Marketing dictionary - C

C-Type Response
a response to an advertisement or an advertising campaign which is immediately obvious. See S-Type Response.
CAD
abbrev. Computer-Aided Design.
Call
a visit to a client or prospective buyer by a sales representative to gather information, make a sales presentation, secure an order, or provide service.
Call Centre
an organisation established for telemarketing operations, either out-going or incoming or both.
Call Planning
the arrangement of a sales representative's visits to buyers into an orderly sequence, the setting of objectives, and the formulation of strategies for each call.
Call Report
a written record of sales calls made by a representative for submission to a supervisor. See Call.
Call-Back Approach
making a second or subsequent attempt to sell to a particular buyer, usually presenting the product from an entirely new angle. See Call.
CALLPLAN
an interactive computer program for determining the optimal number of calls to be made on each of a salesperson's accounts. See Call.
Caller-ID Technology
see Calling Number Display.
Calling Number Display
the display of a caller’s number on a telephone so that the subscriber can see who is calling before the phone is answered; sometimes called Caller-ID Technology.
CAM
Computer-Assisted Manufacturing.
Campaign
a related selection and execution of IMC activities to achieve marketing communication objectives.
Canned Approach
see Stimulus-Response Approach.
Cannibalisation
the loss of sales of an existing product to a new offering in the product line. See Planned Cannibalisation; Unplanned Cannibalisation.
Capital Items
long-lived business assets of a firm; these items usually include buildings, plant and equipment.
Capitalist System
see Free Market System.
Captioned Photograph
a photograph with a brief description of its contents, frequently issued by public relations personnel with news releases or feature articles.
Captive Market
a marketing situation in which purchasers have no choice but to buy from a single supplier.
Captive Product
a product made specifically to be used with another, such as a refill with a ball-point pen, a blade with a razor, ink cartridges with a printer, batteries with a torch.
Captive Product Pricing
a method of pricing the captive element of a product such as a razor or a ball-point refill; often the main product is sold below cost when high profits are expected on the captive component. See Captive Product; Captive Service.
Captive Service
a service which depends upon another major service for its use, and which can be priced separately. For example, a motel chain may offer accommodation at a low price when it expects to make high profits on its captive services such as mini-bar or restaurant. See Captive Product; Captive Product Pricing.
Captive Service Pricing
also referred to as Two-Part Pricing, this pricing method allows an organisation to charge a fixed fee plus a fee for usage. For instance, a telecommunications company may charge a fee for installation and connection to its Pay-TV service plus a variable rate for usage, the captive element of the service. See Captive Product; Captive Service.
Capture Site
a web page that requires viewers to give name, address and other details before access is granted; an often illegal or legally questionable tactic in which organisations gather names and addresses of interested consumers so that they can micro-target them with their selling efforts.
Card-Reading Telephone
a form of electronic dispensing machine; a telephone that allows customers to use a credit card to make calls and/or to receive and deposit cash.
Carload Freight Rate
a special rate offered to companies by railways to encourage them to ship in carload (c.l.) rather than less-than-carload (l.c.l.) quantities.
Carrying Costs
costs associated with maintaining inventory, such as financing, storage, insurance and obsolescence.
Carryover Effect in Advertising
the rate at which the effectiveness of an advertising campaign diminishes with the passing of time; for example, an advertising campaign this month may have a carryover effect of .50 next month.
Cartel
a group of firms (or nations) attempting to act as a monopoly to control the market price. See Collusion; Collusion Pricing.
Case Allowance
discount allowed on products sold to retailers to encourage them to purchase in larger quantities. See Allowances.
Cash-and-Carry Wholesaler
a wholesale firm that carries a limited line of fast-moving goods which it sells to small retailers for cash; usually, it does not deliver.
Cash Cow
a product or strategic business unit within the organisation's mix which is characterised by high market share and low market growth; a Cash Cow produces the revenue required to develop and support less successful or newer products. See Boston Consulting Group Portfolio Analysis Matrix; Dogs; Question Marks; Stars.
Cash Discount
a reduction in price offered to a buyer in return for prompt settlement of account. See Discount.
Cash Flow
the money required by a company to meet expenses in a given period.
Cash Rebate
money refunded to customers who buy merchandise from retailers within a specified time; the rebate allows dealers to clear inventories without cutting list price. For example, a new car dealer might announce that everyone who purchases a certain vehicle in the current month at the regular price of $25,000 will receive a cash rebate of $2,000.
Cash Refund Offer
a sales promotion tool in which consumers are offered a cash incentive to buy; a small part of the purchase price is refunded when a coupon attached to the product is returned to the manufacturer; also referred to as a Cash-Back Offer or Cash Rebate. See Cash-Back Offer; Cash Rebate
Cash-Back Offer
see Cash Rebate; Cash Refund Offer.
Cashing-Out
a cultural shift noted in today’s society in which some people move from the cities to the country or seaside, nostalgically seeking a simpler, more relaxed lifestyle; sometimes referred to as ‘getting out of the rat-race’.
Casual Product Classes
broad classifications of products used to describe markets in everyday terms, eg. the pet food market, the photocopier market, the breakfast foods market, etc. See Standard Product Classes.
Catalogue
a list of items, usually in booklet form, arranged in order and often with a description and price.
Catalogue Marketing
a form of direct marketing in which customers order from catalogues which are sent to them by mail; the ordered goods are shipped directly to them.
Catalogue Showroom
see Catalogue Retailer.
Catalogue Retailer
retailers who mail catalogues to their customers and maintain showrooms where samples of the products for sale are displayed; orders are filled from back-room warehouses. Also called Mail Order House.
Catalogue Selling
see Catalogue Marketing.
