Adoption process:- is a series of stages by which a consumer might adopt a NEW product or service.

Whether it be Services or Products, in todays competitive world, a consumer is faced with a lot of choices. How does he make a decision to ADOPT a new product is the Adoption process. There are numerous stages of adoption which a consumer goes through. These stages may happen before or even after the actual adoption. 1. Awareness - This is the area where major marketeers spend billions of dollars. Simply speaking, if you are not AWARE of the product, you are never going to BUY the product. 2. Interest and Information Search - Once you are aware, you start searching for information. Whether it be your daily soap, your car or for that matter your home, you wont buy it unless you KNOW about it. 3. Evaluation / Trial - Evaluation is wherein you test or have a trial of the product. This is pretty difficult in services as services are generally intangible in nature. However service marketing managers do find ways of offering Trial packs to users. Comparatively, it is pretty easier in Product marketing and finds a major usage in BTL ( Below the Line) sales promotion. 4. Adoption - The actual adoption of the product. Wherein the consumer finally decides to adopt the product.

Attitude:- An attitude in marketing terms is defined as a general evaluation of a product

or service formed over time (Solomon, 2008). An attitude satisfies a personal motiveand at the same time, affects the shopping and buying habits of consumers. Dr. Lars Perner (2010) defines consumer attitude simply as a composite of a consumers beliefs, feelings, and behavioral intentions toward some object within the context of marketing Marketing buzz or simply buzz a term used in word-of-mouth marketing is the interaction of consumers and users of a product or service which serves to amplify the original marketing message,
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vague but positive association, excitement, or anticipation about a product or service. It is also called viral marketing.

cash cow :- In business, a cash cow is a product or a business unit that generates unusually
high profit margins: so high that it is responsible for a large amount of a company's operating profit. But growth rate is low.

Category Killer:-

Competitive advantage:- A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors

gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices.

Demarketing:-1. (economic definition) A term used to describe a marketing strategy when the objective is to decrease the consumption of a product. 2. (social marketing definition) The process of reducing the demand for products or services believed to be harmful to society.

A push promotional strategy involves taking the product directly to the customer via whatever means, ensuring the customer is aware of your brand at the point of purchase.
Push and pull Strategy:-

"Taking the product to the customer" --A pull strategy involves motivating customers to seek out your brand in an active process. "Getting the customer to come to you"
brand extension:- A product line extension marketed under the same general brand as a previous item or items. To distinguish the brand extension from the other item(s) under the primary brand, one can either add a secondary brand identification or add a generic. Thus an Epson FX-85 printer is an extension of Epson that used the secondary brand of FX-85, while Jello Instant Pudding is an extension of the Jello brand that uses a generic term. A brand extension is usually aimed at another segment of the general market for the overall brand. franchise The privilege, often exclusive, granted to a distributor or dealer by a franchisor to sell the franchisor's products within a specified territory. A franchise is an example of a contractual vertical marketing system.

1.

PLC:-

Introduction stage

Product is introduced in the market with intention to build a clear identity and heavy promotion is done for maximum awareness. Before actual offering of the product to customers, product passes through product development, involves prototype and market tests. Companies incur more costs in this phase and also bear additional cost for distribution. On the other hand, there are a few customers at this stage, means low sales volume. So, during introductory stage companys profits shows a negative figure because of huge cost but low sales volume. At introduction stage, the company core focus is on establishing a market and arising demand for the product. So, the impact on marketing mix is as follows: Product Branding, Quality level and intellectual property and protections are obtained to stimulate consumers for the entire product category. Product is under more consideration, as first impression is the last impression.

Price High(skim) pricing is used for making high profits with intention to cover initial cost in a short period and low pricing is used to penetrate and gain the market share. company choice of pricing strategy depends on their goals. Place Distribution at this stage is usually selective and scattered. Promotion At introductory stage, promotion is done with intention to build brand awareness. Samples/trials are provided that is fruitful in attracting early adopters and potential customers. Promotional programs are more essential in this phase. It

2. Growth Stage

is as much important as to produce the product because it positions the product.

In this stage, companys sales and profits starts increasing and competition also begin to increase. The product becomes well recognized at this stage and some of the buyers repeat the purchase patterns. During this stage, firms focus on brand preference and gaining market share. It is market acceptance stage. But due to competition, company invest more in advertisement to convince customers so profits may decline near the end of growth stage. Affect on 4 Ps of marketing is as under: Product Along with maintaining the existing quality, new features and improvements in product quality may be done. All this is done to compete and maintain the market share. Price Price is maintained or may increase as company gets high demand at low competition or it may be reduced to grasp more customers. Distribution Distribution becomes more significant with the increase demand and acceptability of product. More channels are added for intensive distribution in order to meet increasing demand. On the other hand resellers start getting interested in the product, so trade discounts are also minimal. Promotion At growth stage, promotion is increased. When acceptability of product increases, more efforts are made for brand preference and loyalty.

3. Maturity stage
At maturity stage, brand awareness is strong so sale continues to grow but at a declining rate as compared to past. At this stage, there are more competitors with the same products. So, companies defend the market share and extending product life cycle, rather than making the profits, By offering sales promotions to encourage retailer to give more shelf space to the product than that of competitors. At this stage usually loyal customers make purchases. Marketing mix decisions include: product At maturity stage, companies add features and modify the product in order to compete in market and differentiate the product from competition. At this stage, it is best way to get dominance over competitors and increase market share. Price Because of intense competition, at maturity stage, price is reduced in order to compete. It attracts the price conscious segment and retain the customers. Distribution New channels are added to face intense competition and incentives are offered to retailers to get shelf preference over competitors. Promotion Promotion is done in order to create product differentiation and loyalty. Incentives are also offered to attract more customers.

