S-Type Response - a response to an advertisement or an advertising
campaign which is slow to take effect but gradually gathers pace. See
C-Type Response.
Safety Needs - the desire of humans for safety, shelter, security and
warmth. See Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Safety Recall - the request by a manufacturer for the return of a particular
batch or model of a product (for repair, replacement or credit) when the
product has been found to be defective or unsafe.
Safety Stock - a level of stock over and above expected requirements
held in inventory as a precaution against unusually heavy demand, delays
in supply, etc.
Salary Plan - a salesforce compensation method in which salespeople
are paid a straight salary; a salary plan approach provides security and
stability but may not provide the incentive associated with commission
payments. See Straight Salary.
Sale Advertising - advertising, common in retailing, which announces
the sale of products at temporarily or permanently reduced prices.
Sale of Goods Acts - various state legislation aimed at safeguarding
consumers by ensuring that goods offered for sale are of reasonable quality
and fit for their intended purpose.
Sales Administration-to-Sales Ratio - a marketing control measure used
to determine whether the amount spent on sales administration in a given
period was excessive; total expenditure on sales administration is expressed
as a percentage of total sales revenue for the same period.
Sales Agents - see Outside Sales Facilities.
Sales Analysis - the break-down of sales figures by region, product,
customer, market, etc. for a given period as a control measure.
Sales Aptitude Tests - tests used to determine the suitability of
applicants for positions in the sales force.
Sales Branch - a manufacturer's office established simply to facilitate
sales; no manufacturing is done at this location.
Sales Calls - the visits salespeople make to a buyer's premises in
order to sell their companies' products.
Sales Contests - sales promotions aimed at members of a company's sales
force; sales contests are competitions designed to boost sales and lift
performance by offering awards or prizes to top-achievers in a sales team
in a given period.
Sales Effect of Advertising - the effectiveness of an advertisement
or advertising campaign in boosting sales of a product; generally hard
to measure as sales may be influenced by factors other than advertising,
such as the product's price, its other features, its availability and the
actions of competitors. See Advertising Effectiveness.
Sales Effect Research - marketing research to assess the effect an
advertisement or some other promotional activity is having, or has had,
on sales of the product being advertised. See Advertising Effectiveness.
Sales Engineer - a salesperson hired primarily for engineering knowledge
or strong technical skills.
Sales Force Composite - a method of forecasting future demand for a
product by adding together what each member of the sales force expects
to be able to sell in his or her territory.
Sales Force Mix - the mix of individual territory representatives,
national account sales teams, telemarketers, etc in a firm's total salesforce.
Sales Forecast - an estimation of the likely volume of sales, measured
in dollars and units, for a future planning period; typically, sales forecasting
is done on the basis of past trends, sales force estimations, survey of
consumer buying intentions, managerial judgement, or quantitative models.
Sales Itinerary - a written schedule of planned sales calls, specifying
the date, location and objective of each call.
Sales Kit - a collection of sales materials, such as brochures, calendars,
signs and posters, prepared to explain a particular promotion to retailers;
it will usualy include a full advertising schedule..
Sales Leads - telephone inquiries, letters, responses to advertising
or direct mail, etc that direct a salesperson to a prospective customer.
Sales Literature - printed materials (brochures, catalogues, price
lists, etc.) to be used as selling aids.
Sales Management - the process of planning, organising, controlling
and evaluating the activities of the sales force.
Sales Manual - a set of printed materials containing product descriptions
and related information for the guidance of sales representatives and their
customers.
Sales Office - premises of a organisation used as a base for all or
part of the sales team but not for carrying inventory.
Sales Orientation - see Selling Concept.
Sales Party - a form of non-store retailing in which a manufacturer's
products are displayed, for group selling, at an in-home party.
Sales Personnel Recruitment - identifying appropriate sources of sales
personnel and attracting applicants to the firm.
Sales Planning - the assessment of the current situation in a sales
region, the setting of objectives, the formulation of strategies and tactics,
and the establishment of control and evaluation procedures.
Sales Potential - an organisation's expected sales of a product in
a given market for a specified period; the share of the total market that
a firm can reasonably expect to attain in a given time. See Market Potential.