Category Killer
a retailer, usually with a large number of outlets, which specialises in one type of merchandise and carries a very wide range; because of its market visibility, size and buying power, the retailer make it difficult for smaller rivals to compete in that category.
Category Manager
an individual responsible for the marketing strategies of all the brands in a product line; also referred to as a Product Line Manager.
Category Management
the development, direction and control of all of the brands in one of an organisation’s entire product lines. See Category Manager; Category Team.
Category Team
a group of people within an organisation – often including a category manager, brand manager, sales planning manager, and marketing information specialist – who manage brand strategy, advertising and sales promotion for one entire product line.
CATI
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing.
CATS
Computer-Assisted Telephone Surveys
Causal Research
marketing research which examines the cause-and-effect relationship among variables.
Cause Marketing
marketing that is related to a special event, such as the Olympic Games, or to a charity or some other form of public good, such as Neighbourhood Watch or Crime Stoppers. Companies that participate in this way may seen as ‘good citizens’ and their products favoured in the marketplace. See Cause-Related Marketing.
Cause-Related Marketing
any form of marketing which links a social cause - such as road-toll reduction, responsible alcohol consumption, or bushfire readiness – to a an organisation’s product.
Caveat Emptor
a Latin term meaning ‘let the buyer beware’. The term implies that it is the customer's responsibility rather than the seller's to ensure that the goods or services offered for sale are able to deliver the desired satisfactions. Caveat Emptor is totally contrary to the marketing concept. See Caveat Vendor.
CBD
Central Business District.
Ceiling Price
see Price Ceiling.
Celebrity Endorsements
see Celebrity Testimonials.
Celebrity Testimonials
advertisements featuring endorsements of products by well-known personalities from the field of entertainment, sport, politics, etc.
Census
the collection of data from all possible sources in a population.
Central Business District
the region of a city where retail and other businesses are concentrated, with a consequent high volume of traffic.
Centralised Exchange System
a system for the trading of goods which utilises a central market. See Decentralised Exchange System.
Centre-of-Influence Method
a prospecting method based on referrals; a salesperson uses influential people (bankers, solicitors, consultants, etc) to obtain leads to potential buyers. See Key Influence People.
Cents-Off Deal
see Price Packs.
CGM
Consumer Generated Media.
Chain of Distribution
see Distribution Chain; Distribution Channel.
Chain-Ratio Method
a method of calculating total market demand for a product in which a base number, such as the total population of a country, is multiplied by several percentages, such as the number in the population above and below certain ages, the number in the population with an interest in motor sport, the number in the population with motor-cycle licences, in order to arrive at a rough estimate of the potential demand for a particular good or service (in this case, say, a new type of motor cycle helmet.)
Chain Store
a group of retail stores, centrally owned and managed, generally carrying the same kind of merchandise.
Channel
see Marketing Channels.
Channel Captain
a member of a marketing channel assuming a leadership role in organising the system in order to lessen conflict, achieve economies of scale and maximise business impact. See Marketing Channels.
Channel Conflict
discord among members in a marketing channel. See Horizontal Channel Conflict; Inter-type Channel Conflict; Marketing Channels; Vertical Channel Conflict.
Channel Design
the way in which the network is constructed to perform product distribution and delivery. See Channel Structure.
Channel Flows
the flow of physical goods and services, title, promotion, information and payment along a channel of distribution. See Marketing Channels.
Channel Leadership
see Channel Captain.
Channel Length
the number of levels of marketing intermediaries used in the channel of distribution. See Direct Marketing Channel; One Level Channel; Two Level Channel; Zero Level Channel.
Channel Levels
see Channel Length.
Channel Mix
the degree of intensiveness selected for the distribution of a product. See Exclusive Distribution; Intensive Distribution; Selective Distribution.
Channel of Distribution
see Marketing Channels.
Channel Partnership
the close linking of two or more members of a distribution channel to achieve individual and mutual objectives. For instance, two members of a channel, each performing a different function in the chain of distribution, may share premises and information.
Channel Power
the circumstances - economic or social that allow one channel member to control another. See Channel Captain.
Channel Strategy
decision-making related to the selection of the most appropriate method of controlling the flow of goods or services from producer to end-user.
Channel Structure
the way in which a network of participating intermediaries is constructed in the delivery chain to perform the required activities to achieve an organisation’s distribution goals and objectives. See Channel Design.
Channel System
a method of linking customers and intermediaries by means of an integrated communication network, providing instant ordering, better cost analysis, better inventory control, etc.
Checkout Scanner
an electronic device which scans customer purchases at point of sale and provides detailed information to management to assist with stock control, inventory management and store performance.
Chlorofluorocarbons
chemical substances believed to deplete the protective ozone layer of the earth's upper atmosphere; used until recently in refrigerants and in numerous aerosol products.
Choice Set
the final set of brands from which a consumer makes a purchase choice after some brands in the awareness set have been considered and rejected. See Awareness Set.
CIF
Cost, Insurance and Freight.
CIF Pricing
see Cost-Insurance-Freight Pricing.
Citizen Action Public
one of the several types of public which may influence an organisation's decision-making; a group within a community which may exert pressure on an organisation to act in a certain way; a pressure group. See Pressure Group; Publics.
Class Rate
the standard charge for the shipment of goods by a carrier.
Classical Conditioning
a phenomenon described by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), in which a significant stimulus which evokes an innate, often reflexive, response is accompanied by another unrelated stimulus; if the two stimuli are repeatedly paired, an organism will learn to respond in the same way to the second stimulus alone. Also called Pavlovian Conditioning or Respondent Conditioning
Classified Advertising
print media advertising in which similar goods and services are grouped together in categories under appropriate headings.
Clickstream
the path taken by website visitors as they move from one page or site to another when browsing.
Clicksteam Analysis
the analysis of statistical data provided by the path and pattern of visitors to a website as they search for information.
