Advertising - A paid form of communication and promotion involving a product and its attributes.
Agent - An intermediary who does not take title to merchandise but facilitates exchanges by bringing buyers and sellers together.
Brand - An identification (name, symbol, etc.) of a product that is unique and distinguishable from competitor’s products.
Channel of distribution - A product’s trip from producer or manufacturer to the buyer.
Coupon - A certificate that entitles a consumer to a price reduction or a cash refund. Demand - A schedule of the amount of a product that will be purchased at various prices.
Discount - A deduction from the list price in the form of cash or something else of value.
Forecasting - To predict the quantity of a product that will be sold at various times in the future.
Income - Money received in return for labor or services provided, sale of assets and return on investments.
Intermediary - An independent or corporate-owned business that helps move products from the producer to the ultimate consumer.
Label - A tag or part of a package that provides information about a product.
Market - A group of individuals with unsatisfied wants and needs who are willing and able buyers. It can be defined as narrowly as a specific place where buying and selling takes place or as broadly as the demand for a product.
Marketing research - A systematic and objective approach to developing and providing information for decision making regarding a specific marketing problem.
Marketing strategy - Marketing approach or method used to achieve a marketing goal.
Packaging - Designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product. Personal selling - Person-to-person communication in which the receiver provides immediate feedback on the source’s message. Purchasing - To obtain a product in exchange for money or its equivalent.
Price - The amount of money asked in exchange for something else (e.g. product).
Price fixing - When several firms in an industry collectively establish the price for a product.
Pricing strategies (market based) -- Approaches to setting prices based on the willingness of the buyer to purchase the product.
Pricing strategies (cost based) - Approaches to setting prices based on the cost of producing the product.
Pricing strategies (geography based) - Approaches to setting price based on the location and transportation costs associated with delivering the product to the buyer.
Product - Something produced that is sold to willing buyers.
Product distribution - The process of providing a product when and where it is desired by the consumer.
Promotion - Providing and communicating favorable information about a product to potential buyers.
Quality control - The traditional approach to quality in which problems are detected after manufacturing and an effort is made to remove sub-standard products before shipping to customers. Retailing - All activities used to sell products to ultimate consumers.
Selling - Assisting or persuading a prospective customer to buy a product.
Transaction - An exchange between two or more parties. Value proposition - How a product will provide value to its customers. Why a product will provide sufficient value to its customers to be worth its price. Wholesaling - All of the activities involved in selling products to retailers: to industrial, institutional, farm and professional businesses; or to other types of wholesaling intermediaries.
Don Hofstrand, retired extension value added agriculture specialist, |