Sales Presentation - a salesperson's persuasive demonstration or display
of a product to a prospective buyer in order to make a sale.
Sales Promotion - a form of promotion which encourages customers to
buy products by offering incentives, such as contests, coupons, sweepstakes,
samples, free gifts and so on; one of the four major elements (with advertising,
personal selling and publicity) of the promotion mix.
Sales Promotion-to-Sales Ratio - a marketing control measure used to
determine whether the amount spent on sales promotion was excessive; total
expenditure on sales promotion in a given period is expressed as a percentage
of total sales revenue for the same period.
Sales Quota - a sales assignment, goal or target set for a salesperson
in a given accounting period; commonly used types of sales quotas are dollar
volume quotas, unit volume quotas, gross margin quotas, net profit quotas
and activity quotas.
Sales Rally - a meeting or conference held specifically to motivate
members of the sales team to greater efforts with a particular product
or product range.
Sales Report - a salesperson's detailed record of sales calls and results
for a given period; typically, a sales report will include information
such as the sales volume per product or product line, the number of existing
and new accounts called upon, and the expenses incurred in making the calls.
See Call Report.
Sales Representative - a salesperson; an individual employed to sell
goods on behalf of a producer or some other member of a marketing channel
by contacting prospective customers and developing in them an interest
in the company's products.
Sales Quota - the expected level of sales for a territory in a given
period; a sales quota is the expression of a territory's volume and profit
objectives.
Sales Resistance - anything the prospective buyer says or does to prevent
or delay the salesperson from closing the sale. See Objections.
Sales Tactics - the planned day-to-day activities of the sales team
when implementing the strategies it hopes will achieve its objectives.
Sales Tasks - the job activities carried out by salespeople; these
may include direct selling tasks (making product presentations to prospective
buyers, etc), indirect selling tasks (mailing sales literature to new and
prospective accounts, etc) and non-selling tasks (attending sales meetings,
writing call reports, etc).
Sales Territory - the specific region or group of customers for which
a salesperson has direct responsibility.
Sales Territory Performance Modelling - a method of evaluating sales
territory performance in which a model depicting the environmental factors
that may have impacted upon it, and upon the salesperson assigned to it,
is constructed; the model assists a sales supervisor to better understand
the quality of the performance.
Sales Training - formal or informal coaching in sales methods, product
knowledge, and account handling given to a sales representative by another
more experienced salesperson, a sales manager or a specialist sales trainer.
Sales Volume - the total revenue produced or the total number of units
of a product sold in a given period.
Sales Volume Analysis - a detailed study of an organisation's sales,
in terms of units or revenue, for a specified period; the analysis of sales
volume (by sales region or territory, industry, customer type, etc) is
commonly used as an aid in determining the effectiveness of the selling
effort.
Sales Wave Experiment - a technique used to test consumer reaction
to new products prior to full-scale commercialisation; new products are
placed in consumer homes to determine the reaction to them, and the rate
at which the products are repurchased is tracked.
Sales-Response Function - a measure of the likely level of sales in
a given period at different levels of expenditure on any of the major marketing
mix variables.
Samples - products distributed free of charge to prospective buyers
to promote future purchases.
Sampling - a promotional activity in which consumers are allowed to
experience a good or service free of charge or at a greatly reduced cost.
Sampling Error - a measure of the extent to which the chosen sample
in a marketing research study can be expected to represent the total population
on the characteristics being studied.
Sampling Frame - the source from which sampling units (respondents)
are chosen in a marketing research study; commonly used sampling frames
are telephone books and electoral rolls.
Sampling Plan - a scheme outlining the group (or groups) to be surveyed
in a marketing research study, how many individuals within the group are
to be chosen, and on what basis that choice is to be made.
Sampling Principle - the idea that a small number of randomly chosen
units (the sample) of a total population (the universe) will tend to
have the same characteristics, and in the same proportion, as the population
as a whole.
Sampling Unit - the individual members chosen from a total population
as respondents in a marketing research study.
Satisficing - a planning philosophy implying a firm's intention to continue
to carry on its present operations in much the same way as it has always
done . See Adaptivising, Optimising.
SBU - abbrev. Strategic Business Unit.