Clincher
an additional inducement offered to a potential buyer by a salesperson in order to close a sale; inducements might include price discounts, rebates, extended credit, or reduced delivery charges.
Close
the critical final stage in the selling process in which the salesperson attempts to obtain the buyer's commitment to the purchase.
Closed Promotion
a sales promotion which is available only to a specific, high-potential target; for example, a bank might wish to target graduating university students and send coupons to them by mail. See Open Promotion.
Closed Territory
an exclusive territory assigned by a manufacturer to a particular reseller; the reseller is required to sell only to customers within the territory. Closed territories are generally illegal under the Trade Practices Act.
Closed-End Question
a question which allows a respondent to choose an answer from a given list. See Open-End Question.
Closing
the act of gaining a commitment from a buyer to a purchase.
Closing Signals
see Buying Signals.
Closing Skill
the ability of a salesperson to obtain a buyer's commitment to the purchase.
Closing Techniques
methods employed by a salesperson when asking a buyer for an order and aimed at obtaining a favourable response...
Club Marketing Program
a marketing program designed specifically for regular and frequent purchasers of a company’s product or for those who have a special interest in it; these consumers, who may be automatically enrolled or invited to apply for club membership, are usually offered special prices or other incentives to reward them for their loyalty.
Cluster Analysis
a multivariate statistical technique used to identify entities with similar characteristics from those without them.
Cluster Sample
a form of probability sample where respondents are drawn from a random sample of mutually exclusive groups (usually geographic areas) within a total population; also called an area sample. See Stratified Sample.
Clutter
All non-programming time on radio and TV; this includes time given to advertsing commercials, station or channel promotions, station or channel identifications and program credits. Excessively high clutter levels may result in audience tune-out. See Clutter Level; Audience Tune-Out.
Clutter Level
see Audience Tune-Out; Clutter; Customer Wearout.
Co-Branding
a brand management strategy in which two or more well-established brand names of different companies appear on the same product.
Cocooning
a cultural or lifestyle trend characterised by the tendency of some people, greatly concerned by the levels of aggression and violence in modern life, to spend much of their time indoors at home; such people are natural targets for products such as movie rentals, Pay-TV and e-magazines.
Cognitive Dissonance
a doubt that surfaces when a buyer becomes aware that an alternative product may offer more desirable benefits than the one purchased. The buyer is anxious, wondering whether the right choice has been made.
Cold Calling
making a sales call on a client without an appointment.
Cold Canvassing
see Cold Calling
Collusion
agreement between a group of companies to fix a common price. See Cartel.
Collusion Pricing
see Collusion.
Combination Branding
emphasising a corporate or family name as well as an individual brand name in product marketing. See Corporate Branding; Family Brand.
Combination Store
a retail outlet which sells a mix of product types, such as groceries and clothing.
Command System
see Planned Economy; Controlled Allocation System.
Commercial
a television advertisement .
Commercial Data
information which can be purchased from marketing research firms which specialise in the collection and analysis of statistics of various kinds, including grocery sales at supermarkets, motor vehicle sales, TV and radio ratings and lifestyles and values of the population.
Commercial Traveller
a late nineteenth century term of American origin for a salesperson.
Commercialisation
the final stage of the new product development process in which the decision is made to put the new product into full scale production and to launch it. See New Product Development; Product Launch.
Commission
a payment made to a salesperson based on a percentage of the value of the goods sold.
Commission Override
a commission paid to a sales manager based on a percentage of his or her salespeople's commissions.
Commodity
see Commodity Product; Commodity Markets.
Commodity Markets
markets typified by the homogeneity of products and a virtual irrelevance of branding.
Commodity Product
a product that cannot be significantly differentiated from competitors' products.
Commodity Rate
a rate which is applied in any situation where freight is product specific rather than based on volume or weight; also called a Special Rate.
Common Carrier
regular, scheduled transportation services such as railways, airlines and trucking lines, available to all users.
Common Market
a group of geographically associated countries limiting trade barriers among member nations and applying common tariffs to products from non-members; also known as regional trading blocks. See European Common Market.
Communicability
the extent to which the benefits of a new product are likely to be noticed and discussed by consumers; a major determinant of the rate of new product adoption.
Communication Effect of Advertising
the influence that an advertisement or some other form of promotional activity might have, is having, or has had, on consumers or on the usage of a product advertised. See Advertising Effectiveness.
Communication Process
the process by which a message, encoded by a sender, is transmitted through a medium to a receiver, who encodes the message and provides feedback.
Communications
see Marketing Communication.
Community Service
as part of their public relations programs, organisations will sometimes engage in community service activities of some kind – for example, the free provision of plastic bags or cardboard cartons for ‘Clean Up Australia Day’ or the uniforms for sporting teams; such activities are designed to create or improve public goodwill.
Community Shopping Centre
a group of independently-owned retail stores, 15 to 50 in number; a community shopping centre will commonly include a branch of a major discount department or variety store, a supermarket, specialty stores and a bank, as well as some professional offices. A community shopping centre is smaller than a regional shopping centre and larger than a neighbourhood shopping centre. See Neighbourhood Shopping Centre; Regional Shopping Centre.
Company Brand Strength
an indicator of the success of an organisation, often measured by the proportion of product-markets in which the organisation has the leading brand.
Company Culture
see Organisational Culture.
Company Demand
the demand for a specific firm’s product as a proportion of the total market demand; also referred to as Selective Demand. See Primary Demand; Selective Demand.
Company Mission
see Corporate Mission.
Company Sales Potential
the maximum level of sales a company can expect to achieve in the forecast period with its present and planned levels of marketing effort and expenditure and the given set of market conditions.
Company Survival
the major objective of a business firm or organisation; a powerful influence on the way the firm or organisation prices its products.
