institutions.

• Example: A rise in mortgage rates making it more expensive to buy a house.

Foreign Currency Fluctuations

Changes in how much one country's currency is worth compared to another.

• Example: The US dollar getting stronger against the Euro, making American goods more expensive in Europe

Political/Legal Environment

Laws, government policies, and political stability that businesses must follow.

• Example: New safety regulations forcing toy manufacturers to test materials more strictly.

Country Culture

The shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and customs of a specific nation's population.

• Example: The strong cultural emphasis on gift-giving during holidays in Japan.

Culture

The broader set of values, ideas, and attitudes shared by a group of people and passed down through generations.

• Example: The global rise of fitness culture affecting what people eat and wear.

Demographics

Statistical data about a population, such as age, gender, income, education, and race.

• Example: Knowing that a neighborhood consists mostly of retirees aged 65 and older.

Generational Cohort

A group of people born around the same time who share similar experiences, values, and life events.

• Example: People who grew up during the rise of the internet.

Baby Boomers

The generation born between 1946 and 1964, following World War II.

• Example: Grandparents purchasing travel packages and retirement planning services.

Gen X

The generation born between 1965 and 1980.

• Example: Parents balancing careers and mortgage payments while bridging analog and digital eras.

Gen Y / Millennials

The generation born between 1981 and 1996.

• Example: Consumers prioritizing experiences over physical possessions and heavily using social media.

Gen Z / Digital Natives

The generation born between 1997 and 2012 who grew up with smartphones and widespread internet.

• Example: Teenagers using TikTok as their primary search engine and entertainment source.

Gen Alpha

The generation born from 2013 onward, growing up entirely in a smart-tech and AI-driven world.

• Example: Young children playing interactive games like Roblox on tablets.

Technological Advances

New breakthroughs in science and engineering that change how businesses operate and build products.

• Example: The shift from physical brick-and-mortar stores to online e-commerce shopping.

AI

Computer systems designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, like problem-solving or learning.

• Example: Customer service chatbots instantly answering questions on a retail website.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Everyday physical objects connected to the internet that can collect and share data.

• Example: A smart thermostat that adjusts your home temperature automatically based on your habits.

Robotics

The branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, and operation of robots.

• Example: Robotic arms assembling cars on an automated factory production line

Green Marketing

Marketing products and services based on their environmental benefits or sustainability.

• Example: Promoting laundry detergent packaged in 100% recycled ocean plastic.

Need Recognition

Realizing there is a difference between your actual state and your desired state, triggering a purchase goal.

• Example: Noticing your car is completely out of gas.

Physiological Needs

Basic biological requirements for human survival.

• Example: Buying food when you are starving.

Safety Needs

Requirements for physical protection, health, and security.

• Example: Purchasing a home security system or car insurance.

Love (Social) Needs

Desires for friendship, love, and a sense of belonging.

• Example: Joining a social club or buying matching t-shirts for a sports team.

Esteem Needs

Desires for self-respect, status, recognition, and prestige.

• Example: Buying a luxury designer watch to look successful.

Self-Actualization

The drive to reach your full potential and achieve personal growth.

• Example: Paying for a pottery workshop or creative masterclass

Functional Needs

The practical, performance-based requirements of a product.

• Example: Buying a backpack with waterproof pockets to keep your laptop dry.

Psychological Needs

Desires driven by personal emotional fulfillment and state of mind.

• Example: Buying luxury scented candles to feel relaxed.

Motive

An inner driving force that pushes a person to satisfy a specific need.

• Example: Exercising regularly because your main motive is staying healthy.

Internal Search for Information

Relying on your own memory and past experiences to find solutions.

• Example: Deciding to eat at a local pizza place you’ve been to five times before.

External Search for Information

Seeking advice or data from outside sources like friends, reviews, or the internet.

• Example: Reading online reviews before booking a hotel.

Retrieval Sets

A subset of brands or products that you can easily bring to mind from memory.

• Example: Instantly thinking of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr Pepper when asked to name sodas.

Evoked Sets

The final group of brands that a consumer will actually consider choosing from during a purchase.

• Example: Narrowing your TV choice down to Sony and Samsung before buying.

Evaluative Criteria

The specific features or attributes used to compare different products.

• Example: Comparing laptops based on battery life, screen size, and price.

Determinant Attributes

The critical product features that actually make a consumer choose one brand over another.

• Example: Choosing one smartphone over another specifically because it has a better camera.

Perception

How people select, organize, and interpret information to create a meaningful picture of the world.

• Example: Thinking a restaurant is high-end because of its dim lighting and soft jazz music.

Attitude

A person’s enduring evaluation, feelings, and behavioral tendencies toward an object or idea.

• Example: Strongly preferring eco-friendly cleaning brands.

Cognitive Component

The thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs a person has about something.

• Example: Knowing that apples contain vitamin C and fiber.

Affective Component

The emotional or feeling side of an attitude.

• Example: Feeling happy and comforted when walking into a bakery.

Behavioral Component

How a person acts or intends to act based on their attitude.

• Example: Consistently buying organic vegetables at the grocery store.

Learning

A change in a person's thought process or behavior resulting from past experience.

• Example: Stopping buying a brand of chips because they tasted stale last time.

Lifestyle

How a person lives, reflected in their activities, interests, and opinions (AIO).

• Example: Living a minimalist lifestyle and only buying secondhand items.

Financial Risk

The fear of spending too much money or losing money on a bad purchase.

• Example: Hesitating to buy a $2,000 computer in case it breaks quickly.

Physiological Risk

The fear that a product might cause physical harm or injury.

• Example: Checking food labels carefully because of a severe peanut allergy.

Psychological Risk

The fear that a product will hurt your self-image or social standing.

• Example: Worrying that wearing an uncool outfit to a party will make you look bad.

Performance Risk

The fear that a product will fail to do what it is supposed to do.

• Example: Worrying a discount vacuum cleaner won't actually pick up dirt.

Social Risk

The fear of what friends, family, or peers will think of your purchase.

• Example: Not wanting to wear an unpopular brand of shoes to school.

Involvement

How much personal importance and interest a consumer attaches to a purchase.

• Example: High involvement when buying a car; low involvement when buying a pack of gum.

Extended Problem Solving

A thorough, high-effort decision process used for expensive, high-risk purchases.

• Example: Researching houses, mortgages, and neighborhoods for months before buying a home.

Limited Problem Solving

A moderate decision-making process involving some evaluation and comparison.

• Example: Spending 10 minutes comparing two brands of toasters at a store.

Habitual Decision Making

A routine, low-effort choice process where consumers buy out of habit.

• Example: Reaching for the same brand of toothpaste every time without thinking.

Compensatory Decision Rule

A rule where a product's good features can make up for (compensate for) its bad features.

• Example: Buying a car that gets lower gas mileage because it has amazing safety features.

Noncompensatory Decision Rule

A rule where a product is immediately rejected if it fails to meet a strict cutoff on one specific feature, regardless of other good traits.

• Example: Refusing to buy any car that doesn't have all-wheel drive, even if it's cheap.

Decision Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb used to make quick purchasing decisions.

• Example: Always buying the brand with the highest price tag, assuming "expensive means best

Impulse Buying

An unplanned, sudden decision to buy a product right at the moment of seeing it.

• Example: Throwing a candy bar into your cart while waiting in the checkout line.

Postpurchase Dissonance

Internal anxiety or regret after making a major purchase (buyer's remorse).

• Example: Worrying you made the wrong choice after spending a lot of money on a new laptop.