Scaled Response - questions requiring respondents to a survey to rate
a company, product, service, etc. on a scale provided.
Scanning - see Environmental Scanning.
Scanner Systems - electronic equipment which allows product bar codes
to be read; the information recorded by the scanning devices is used in
marketing decision making, including inventory control. See Bar Codes.
Scrambled Assortment - an assortment strategy in which a reseller decides
to carry dissimilar or unrelated lines to generate additional sales; for
example, a newsagency might add indoor plants and housewares to its range
of newspapers, stationery and books. Also known as Scrambled Merchandising.
See Assortment Strategies; Broad Assortment; Deep Assortment; Exclusive
Assortment.
Scrambled Merchandising - see Scrambled Assortment.
Screening - an early stage in the new product development process when
ideas for new products are sifted or screened to identify those that the
firm might profitably develop; two broad approaches to idea screening are
possible: managerial judgement and customer evaluation. See Drop Error;
Go Error; New Product Development.
Screening Interview - an early stage in the sales hiring process when
supervisors meet with applicants to arouse further interest in the most
promising and to identify those who are unsuitable.
Seasonal Discount - a reduced price to encourage the purchase of a particular
product in the off-season; perhaps better thought of as an "out-of-season"
discount. See Discount.
Seasonal Forecast Adjustments - the adjustment of monthly forecasts
based on time series projections of historical data to take account of
short-term changes in volume caused by seasonal variations.
Seasonal Stock - inventory additional to expected needs kept in case
of an unusually heavy seasonal demand or for promotional campaigns; also
referred to as Promotional Stock.
Secondary Data - information that is obtained from previously published
materials, such as books, magazines, newspapers, government census publications
and company reports and files. See Primary Data.
Secondary Packaging - a box or other protective wrapping in which the
product in its primary package is kept until ready for use. See Primary
packaging; Shipping Packaging.
Secondary Research - the collection of marketing research data using
previously published sources. See Primary Research.
Segmentation - see Market Segmentation.
Segmentation Bases - the basic dimensions - geographic, demographic,
psychographic and behaviouristic - upon which a heterogeneous market can
be divided into relatively homogeneous groups.
Segmentation Strategies - specific marketing approaches available to,
or taken by, a firm in relation to the market segment or segments it wishes
to target; four specific segmentation strategies are available - concentrated
segmentation strategy, market segment expansion strategy, product line
expansion strategy and differentiated segmentation strategy. See Concentrated
Segmentation Strategy; Market Segment Expansion Strategy; Product Line
Expansion Strategy; Differentiated Segmentation Strategy.
SELECT - acronym for Situation analysis; Explicit statement of the
problem; Laying out the research design and collecting data; Evaluating
the data and making a decision; Creating a plan to implement the decision
and Testing the correctness of the decision - a six-step approach to the
process of marketing research.
Selective Advertising - advertising intended to create demand for a
specific brand rather than for the whole product category or class.
Selective Binding Programs for Advertisers - the customising of magazines
and similar print media for specific groups of subscribers and advertisers;
in selective binding programs, same issue of a magazine can be tailored
for different audiences.
Selective Demand - demand for a specific brand within a particular
product class.
Selective Distortion - the perceptual process which occurs when people
subconsciously try to make new information fit their old ideas about something.
See Selective Exposure; Selective Retention.
Selective Distribution - making a product available in more than one
outlet, but not in as many as are willing to stock it; also referred to
as Selective Selling. See Distribution Intensity.
Selective Exposure - the perception by an individual of certain, more
relevant, facts or advertisements but not of others; also called Selective
Perception. See Selective Distortion; Selective Retention.
Selective Perception - see Selective Exposure.
Selective Retention - the perceptual process in which people subconsciously
are most apt to remember information that confirms their previously held
attitudes. See Selective Exposure; Selective Distortion.
Selective Selling - see Selective Distribution.
Self-Liquidator - a form of consumer sales promotion in which money
and proof of purchase of a product (package tops, labels, etc) are traded
in for an item of merchandise, usually sold below normal retail price;
also called a self-liquidating premium.
Sell-In - see Selling-In.
Sell-Off Period - the duration of a particular sales promotion; the
time from the launch of the sales promotion to the end of the special offer.