Comparative Advertising
advertising in which a firm names a competitor's product and compares it with its own; also called Comparison Advertising. See Competitive Advertising.
Comparative Influence
one of three types of influence exerted on consumers (with informational influence and normative influence) by reference groups; comparative influence occurs when the reference group provides the means by which consumers compare their beliefs, attitudes and behaviour - the more similarity there is between a consumer's opinions and those of his or her reference group, the greater the comparative influence of that group. See Reference Group; Informative Influence; Normative Influence.
Comparison Advertising
see Comparative Advertising.
Comparison Pricing
a pricing method in which the price for a new product is set by comparing the benefits it offers to those of other products in the same category.
Compatibility
the extent to which a new product requires consumers to adjust to unfamiliar methods of use; a major determinant of the rate of new product adoption. See Adoption Rate Determinants.
Compensation
remuneration for work done on behalf of another.
Compensation (in International Markets)
a situation in which an organisation sells plant, equipment or other technologies to a manufacturer in a foreign country and agrees to take payment in the form of finished product. Also referred to as Buy-Back.
Compensation Method
handling a buyer's objection by admitting the validity of the objection but pointing out some advantage that compensates for it. See Objections.
Compensation Systems
schemes for remunerating salespeople for tasks performed; commonly used systems include straight salary, straight commission, and a combination of salary and incentives.
Competition
see Competitors.
Competition-Based Pricing
see Competition-Oriented Pricing.
Competition-Oriented Pricing
a method of pricing in which a manufacturer's price is determined more by the price of a similar product sold by a powerful competitor than by considerations of consumer demand and cost of production; also referred to as Competition-Based Pricing. See Cost-Plus Pricing; Target Return Pricing; Value Pricing.
Competitive Advantage
that which one firm can do better than another to satisfy consumer needs and wants.
Competitive Advertising
advertising which points out features of a brand which may not be available in other brands but does not directly name a competitor. See Comparative Advertising.
Competitive Analysis
the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of competing firms.
Competitive Attack Strategies
options available for attacking a competitor; these include a frontal attack (head-on), a flanking attack (attack at a point of weakness), an encirclement attack (attack on several fronts at once), a by-pass attack (attack by diversifying into new territories, products or technologies) and a guerilla attack (attack by waging small, intermittent skirmishes).
Competitive Bidding
a process in which buyers request potential suppliers to submit quotations or tenders for a proposed purchase or contract.
Competitive Depositioning
attempting to change the beliefs of buyers about the attributes of a competitor's product; the attempt may be especially useful in cases where buyers generally have an inflated perception of the quality of a competitor's product. See Market Positioning.
Competitive Environment
that part of the company's external environment which consists of other firms vying for patronage of the same market.
Competitive Equilibrium
a market situation of relatively stable competitive position and activity.
Competitive Myopia
marketing short-sightedness in regard to the activity of competitors.
Competitive Niche
a segment in a market in which a company can compete effectively.
Competitive Parity Budgeting
a method of allocating a promotion budget based on matching the activity of a major competitor.
Competitive Parity Pricing
a method of pricing in which an organisation’s prime focus is the prices its competitors are charging for their comparative goods and services.
Competitive Position
an organisation's ranking in its industry by size and business strength; hypothetically, each competitor may be classified as a market leader, market challenger, market follower, or market nicher, according to the market share it holds. See Competitive Situation.
Competitive Scope
the breadth or narrowness of an organisation's focus as measured horizontally by the range of industries, market segments, or geographical regions it targets, or vertically by the degree to which it is integrated.
Competitive Situation
the standing of an organisation in its markets, relative to its competitors, when all players are described in terms of their size, resources, capabilities, product range and quality, marketing strategies, opportunities, goals, intentions, behaviour and similar variables. See Competitive Position.
Competitive Strategy
planning and actions intended to give a company an advantage over its competitors.
Competitors
firms vying for patronage of the same market. See Brand Competitors; Enterprise Competitors; Generic Competitors; Product-Form Competitors; Service-Form Competitors.
Competitor-Centred Company
a company that makes its operational and marketing decisions based primarily on reactions to moves made by its competitors. See Customer-Centred Company; Market-Centred Company.
Complaint System
any organised and efficient method of handling complaints to enhance customer satisfaction and encourage repeat purchasing.
Complementary Product Pricing
the pricing of one product at the optimum level, regardless of cost or profit considerations, so that the demand for another product which is used with it will increase and so maximise the profits from both products together.
Complete Segmentation
the division of a market into segments consisting of individual customers and tailoring a product and marketing program for each. See Custom Marketing; Customised Marketing Mix; Disaggregated Market.
Complex Decision Making
in consumer behaviour, buying which is associated with the purchasing of high-involvement products which are important to the consumer and therefore require considerable thought and effort. Also referred to as Extensive Problem Solving. See High-Involvement Products.
Complexity
the degree of difficulty which a purchaser of a new product has in understanding it; a major determinant of the rate of new product adoption. See Adoption Rate Determinants.
Computer Modelling
constructing and manipulating computer-based simulations of marketing situations to examine the consequences of alternative courses of action; computer models, often developed from an analysis of historical data, may be used to determine the optimum level of advertising and other promotional expenditure, etc. See Advertising Budget Determination.
Computer-Aided Design
the use of computer technologies to plan and design products for manufacture to improve efficiency and reduce wastage.
Computer-Aided Manufacturing
the use of computer technologies to manufacture products to increase productivity.
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing
in marketing research, the use of computers to manage the selection of respondents, the interviewing process and data collection and analysis.
Computer-Assisted Telephone Surveys
See Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing.
Concentrated Marketing
a marketing segmentation strategy in which the firm concentrates its entire efforts and resources on serving one segment of the market; also called Niche Marketing.
