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Vocabulary The marketing mix

2

1. 
   Price, Promotion, Product and Placement
   
2. 
   Customer Solution, Cost, Convenience, Communication
   
3. 
   how well the components of the mix blend together
   
4. 
   how the mix must be adapted to changes in the business environment, the organization’s resources and the product life cycle
   

3

1. 
   This is probably not a very coherent mix as the customers of this type of salon probably prefer to travel by car rather than by underground; it suggests that the franchise has not done its market research properly.
   
2. 
   This seems a sensible mix dynamic since cassette manufacturers face a declining market where market share is being captured by mp3 players. This kind of distribution minimizes costs and allows a product at the end of its life cycle to improve its profit margin.
   
3. 
   This mix seems incoherent since the majority of readers of women’s fashion magazines are probably not ecologists, do not wear T-shirts, and are not men, thus excluding a large market segment. The company needs to find media which are better suited to developing its market niche.
   
4. 
   Not a coherent mix, since the product is B2B, not for the general public, and poor mix dynamics, as few executives still write business letters. The company need to conduct a market study to determine whether there is any demand for this service.
   
5. 
   The mix is probably coherent, as a majority of football fans are male, i.e. the same segment of the population as most video gamers (teenagers and young men) and buyers (fathers and grandfathers).
   

4

1 e 2 a 3 b 4 f 5 d 6 c

5

1. 
   advertising
   
2. 
   direct marketing
   
3. 
   e-marketing
   
4. 
   undercover marketing
   
5. 
   publicity
   
6. 
   viral marketing
   

6

1. 
   segmentation
   
2. 
   declining
   
3. 
   niche
   
4. 
   share
   
5. 
   research
   
6. 
   study
   
7. 
   leader
   
8. 
   flood
   
9. 
   bring
   
10. 
    enter
    

7

1. 
   This is one of the most effective ways of increasing sales volume, for all sorts of different products – anything from soft drinks to mobile phones. The idea is to persuade customers to purchase two items at a 50% discount. Because there’s no reduction in the price for one item, the apparent ‘full value’ of the product is
   

maintained. So customers have the impression that they’re getting something ‘for free’.

2. 
   Inkjet printers are a good example of loss leaders. The actual printer is sold so cheaply that the manufacturer loses money on it – but the customer is then forced to buy that manufacturer’s high-priced ink cartridges and special paper.
   
3. 
   Tying is often seen in electronics, in video games, for example, where games consoles will only run software licensed by the console manufacturer, so customers are forced to buy their games and nobody else’s.
   
4. 
   Cashback is a term which is used in various contexts to refer to schemes in which customers receive money, in the form of cash or otherwise, during transactions in which the main movement of money is in the other direction. For example, some big chain stores have a debit card which allows shoppers to receive cash along with their goods when they pay by debit card. And some credit card companies have a similar credit card, where they pay the customer a small amount for each use of the card. Then of course there are the rebates that customers get with loyalty programs or by sending receipts or proofs of purchase to the manufacturer – the kind of thing you often find on cereal packets or chocolate bars.
   
5. 
   Bundling involves offering several products for sale as one combined product. This strategy is very common in the software business, where for example you can bundle a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a database into a single office suite – and in the fast food industry, in which multiple items are combined into a complete meal.
   

3.