Sell-Through Quantity - the quantity of merchandise required for a sales
promotion.
Seller's Market - a market in which there is a shortage of particular
goods or services for sale.
Selling Agent - see Agent.
Selling Concept - the philosophy or orientation of an organisation which
emphasises aggressive selling to achieve its objectives; firms characterised
by this approach often rely upon pressure selling and manipulative sales
techniques to win business.
Selling Formulas - various formulae used by salespeople to guide their
presentations to buyers. See AIDA; Formula Selling.
Selling Process - the separate, but related, stages forming the activity
of personal selling; these include preapproach, approach, need identification,
presentation, handling objections, closing the sale and post-sale follow-up.
Selling Proposition - see Unique Selling Proposition.
Selling Up - a practice in selling aimed at convincing the customer
to buy a higher-priced item than the one originally enquired about.
Selling-In - the process of educating the salesforce and distributors
to sell a new product as part of the preparation for its launch; the development
of sales kits, briefings on the target market and competition, and outlining
the organisation's plans to create consumer demand may be involved. See
Commercialisation; New Product Development.
Semantic Differential - a rating scale technique using pairs of words
of opposite meaning.
Seminar Selling - bringing together a number of prospective buyers at
the same time for a sales presentation.
Sender - the originator of the message in the communication process;
also called the Source. See Communication Process.
Sensory Retailing - a recent trend in retailing in which the retailer
attempts to position the store and attract customers by making a visit
to it an exciting visual, auditory, etc. experience. See Atmospherics.
Sequential Segmentation - the division of a heterogeneous market into
relatively homogeneous groups on one basis (for example, geographically),
followed by further segmentation on some other basis (for example, end-user
type).
Served Market - that part of the total market which a company decides
to target; also called the Target Market.
Service - an intangible product; any product offering that is essentially
intangible.
Service Form Competitors - organisations offering products of different
types which can help an individual to fulfil a particular desire. For
example, a person who wants to do a creative hobby course could enrol in
a photography course conducted by the YWCA or a painting course conducted
by the Council of Adult Education; these course providers are service form
competitors..
Service Heterogeneity - see Variability.
Service Inseparability - see Inseparability.
Service Intangibility - see Intangibility.
Service Management System - the equivalent of a product management
system for service organisations.
Service Mark - a mark, sign, symbol, slogan, etc. that performs the
same function for a service as a trademark does for a tangible product.
Service Mix - the range of services offered by a services marketing
company.
Service Perishability - see Perishability.
Service Sector - the part of industry or business which deals with
the marketing and selling of intangible products rather than physical goods.
Service Variability - see Variability.
Service-Firm-Sponsored Retail Franchising - a system of service product
delivery in which an organisation producing a service (eg. car rental,
restaurants, financial services, etc.) sets up a number of independently-owned
franchised outlets in locations convenient to its customers. See Franchising.
Services Characteristics - the features of services that distinguish
them from tangible products; these are intangibility, variability, inseparability
and perishability. See Inseparability; Intangibility; Perishability;
Variability.
Services Marketing - the marketing of intangible products, such as hairdressing,
cleaning, insurance and travel.
Services Selling - the selling of intangible products.
Shelf Facings - the number of units of a product that are visible at
the front of a retail store shelf; generally, high-volume categories will
be allocated more shelf facings than low-volume categories. See Shelf
Management.
Shelf Fee - See Slotting Allowance.
Shelf Life - the period of time in which a product can remain on display
in a retail store before the expiration of its "use by" date.
-
Shelf Management - the process of determining the number and location
of shelf facings in a retail store. See Shelf Facings.
Shelf-Talker - a sign or tag used in a retail store to focus customer
attention on a promoted product; especially useful in in-aisle promotions
when products are difficult to shelve in special ways.
Shipping Packaging - outer packaging (cartons, for example) in which
products are packed for storage and transport. See Primary Packaging; Secondary
Packaging.
Shopping Goods - consumer goods that the customer typically compares
for suitability, quality, price, features, etc. before selection and purchase.
See Convenience Goods; Specialty Goods.