Concentrated Segmentation Strategy
one of four possible segmentation strategies (with market segment expansion strategy, product line expansion strategy and differentiated segmentation strategy); in a concentrated segmentation strategy a firm targets one product to one segment of the market. See Segmentation Strategies; Market Segment Expansion Strategy; Product Line Expansion Strategy; Differentiated Segmentation.
Concentric Diversification
a growth strategy in which a company seeks to grow and develop by adding new products to its existing product lines to attract new customers; also called convergent diversification. See Conglomerate Diversification; Horizontal Diversification.
Concept Development and Testing
a two-phase stage in the development of a new product in which potential buyers are presented first with the idea or description of the new product (concept testing) and later with the product itself in final or prototype form (product testing), in order to obtain their reaction. See Product Testing; New Product Development.
Conference Selling
a selling situation in which a salesperson enlists the assistance of other people in the company (technicians, engineers, etc.) in meeting with a group of buyers from different firms to explain a new product or discuss problems and opportunities. See Group Selling; Team Selling.
Conglomerate Diversification
a growth strategy in which a company seeks to develop by adding totally unrelated products and markets to its existing business. See Concentric Diversification; Horizontal Diversification.
Conjoint Analysis
a statistical technique used to determine the optimal combination of variables.
Conjunctive Model (of Brand Evaluation)
the idea that consumers establish minimum attribute levels which acceptable brands must possess; when about to make a purchase, they will consider only those brands that exhibit a conjunction of all the minimum requirements. Other models of brand evaluation include the expectancy-value model, ideal brand model, disjunctive model, lexicographic model and determinance model.
Consequence Probes
verbal tactics used by a salesperson to illustrate the disadvantages to a buyer of not making a particular purchase.
Consideration Set
alternatives which consumers actively consider before making their final purchase decision; also referred to as the evoked set. See Evoked Set.
Consultative Selling
an approach to personal selling emphasising the role of the salesperson as consultant; the salesperson assists the buyer to identify needs and find need-satisfactions in the product range, seeking to build long-term customer relationships leading to repeat business. See Relationship Selling.
Consumables
see Consumer Non-Durables.
Consumer Attitudes
see Attitudes.
Consumer Behaviour
the behaviour of individuals when buying goods and services for their own use or for private consumption.
Consumer Credit
finance made available by leading companies to consumers for purchases with arrangements having been made for the loan to be repaid with interest.
Consumer Durables
a classification of consumer products consisting of goods with a long useful life, such as cars, electrical appliances and furniture. See Consumer Non-Durables.
Consumer Franchise
the understanding consumers have of a brand. See Franchise-Building Sales Promotions.
Consumer Generated Media
consumer-created advertising space on the internet.
Consumer Goods
items purchased by consumers for personal and household use; consumer goods are classified as durables and non-durables. See Convenience Goods; Shopping Goods; Specialty Goods; Unsought Goods.
Consumer Market
buyers and potential buyers of goods and services for personal and household use.
Consumer Needs
Forces directed to specific goals that can be achieved by purchase behaviour. The motive force for directing to one brand or another.
Consumer Non-Durables
a classification of frequently purchased consumer goods; non-durables are items which are consumed in one use or a few uses; expendables. Consumer non-durables are further sub-divided into packaged and non-packaged goods. See Consumer Durables; Packaged Goods; Non-Packaged Goods.
Consumer Product Classes
categories of goods and services bought by consumers for their personal use; classes include convenience goods, shopping goods, specialty goods, unsought goods, and services.
Consumer Research
marketing research into the requirements, opinions, attitudes, etc. of consumers.
Consumer Rights
fair entitlements due to consumers when buying from producers and resellers.
Consumer Sales Promotion
promotional activity - excluding advertising, personal selling and publicity - intended to motivate potential purchasers of personal and household products to buy.
Consumer Sovereignty
the principle that holds that production and supply are driven by the purchasing decisions of consumers.
Consumer Wearout
a decrease in the effectiveness of an advertisement or promotional campaign due to boredom and familiarity.
Consumerism
a social movement intended to safeguard the rights of consumers.
Consummatory Advertising
advertising which stresses the benefits of taking immediate action to purchase.
Contactual Reference Group
a group with which an individual has contact and which influences the individual's purchase decisions. See Aspirational Group; Dissociative Reference Group; Membership Group; Reference Groups.
Containerisation
the transportation of unitised and palletised goods by means of large crates or containers. See Palletisation; Unitisation.
Contests
a form of sales promotion in which consumers are induced to buy earlier, or in greater quantity, by the offer of prizes of cash or merchandise to be won in a competition. See Sales Promotion.
Contingent Method
see "What if..." Method (of handling sales objections.)
Continuity
the scheduling of media exposures of a particular advertisement or campaign evenly within a given period. See Flighting; Pulsing.
Continuous Marketing Research
on-going marketing research (as opposed to that conducted for a specific purpose.) See Ad Hoc Marketing Research.
Continuum of Planning
the idea that planning is a multi-level process, beginning at the top with corporate planning and going downwards through all divisions of the firm, with each subsequent level linked to the one above it by the over-riding mission and objectives of the corporation.
Continuum of Sales Jobs
the idea that all kinds of sales jobs are similar in some respects but vary in the degree of difficulty involved; the difficulty is linked to the amount of creativity required in finding new customers and persuading them to buy, and to the tangibility and complexity of the product.
Contract Carrier
a transportation firm operating exclusively in one industry and tied to a particular firm by contract.
Contract Law
the body of law relating to contracts.
Contract Manufacturing
the production and marketing by agreement of a company's product by an overseas firm.
Contract Rate
a charge negotiated between carrier and shipper for the transportation of a commodity; sometimes called a Negotiated Rate.