4. Decline stage

Decline in sales, change in trends and unfavorable economic conditions explains decline stage. At this stage market becomes saturated so sales declines. It may also be due technical obsolescence or customer taste has been changed. At decline stage company has three options:
A. Maintain the product, Reduce cost and finding new uses of product. B. Harvest the product by reducing marketing cost and continue offering the product to loyal niche until zero profit. C. Discontinue the product when theres no profit or a successor is available. Selling out to competitors who want to keep the product.

At declining stage, marketing mix decisions depends on companys strategy. For example, if company want to harvest, the product will remain same and price will be reduced. In case of liquidation, supply will be reduced dramatically.

Hypermarket:- a hypermarket is a superstore combining a supermarket and a department store.

The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full groceries lines and general merchandise. In theory, hypermarkets allow customers to satisfy all their routine shopping needs in one trip. IMC:- Integrated marketing communication refers to integrating all the methods of brand promotion to promote a
particular product or service among target customers. In integrated marketing communication, all aspects of marketing communication work together for increased sales and maximum cost effectiveness.

Advertising Sales Promotion Public Relation Direct Marketing Personal Selling Social media, and so on

Market positioning :- In marketing, positioning is the process by which marketers try to

create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products. De-positioning involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product.

Positioning is also defined as the way by which the marketers create an impression in the customers mind. Positioning refers to the customer's perceptions of the place a product or brand occupies in a market segment. In some markets, a position is achieved by associating the benefits of a brand with the needs or life style of the segments. More often, positioning involves the differentiation of the company's offering from the competition by making or implying a comparison in terms of specific attributes . Marketing Strategies:- An organization's strategy that combines all of its marketing goals into
one comprehensive plan. A good marketing strategy should be drawn from market research and focus on the right product mix in order to achieve the maximum profit potential and sustain the business. The marketing strategy is the foundation of a marketing plan.

Niche marketing:- Concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but specific and well defined segment of
the population. Niches do not 'exist' but are 'created' by identifying needs, wants, and requirements that are being addressed poorly or not at all by other firms, and developing and delivering goods or services to satisfy them. As a strategy, niche marketing is aimed at being a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond. Also called micromarketing.

Occasion segmentation :-The process of dividing the market into groups according to specific

occasions when buyers are to buy, actually make the purchase and when they use the product. Some products or services are seen as being appropriate for a particular situation or occasion. Meaning, that the customer is looking for specific products on specific times or occasions.
Occasion segmentation is widely used nowadays throughout the web by many retailers

Product bundle pricing:- A marketing ploy in which several products are offered for sale in one
combined unit that is often marked at a reduced price compared to the sum of their separate purchase prices. Product bundle pricing is often actively used by the marketing departments of companies that produce computer

software products, fast food meals and cable television connections that involve putting multiple products together to make a more attractive or economical whole. Also called package deal pricing.

Relationship marketing:- Marketing with the conscious aim to develop and manage longterm and/or trusting relationships with customers, distributors, suppliers, or other parties in the marketing environment.

Sales quotas:- A sales goal or objective that is assigned to a marketing unit. The marketing unit in question might be an individual salesperson, a sales territory, a branch office, a region, a dealer or distributor, or a district. Sales quotas apply to specific periods and may be expressed in dollars or physical units. Thus, management can specify quarterly, annual, and longer term quotas for each of the company's field representatives in both dollars and physical units. It might even specify these goals for individual products and customers.

Societal marketing:- The societal marketing concept is an enlightened marketing concept that
holds that a company should make good marketing decisions by considering consumers' wants, the company's requirements, and society's long-term interests. It is closely linked with the principles of corporate social responsibility and of sustainable development.

target market :-The particular segment of a total population on which the retailer focuses its
merchandising expertise to satisfy that submarket in order to accomplish its profit objectives

test marketing:- One form of market testing. It usually involves actually marketing a new product in
one or several cities. The effort is totally representative of what the firm intends to do later upon national marketing (or regional market rollout). Various aspects of the marketing plan may be tested (e. g., advertising expenditure levels or, less often, product form variants), by using several pairs of cities. Output is a mix of learning, especially a sales and profit forecast. In some areas, test marketing is currently being stretched to include scanner market testing, in which the marketing activity is less than total, but the term is best confined to the full-scale activity. Vertical marketing system:- 1. (channels of distribution definition) The channel systems consisting of horizontally coordinated and vertically aligned establish-ments that are professionally managed and centrally coordinated to achieve optimum operating economies and maximum market impact. The three types of vertical marketing systems are administered vertical marketing system, contractual vertical marketing system, and corporate vertical marketing system. 2. (physical distribution definition) A longterm channel relationship in which two or more firms acknowledge and desire interdependence

Cause related marketing:- Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type

of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a for profit business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and other charitable causes, including in-house marketing efforts by non-profit

organizations. Cause marketing differs from corporate giving (philanthropy) as the latter generally involves a specific donation that is tax deductible, while cause marketing is a marketing relationship not necessarily based on a donation.