Short-Run Average Cost - the average cost per unit of production of
a set or group of products in the short term. Note that in the long term,
the average cost may be lower due to the effect of experience. See Average
Cost; Long-Run Average Cost.
Short-Term Profit Maximisation - a pricing objective in which a firm
aims to make as much profit as possible as quickly as possible; maximum
market penetration and long-term profit considerations are ignored.
Shrinkage - a term used in retailing to refer to the theft of merchandise
by customers and employees; measures to control shrinkage include mirrors,
video cameras, security guards and alarms that sound when tagged merchandise
is carried out of the store.
Significance - see Substantiality.
Silent Close - a closing technique in which the salesperson presents
or demonstrates the product to the prospective buyer and then deliberately
stops talking; the salesperson simply waits for a favourable response from
the buyer. See Close.
Simple Random Sample - a sample in which each member of the population
has an equal chance of being chosen.
Simulated Store Test - a form of pre-testing of new product introductions
prior to full-scale commercialisation; to study their behaviour towards
the new products, consumers selected from the target market are asked to
shop in test supermarket facilities into which the new products have been
placed.
Single Brand Name - a brand name which is not accompanied by any other
family or corporate brand name; for example, "Surf" washing powder;
"Pal" dog food, etc. Sometimes called an Individual Brand name.
See Individual Brand Name; Corporate Branding; Family Brand; Product Line
Brand Name.
Single Niching - a strategy followed by companies which operate in
only one market niche. See Market Niche; Multiple Niching.
Single-Line Store - a retail store selling a wide assortment of goods
in a basic line, such as women's clothing, hardware, cosmetics.
Single-Product Strategy - the decision by a producer to offer only
one product variant with few, if any, options.
Single-Source Data - marketing research information, collected from
the same source - by people-meters and scanning devices, for example -
that makes it possible to link an individual's purchasing behaviour to
specific media exposure.
Single-Zone Pricing - see Delivered Pricing; Uniform Delivered Price.
Singles Market - a market segment, regarded as both a lifestyle and
a demographic category, which includes widowed and divorced people as well
as "never-been-married" singles.
Sink-or-Swim Sales Training - the practice of throwing new sales recruits
straight into the field without formal training so that they have to learn
fast or risk losing their jobs. See Sales Training.
Situation Analysis - the process of gathering information on the internal
and external environments to assess the firm's current strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats and to guide its goals and objectives. See SWOT
Analysis.
Skimming - see Market Skimming Pricing.
Skim-the-Cream Pricing - see Market Skimming Pricing.
SKU - abbrev. Stock-Keeping Unit.
Sliding Commission - a compensation method in which salespeople are
paid commissions at a changing rate depending on the quantity sold. See
Progressive Commission; Regressive Commission.
Sliding Down the Demand Curve - a pricing method in which the initial
price is set at the highest possible level and then gradually reduced to
attract successive waves of purchasers as demand diminishes.
Slippage - in sales promotion, the percentage of purchasers who fail
to redeem an offer made with the purchase.
Slotting Allowance - a fee paid by a manufacturer to a supermarket
chain for shelf space for a new product; also referred to as the Stocking
Allowance, Introductory Allowance, Shelf Fee or Street Money.
Small Order Problem - the problem of coping with sales orders which
are so small that the cost of filling them offsets the profit.
Smart Card - an ultra-thin card, similar to a bankcard or credit card,
containing computer chips capable of receiving, storing and transmitting
significant amounts of data with marketing applications.
Social Audit - a review and evaluation of the social benefits and social
costs pertaining to a particular product.
Social Class - the level of society to which an individual belongs;
Australians, generally, perceive themselves as being members of either
the upper-middle class, middle class or working class.
Social Marketing - the design, implementation and control of marketing
activity intended to promote social causes or ideas within a target group
in a society; a form of non-profit marketing.
Social Responsibility in Marketing - the recognition by marketers that
the well-being of society and customer satisfaction are as important as
profits in assessing marketing performance.
Social Risk - concern or uncertainty in the buyer's mind that the purchase
of the product under consideration will not be approved of by others.
See Risk.
Sociocultural Environment - that part of the firm's external marketing
environment in which social or cultural changes (that is, changes to the
value system of a society) act to affect the firm's marketing effort; the
changing sociocultural environment may pose threats or present opportunities.