Contraction Defence
a competitive strategy in which a large organisation withdraws from a market or market segment in which it is not strong in order to concentrate on another market or other segments in which it has greater strength; also referred to as Strategic Withdrawal.
Contractual Sales Force
salespeople who are not full or part-time paid representatives of a company but who sell for it on a commission basis; also referred to as a Contract Sales Force.
Contractual Vertical Marketing System
a form of vertical marketing system in which independent firms at different levels of distribution are tied together by contract to achieve economies of scale and greater sales impact. See Administered Vertical Marketing System; Corporate Vertical Marketing System; Vertical Marketing System.
Control-Oriented Pricing
a system of pricing in which a product's price is controlled by government or by some regulating body.
Controlled Allocation System
see Planned Economy; Command System.
Controlled Variable
any other element, apart from the manipulated independent variable, which could cause a dependent variable to change in an experiment.
Convenience Goods
a category of consumer goods which are bought frequently, quickly and with a minimum of emotional involvement; the category includes staples, impulse goods and emergency goods. See Consumer Product; Emergency Goods; Impulse Goods; Staples.
Convenience Product
a category of consumer product purchased frequently and with little thought and effort.
Convenience Sample
a form of nonprobability sample in which the researcher selects readily available respondents.
Convenience Store
a neighbourhood store which stocks frequently purchased items such as milk, bread and cigarettes.
Convergent Diversification
diversification into related businesses. See Concentric Diversification; Divergent Acquisition; Diversification.
Conversion Operations
activities that include the manufacture or production of finished products from raw materials.
Conversional Marketing
marketing activity intended to get people to change their ideas and attitudes about something they dislike.
Cookies
short pieces of text that are left on a website visitor’s computer so that on subsequent visits that visitor can be identified and the number of repeat visits counted.
Cooling-Off Period
a short period of time, usually a few days, in which purchasers of a product may void a sale contract if they change their minds about purchasing the goods offered.
Cooperative Advertising
advertising sponsored by two or more organisations to promote the goods or services of each.
Copy Strategy Statement
a document prepared by advertising agency executives as a guide for their creative staff in the preparation and execution of an advertisement; the copy strategy statement describes the objectives, content, support and tone of the desired advertisement.
Copy Testing
the pre-testing of advertising copy for print advertisements, usually by giving respondents a portfolio of dummy advertisements in a magazine format and asking them to recall copy points; or the post-testing of advertising copy, usually by asking respondents to look through an actual magazine and then comment on advertisements they remember.
Copycat Product
a product that has been designed, branded or packaged to look exactly like that of a well-established competitor; a cheap imitation.
Copyright
protection in law afforded to authors, musicians, artists, etc. in respect to the works they have created.
Core Product
the intangible benefit or service offered by a product; for example, the core product offered to a purchaser of shampoo is clean, healthy hair. See Actual Product; Augmented Product.
Corporate Advertising
a form of institutional advertising focussing not on a particular product or product range but on the organisation itself; the objective of corporate advertising may be patronage, image or issue. See Corporate Image Advertising; Corporate Issue Advertising; Corporate Patronage Advertising; Institutional Advertising.
Corporate Branding
associating the name of a corporation with the individual brand name in product marketing, usually to ensure that new product introductions will be more readily accepted; differs from family branding in that corporate branding is used for all products of the company or division rather than merely for a family of brands. See Family Brand; Individual Brand; Individual Brand Name; Product Line Brand Name; Single Brand Name.
Corporate Culture
the particular strategies, style, systems, environment and shared values within an organisation which contribute to its individuality.
Corporate Family Name
see Family Brand.
Corporate Image
the identity or perception of itself that an organisation attempts to convey to its publics, usually through corporate advertising. See Corporate Advertising; Corporate Image Advertising.
Corporate-Image Advertising
advertising aimed at establishing an identity for a firm in the public mind. See Corporate Advertising; Corporate Image.
Corporate-Issue Advertising
advertising in which an organisation states publicly its position on a controversial issue. See Advocacy Advertising; Corporate Advertising.
Corporate Logo
a mark, design, symbol, etc. used to identify, and reflect an appropriate image of a company or organisation; a form of institutional reminder advertising.
Corporate Mission Statement
the answer to the question "What business are we in?"; the corporate mission statement, with a broad focus and a customer orientation, provides management with a sense of purpose.
Corporate Objectives
specific, realistic and measurable goals which an organisation plans to achieve within a given period of time.
Corporate-Patronage Advertising
advertising which encourages customers to patronise the firm. See Corporate Advertising.
Corporate Planning
planning at the highest level in an organisation, involving an analysis of the current situation, the setting of objectives, the formulation of strategies and tactics, implementation and evaluation. See Strategic Planning.
Corporate Sponsorship
a form of below-the-line advertising in which a corporation offers funding to a group, association, sporting body, etc. in return for a range of promotional opportunities. See Below-the-Line Advertising.
Corporate Strategic Planning
see Strategic Planning.
Corporate Strategy
the planned means by which an organisation intends to use its resources to achieve its goals and objectives. See Strategic Planning.
Corporate Umbrella
a term used in reference to the use made of the corporate name and corporate image as a shield for new product introductions, etc.
Corporate Vertical Marketing System
a system of distribution channel organisation in which the orderly flow of products from producer to end-user is controlled by common ownership of the different levels of the system. See Administered Vertical Marketing System; Contractual Vertical Marketing System; Vertical Marketing System.
Corrective Advertising
advertising to correct erroneous claims or misleading messages in previous promotional announcements.
Correlation Techniques
a range of statistical techniques used to discover relationships between diverse elements in a marketing situation.
Cost Advantage
the competitive edge which can be gained by one company over another by reducing production or marketing costs or both so that it can offer cheaper prices or use excess profits to bolster promotion or distribution. See Absolute Cost Advantage; Cost Leadership Advantage; Marketing Advantage.
