Wants - the form, shaped by culture and individual personality, in which
basic human needs are given expression. For example, the need to satisfy
hunger might be expressed as a want of meat by one person, and as a want
of fruit by another. See Needs.
Warehouse
Warranty - a guarantee by a manufacturer that a product will be repaired
or replaced or the purchase price refunded if it is found to be defective
within a specified period, if it does not perform the task for which it
was intended or if it does not meet the purchaser's reasonable expectations.
See Express Warranty; Implied Warranty; Promotional Warranty; Protective
Warranty.
Wastage - in advertising, that part of the audience or readership of
a media vehicle which is "wasted" because it is not part of the
target market.
Watch-and-Win Sweepstake - a sales promotion in which consumers must
watch a particular TV program to hear contest-winning numbers, etc announced
in spots during the program. -
Wearout - see Consumer Wearout.
Weighting - a method of rating the degree of importance of a factor
or variable.
What if...Method - a closing technique in which the salesperson attempts
to isolate the last remaining objection or obstacle to the sale and closes
it contingent upon being able to remove the obstacle; also called the Contingent
Method.
Wheel of Retailing - a hypothesis of M.P. McNair explaining the patterns
of change in retailing; the hypothesis is that new types of retailers cut
prices by lowering or eliminating customer services, but once established
they increase prices and customer services and so become vulnerable themselves
to new, low-price retailers.
Whiffle Dust - see Mummy Dust.
Whitegoods - a classification of consumer durables which includes refrigerators,
dishwashers, clothes dryers, washing machines, etc. See Browngoods.
Wholesale Merchant - see Merchant Wholesaler.
Wholesaler - a marketing intermediary engaged in buying from manufacturers
in bulk to resell to retailers or industrial buyers in smaller quantities.
See Full-Line Wholesaler; Limited-Line Wholesaler.
Wholesaler-Sponsored Voluntary Chains - groups of retailers formed by
a wholesaler into a cordinated marketing system to achieve economies of
scale and to lessen conflict.
Wholesaling - the activity of selling to buyers for resale or to further
their own business operations.
Width of the Product Mix
Wildcat - a business with a high level of opportunity and a high level
of threat.
Window of Competitive Opportunity - see Strategic Window.
With-Pack Premium - a type of consumer sales promotion in which a free
or low-cost gift is offered to purchases of a particular product; the gift
is either inside the package of the product or fixed to the outside of
it. See Premiums; In-Pack Premium; Near-Pack Premium; On-Pack Premium.
Word-Of-Mouth
Workplace-Selling Program - a direct-selling strategy in which manufacturers
sell their products to consumers at their place of work; for example, Avon
employs working women to sell its cosmetics in their offices.
World Brand - a global brand; a brand that sells in many different countries.
For example, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Marlboro. See Global Brands.
Worldwide Adaptation - a strategy used in global marketing in which
slightly different variations of a product are sold in each country, using
promotion and distribution strategies which have also been modified to
suit the particular needs of each country.