Socioeconomic Variables - factors of a social and economic nature (occupation,
income, etc) which indicate a person's status within a community.
Soft Sell - a low-pressure selling situation; a selling situation in
which the buyer has no feeling of being coerced. See Hard Sell.
Sole Survivor - the final stage in the family life cycle; two sub-categories
are used by marketers in examining consumer behaviour - sole survivor,
working and sole survivor, retired. Also called Solitary Survivor. See
Family Life Cycle.
Solitary Survivor - see Sole Survivor.
Solo Mailing - a database innovation in which a customised marketing
piece is prepared to appeal to one individual's interests.
Source - see Sender.
Source Attractiveness - in personal selling, the likeability or personableness
of the salesperson.
Source Credibility - in personal selling, the believability of the
salesperson.
Source Objection - an objection by a prospective buyer levelled against
the firm represented by the salesperson.
Special Event Pricing - reducing prices in retail stores at certain
times of the year (e.g. immediately after Christmas) to attract customers.
Special Interest Groups - groups of consumers with concerns about particular
products or product categories; for example, special interest groups have
spoken out about the marketing of cigarettes, high-sugar breakfast cereals
for children, fast foods with low nutritional value, etc.
Special Rate - see Commodity Rate.
Speciality Merchandise Wholesaler - a wholesaler that specialises in
one product line (or a few product lines) but carries the line or lines
in considerable depth.
Speciality Retailing - retail stores offering limited, specialised
lines but carrying a deep assortment within the lines.
Specialty Advertising - an advertiser's message printed on small items
such as diaries, note-pads and key-rings, usually to give away without
obligation to prospective customers.
Specialty Distributor - a distributor that concentrates on one product
line but carries a deep assortment within the line.
Specialty Goods - consumer goods for which the customer has strong preference
and is prepared to search for extensively to select and purchase the most
suitable. See Convenience Goods; Shopping Goods.
Specialty Store - a retail store typically carrying only one, or part
of one, product line but having considerable depth within the line; examples
include stores selling only jogging shoes for women, or men's hats.
Sponsor Training - pairing sales recruits with experienced salespeople
who are responsible for their training in the field.
Sponsorship - see Corporate Sponsorship.
Spot Buy - in advertising, the buying of media time in a few selected
markets only.
Spotter - a person who receives a fee for providing a salesperson with
leads to prospects to whom sales are made.
Spreadsheet - an accountant's worksheet; electronic spreadsheets consist
of a grid of rows of columns enabling specific marketing data to be organised
in a standardised way. See Spreadsheet Analysis.
Spreadsheet Analysis - the analysis of data using special computer software
to anticipate marketing performance under a given set of circumstances.
SRO Technique - see Standing Room Only.
Stabilising Price - a price set for a product with the intention of
keeping prices steady within an industry in order to avoid a price war.
Stagflation - a term coined to describe a situation which exists in
an economy when high unemployment and rising prices and wages occur together.
Standard Product Classes - categories into which products are grouped
using formal systems such as the Australian Standard Industrial Classification
and the Australian Standard Commodity Classification. See Australian Bureau
of Statistics; Casual Product Classes.
Standard Test Market - a form of test market in which the company selects
a small number of representative cities in which to trial the full marketing
mix prior to a new product launch. See Test Marketing.
Standardised Marketing Mix - a strategy employed by a multinational
company in attempting to use one marketing mix to sell its products world-wide;
the approach minimises cost but may result in a smaller market than would
be possible with a unique marketing program for each country. See Customised
Marketing Mix.
Standing Room Only - a closing technique in which the salesperson
tries to get a quick commitment to a purchase by telling the buyer that
the demand for the product is heavy and that only a limited quantity is
left. See Close.
Staples - a sub-category of convenience goods consisting of frequently
purchased foodstuffs. See Convenience Goods.
Starch Readership Report - a technique for post-testing advertising
effectiveness devised in 1923 by Daniel Starch, at that time a lecturer
at the Harvard Business School; interviewers ask selected readers of magazines
to recall particular advertisements.
Stars - products in the portfolio characterised by high market share
in a rapidly growing market. See Boston Consulting Group Product Portfolio
Analysis Matrix.