Cost of Goods Sold
the price paid by a company for the goods it sells to its customers.
Cost-Insurance-Freight Pricing
a pricing approach common in exporting; the price quoted to the buyer includes "cost, insurance and freight".
Cost Leadership Advantage
the type of competitive advantage which an organisation enjoys if its total operating costs are lower than those of its competitors, providing that it can charge an equal price for its product; this will mean that its gross operating profit will be greater than its competitors, allowing it to further enhance its product, to reduce its price and/or to withstand price wars. See Cost Advantage; Differentiation Advantage.
Cost-Per-Thousand Criterion
a measure for comparing the cost effectiveness of media vehicles, calculated by dividing the cost of an advertisement in a particular medium by the number of thousands of its circulation.
Cost-Plus Pricing
a simple method of pricing in which a specified amount or percentage, known as the standard mark-up, is added to the unit cost of production of an item to determine its selling price. See Competition-Oriented Pricing; Target Return Pricing; Value Pricing.
Cost/Profit Analysis
a sales management control measure involving the calculation of expenditure incurred in making sales; profitability analysis.
Counsellor Approach
see Adviser Close.
Counter Advertising
advertising sponsored by pressure groups in opposition to certain products.
Counter-Offensive Defence
a competitive strategy in which a strong market leader retaliates against a smaller rival which has attacked it; the manner of retaliation might include a dramatic increase in advertising and promotion, or price-cutting, or the simultaneous launch of innovative new products.
Counterfeiting
the copying of a competitor's well-known products. Some counterfeit products are intended to look as much like the original as possible, including the brand name; others are close, but not exact, copies; still others are cheap and unconvincing imitations. Counterfeiting is generally illegal.
Countermarketing
marketing activity intended to abolish interest in, and demand for, a product.
Countertrade
a system of international trade based on bartering; such transactions may or may not involve cash payments.
Counter-Purchase
in international marketing, a situation where a seller receives full payment in cash for the goods and services it sells to a foreign country but agrees to spend some portion of the amount received in that same country within a specified time.
Coupon
a popular form of sales promotion, distributed on the package of the product, by direct mail, or in newspaper and magazine advertisements; the consumer is usually offered "cents-off" the next purchase upon presentation of the coupon.
CPA
Critical Path Analysis.
CPT
Cost-Per-Thousand.
Creative Brief
a document prepared by an organisation to inform those involved in planning and implementing its advertising and promotion message of the required strategic direction.
Creative Selling
an approach to selling in which salespeople aggressively seek out customers and use well-planned strategies to secure orders.
Creative Strategy
the planned design, content and manner of delivery of an organisation’s marketing communication.
Credibility
in advertising, the trustworthiness of the message; organisations often try to enhance the trustworthiness of their advertising by selecting highly credible sources to deliver their messages. For example, a firm which manufactures toothpaste might have a dentist deliver the message, while a firm which sells bathroom fittings might chose a plumber.
Credit
the allowance of time in which to pay for a purchase. See Consumer Credit.
Credit Card
a small card, usually of plastic, used to obtain consumer products without immediate payment; the card is issued by a financial institution on the understanding that the consumer repays sums spent against the card with interest.
Credit Terms
conditions negotiated between seller and buyer relating to the time within which the buyer is obliged to pay for the products purchased and any discounts to be allowed by the seller for earlier payment or additional services performed.
Critical-Path Analysis
a planning technique used to keep projects on schedule; a flowchart shows time allotments and priorities for each activity.
Cross Docking
a marketing logistics technique, enabled by modern computer and communication technologies, which allows organisations to receive inwards goods from suppliers and ship them straight out again to customers without the need for storage in a warehouse.
Cross Elasticity of Demand
a measure of the affect a change in the price of one product will have on the demand for a substitute or complementary product. See Elasticity of Demand.
Cross-Functional Team
in integrated logistics management, a group of distribution specialists within an organisation responsible for controlling and directing the inward and outward movement of goods rather than different functions (for example, the sales and production departments) being responsible for their own distribution decisions.
Cross-Over Selling
see Cross-Selling.
Cross-Referencing (of Data)
a practice, often illegal when undertaken without permission, in which organisations exchange data on their individual customers and/or clients in order to build stronger databases through which they can target prospective customers more precisely.
Cross-Selling
selling by a salesperson of some part of the company's total product range for which another division or salesperson has prime responsibility.
Cue
an environmental entity (advertisement, sign, store display, etc) which results in a specific response to satisfy a drive. See Learning.
Cultural Diversity
the range of different value systems existing in a multicultural society.
Cultural Values
ideas, beliefs, attitudes, opinions, principles, etc long cherished by members of a society.
Culture
the basic beliefs and values cherished by a society as a whole and handed down from one generation to the next.
Cumulative Quantity Discount
a price reduction offered to a purchaser in which the amount of the discount increases over time with the volume purchased. See Non-Cumulative Quantity Discount.
Curbside Sales Training
informal coaching or training of a sales representative by a supervisor in the field. See Buddy System; Formal Training; On-the-Job Training.
Current Market Demand
the maximum level of sales available to all the firms in a market during a given period, with a given level of marketing effort, and under a given set of market conditions.
Current Profit Maximisation
a price setting objective in which organisations set a price for a product that will give maximum profits, cash flow or return on investment in the short term without regard to long-run performance.
Current Ratio
the commonest of three financial ratios used to evaluate a firm's liquidity; current assets are expressed as a percentage of current liabilities. See Acid-Test Ratio; Quick Ratio.
Curve Fitting
a method of analysing associative data in which a number of possible curve shapes - straight lines, concave, convex, s-shaped etc - are used with historical data to discover trends or relationships.
Custom Marketing
marketing activity in which a company attempts to satisfy the unique needs of every customer; also called Market Atomisation Strategy. See Disaggregated Market; Complete Segmentation; Customised Marketing Mix.
Custom Publishing
the publishing of a magazine by an organisation wishing to strengthen its bonds with its customers and to exercise greater control over the editorial environment in which its advertisements appear; a custom published magazine will usually carry outside advertisements as well in order to defray the cost of the launch and lend an air of legitimacy. Jenny Craig International, Mary Kay Cosmetics, the Benetton Group and IBM Corp. have all launched magazines.
Customary Price
the traditional price; the price that consumers expect to pay for a certain product.
Customer Database
an organised collection containing comprehensive information about individual customers and/or potential customers, including such details as geodemographics, lifestyles and preferences, past purchases, product enquiries and satisfaction levels; the database may be used to generate sales leads, promote new products, and foster customer relationships in a finely-targeted way.
Customer Delivered Value
the difference between total customer value, or the value a customer places on a product, and the total customer cost, or the cost to the customer – in money and effort - of making the purchase; customers will usually buy from the firm which they believe offers maximum delivered value.
Customer Delight
a stage of pleasure with a product’s features and performance over and above customer satisfaction; some marketers argue that firms should not be satisfied with simply offering ‘customer service’ but that they should strive for ‘customer satisfaction’ and, beyond that, to ‘customer delight’.
Customer Fulfilment
the delivery of a product to the customer who has placed an order; the fulfilment may also entail the collection of payment, the provision of product information and installation.
Customer Intimacy
the notion that organisations should get to understand customers so well that they can tailor their offerings to match their needs and wants precisely; the use of customer databases assists in this endeavour. See Customer Database.
Customer Lifetime Value
The difference between the total revenue received from a particular customer and the total cost of attracting, selling to, and servicing that customer.
Customer Loyalty
the level of faithfulness shown by a customer in continuing to purchase a particular product or brand; customer loyalty is an indicator of the degree of satisfaction the customer has with the product.
Customer Marketing Channels
channels of distribution in consumer markets; these channels may differ from industrial marketing channels which often have fewer levels. See Industrial Marketing Channels.
Customer Need Management
The management of customer demand to ensure efficient and reliable supply of an organisation’s goods or services.
Customer Orientation
see Customer-Oriented Management.
Customer Record
a card, slip or computer file on which is recorded pertinent facts about a prospect or customer (name, address, account history, etc.) as an aid to making a sale when next contacted by a salesperson.
Customer Relations Department
a division of an organisation with responsibility for ensuring that customers are satisfied with the goods or services they have purchased and with the way the organisation has served them.
Customer Relationship
the trust, bond or connection, if any, that exists between an organisation and a customer; firms try to build strong customer relationships to ensure repeat purchasing.
Customer Retention
maintaining the existing customer base by establishing good relations with all who buy the company's product.
Customer Salesforce Structure
A salesforce which is organised in such a way that its members sell only to certain kinds of customers or industries. For example, some members of the salesforce of a soft-drink manufacturer may focus its efforts only on supermarkets while others may sell only sell to hotels or restaurants. See Salesforce Organisation.
Customer Satisfaction
the degree to which customers are pleased with the product and are likely to purchase the same product, or from the same company, again. See Customer Delight.
Customer Satisfaction Survey
the systematic measuring of the level of customer satisfaction with a product or marketing program, usually conducted by questionnaire or telephone; also referred to simply as a customer survey. See Customer Survey.
Customer Service
a wide variety of activities intended to ensure that customers receive the goods and services they require to satisfy their needs or wants in the most effective and efficient manner possible.
Customer Orientation
see Customer-Oriented Management.
Customer Panels
see Focus Group.
Customer Philosophy
see Marketing Philosophy.
Customer Retention
a measure of customer satisfaction, shown by the customer’s repeat purchases; most firms like to track customer retention as a measure of their loyalty.
Customer Surveys
see Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Customer Training
training in the proper and efficient use of equipment given by a vendor to its customer's employees; provision of training by the vendor not only adds value to the product but also offers the vendor a means of differentiating itself from suppliers of the same or similar equipment.
Customer Value
the difference between the benefits and satisfaction derived by customers from the products they buy and own and the costs involved in buying them.
Customer Value Analysis
an organisation's rating of the value it provides to its customers relative to that provided by its competitors.
Customer Value Building
to develop stronger bonds with customers, many organisations attempt to provide greater satisfaction and increased loyalty with measures such as bonus point systems, frequent-flyer programs, upgrades and other financial benefits.
Customer-Centred Company
a company that has its customers as its primary focus when designing its marketing strategies. See Competitor-Centred Company; Market-Centered Company.
Customer-Driven Distribution Systems
a system of distribution designed with customer requirements rather than a company's convenience in mind.
Customer-Oriented Management
a management philosophy or state-of-mind in which it is recognised that the effective and efficient satisfaction of customer needs and wants provides the surest means of achieving the organisation's own goals.
Customised Marketing Mix
in international marketing, a marketing program uniquely designed for a particular country. See Complete Segmentation; Custom Marketing; Disaggregated Market; Market Atomisation Strategy.
Cybernet Cafe
a shop or retail store that provides internet-access for customers for a fee, often combining this with the provision of food and beverages, laundromat, or similar, or with sales of photographic equipment, computer parts and accessories, or other goods and services.
Cycle-Time Reduction
seeking a competitive advantage, many firms invest in a range of techniques, processes and technologies, including computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing and just-in-time manufacturing in order to reduce the time it takes to design, develop and manufacture new products and get them to customers. See Computer-Aided Design; Computer-Aided Manufacturing; Just-in-Time Manufacturing.