State-of-Being Segmentation - see Demographics.
State-of-Mind Segmentation - see Psychographics.
Stated Objection - the reason given by a prospective buyer for not accepting
the product offered; the stated objection may conceal the true objection.
See Objections; Invalid Objections; Valid Objections.
Statistical Bank - a range of statistical techniques used in analysis
in a marketing information system to discover the degree of reliability
of the data collected and the relationships within it. See Marketing Information
System.
Status Quo Strategy - a reactive marketing strategy characterised by
a desire to avoid confrontation with competitors; the company seeks to
keep things in the industry the way they were, and thus avoid the expensive
task on taking on a competitor directly.
Steering Control System - a system of marketing control in which allows
for the detection of unsatisfactory marketing performance during, rather
than at the end of, a planning period so that prompt corrective action
can be taken; a reactive marketing control system. See Adaptive Control
System; After-the-Fact Control System; Proactive Control System; Reactive
Control System.
Stimulational Marketing - marketing activity intended to stimulate demand
for a product among those who are neither aware of it nor interested in
it.
Stimulus-Response Approach - an approach to selling which relies on
the salesperson's ability to say the right thing (stimulus) in order to
obtain a favourable reaction from the buyer (response); often referred
to as the Canned Approach because a script is commonly used.
Stock-Keeping Unit - see Product Item.
Stock Point - the level at which stock needs to be re-ordered.
Stock Turnover Rate - see Stockturn Rate.
Stock-Taking Unit - see Product Item.
Stocking Allowance - see Slotting Allowance.
Stockless Purchasing - a practice in which the vendor retains responsibility
for carrying the bulk of the inventory and supplies items to a reseller
on short notice.
Stockturn Rate - a measure of the operating efficiency of a business;
it indicates the "turn over" (that is, sales of the average level
of stock held in inventory) in an operating period. Also called the Stock
Turnover Rate.
Store Atmosphere - see Atmospherics.
Store Audit - a source of retail store information collected by marketing
research firms (A.C.Neilson, for example) and supplied to manufacturers
on a subscription basis; the information is compiled by subtracting end
of period inventory for a product from inventory at the beginning of the
period plus shipments. See Syndicated Marketing Research Firms.
Store Decor - see Atmospherics.
Store Image - see Atmospherics.
Storyboard - a tool used in planning a television commercial; a poster
showing a series of miniature television screens depicting the sequence
of scenes in a commercial with the words to accompany each picture written
below it.
Straight Rebuy - a purchase in which the customer buys the same goods
in the same quantity on the same terms from the same supplier. See Buy
Classes; Modified Rebuy; New Task Buying.
Straight Salary - a compensation method in which a salesperson receives
salary but no commission on sales. See Salary Plan.
Strategic Business Unit - a separate operating division of a company
with some degree of autonomy; commonly referred to as an SBU.
Strategic Control - the regular and systematic checking that the company's
strategies are appropriate to its marketing opportunities and resources.
Strategic Gap - the difference between a company's profit objectives
for a given future period and its projected level of profit for the same
period.
Strategic Group - any group of companies which pursue the same clear
strategies to achieve their marketing objectives.
Strategic Marketing Concept - a philosophy, focus, orientation or concept
which emphasises the proper identification of marketing opportunities as
the basis for marketing planning and corporate growth; unlike the marketing
concept which emphasises consumer needs and wants, the strategic marketing
concept emphasises both consumers and competitors. See Marketing Concept.
Strategic Marketing Plan - a plan outlining marketing opportunities
matched to the resources and abilities of the company.
Strategic Planning - the process of determining the company's objectives
and courses of action and the allocation of the necessary resources to
achieve them.
Strategic Profit Model - a tool used to assess a firm's profitability;
return on equity is calculated by multiplying the net profit margin by
the asset turnover to obtain the return on assets which, in turn, is multiplied
by the financial leverage. See Asset Turnover; Financial Leverage; Net
Profit Margin; Return on Assets; Return on Equity.
Strategic Window - the point of time at which the right environmental
conditions exist for a particular marketing opportunity; also referred
to as a Window of Opportunity.
Strategy
- a broad plan of action by which an organisation hopes to achieve one or more of its marketing objectives. See Tactic.
Stratified Sample - a form of probability sample where respondents
are chosen from a random sample of homogeneous sub-groups (according to
a common characteristic) into which the total population has been divided.
See Cluster Sample.
Street Money - see Slotting Allowance.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats - see SWOT; SWOT Analysis..
Strip Centre - a shopping centre in which the stores are located along
a suburban roadway.
Style Flexing - a deliberate attempt on the part of a salesperson to
adjust his or her communication style to suit the personality of the buyer.
See Adaptive Selling.
Subcultures - broad groups of consumers within a society's culture
having similar values which distinguish them from the rest of society.
Subliminal Perception - the receipt and interpretation of stimuli received
through the senses at a subconscious level.
Suboptimisation - a situation occurring in large companies when departmental
or divisional leaders attempt to achieve the objectives of their particular
sections at the expense of other sections.
Substantiality - one of the four major requirements (with accessibility,
actionability and substantiality) for useful market segmentation; substantiality
expresses the notion that the segment chosen as the target market must
be large enough to be profitable. Also referred to as Significance. See
Accessibility; Actionability; Measurability.
Substitute Products - products that buyers perceive as having some
characteristics and utilities in common (for example, potatoes and rice).
Suggestion Selling - a practice in which the salesperson seeks to increase
the value of the sale by suggesting related lines, special promotions or
seasonal merchandise to complement the original purchase; also called Suggestive
Selling.
Suggestive Selling - see Suggestion Selling.
Summative Close - a closing technique in which the salesperson summarises
the features and benefits of the product of prime interest to the buyer
point by point. See Close.
Super-Speciality Store - a retail store selling only one line of a very
superior quality product or offering a very superior quality service in
a limited range of goods.
Suppliers - individuals or organisations from which businesses purchase
the goods and services they require to operate.
Survey - a method of obtaining primary data in a marketing research
study by the use of interviews, either face-to-face, by telephone or by
mail.
Survey of Buyer Intentions - a forecasting technique in which known
purchasers of a product are asked to predict their requirements for a given
future period.
Suspects - sales prospects who have not yet been qualified; sales leads.
See Qualifying the Prospect; Sales Leads.
Sustainable Competitive Advantage - the competitive edge sought by
a firm which will allow it to satisfy customer needs while maintaining
an advantage over its rivals because of the uniqueness of its products
or its lower production or marketing costs.
Sweepstakes - a type of consumer sales promotion in which purchasers
of a particular product are given an opportunity of winning attractive
prizes; winners are chosen purely by chance. Also called a Lottery.
SWOT - acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
SWOT Analysis - an examination of the internal environment of a firm
(mission, objectives, strategies, resources, trends, etc) to identify particular
strengths and weaknesses, and its external environment (demographic, economic,
technological, social and cultural, legal and political, and natural forces)
to identify particular opportunities and threats. See SWOT.
Symbiotic Marketing - a marketing method in which one manufacturer
sells its finished product to another for resale under the second manufacturer's
label where that manufacturer already has access to the market through
a well-established distribution system.
Synchromarketing - marketing activity intended to shift the pattern
of demand to that it equates more suitably with the ideal pattern of supply.
Syncratic Decision - a purchase decision in which both husband and
wife have equal influence. See Autonomic Decision.
Syndicated Marketing Research Firms - marketing research agencies which
specialise in gathering consumer and product information and selling it
to subscribers who use it as secondary marketing data for a variety of
marketing purposes.
Synergy - see Marketing Synergy.
Systematic Sample - a sample drawn strictly according to a pre-determined
formula; for example, every eighth, or twelfth, or twentieth, etc. name
is chosen.
Systems Buying - buying a complete solution to a problem or need rather
than a number of component parts; for example, an organisation may purchase
an entire accounting system from one supplier rather than computers from
one supplier, software from another, staff training from another, and so
on. See Systems Selling.
Systems Selling - selling a complete solution to a problem or need rather
than one or more of the component parts. For example, a swimming pool
manufacturer might also sell landscaping, filtration equipment, pool chemicals,
etc. See Systems Buying.
