Z94.5 - Distribution & Marketing

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SAFESTOCK. The amount of extra inventory that is kept to guard against stockouts of items.

SALES ANALYSIS. The study of sales figures for the purpose of reviewing, improving, or correcting a marketing situation.  Sales information is broken down into individual components and examined as it relates to other factors operating within the marketing mix.

SALES BUDGET. The part of the marketing budget which is concerned with planned dollar and unit sales and planned costs of personal selling during a specified future period.

SALES FORECAST. An estimate of sales, in dollars and/or physical units for a specified future period under a proposed marketing plan or program and under an assumed set of economic and other forces outside the unit for which the forecast is made. The forecast may be for a specified item of merchandise or for an entire line.  Comment.  Two sets of factors are involved in making a Sales Forecast; (1) those forces outside the control of the firm for which the forecast is made that are likely to influence its sales, and (2) changes in the marketing methods or practices of the firm that are likely to affect its sales.  In the course of planning future activities, the management of a given firm may make several sales forecasts each consisting of an estimate of probable sales if a given marketing plan is adopted or a given set of outside forces prevails.  The estimated effects that several marketing plans may have on Sales and Profits may be compared in the process of arriving at that marketing program which will, in the opinion of the officials of the company, be best designed to promote its economic welfare.

SALES MANAGER. The executive who plans, directs, and controls the activities of the sales staff.  Comment.  This definition distinguishes sharply between the manager who conducts the personal selling activities of a business unit and his superior, the executive, variously called Marketing Manager, Director of Marketing, Vice President for Marketing, who has charge of all marketing activities.  The usage of this form of organization has been growing rapidly during recent years.

SALES PLANNING. That part of the Marketing Planning work which is concerned with making sales forecasts, devising programs for reaching the sales target, and deriving a sales budget.

SALES PROMOTION. In a specific sense, those marketing activities, other than personal selling, advertising, and publicity, that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness, such as display, shows and exhibitions, demonstrations, and various non-recurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine.  (2.) In retailing, all methods of stimulating customer purchasing, including personal selling, advertising, and publicity.  Comment.  This definition includes the two most logical and commonly accepted usages of this much abused term.  It is the suggestion of the Committee that insofar as possible, the use of the term be confined to the first of the two definitions given above.

SALES QUOTA. A projected volume of sales assigned to a marketing unit for use in the management of sales efforts.  It applies to a specified period and may be expressed in dollars and/or in physical units of various product lines. Comment.  The quota may be used in checking the efficiency or stimulating the efforts of or in remunerating individual salesmen or other personnel engaged in sales work. A quota may be for a salesman, a territory, a department, a branch house, a wholesaler or retailer, or for the company as a whole. It may be different from the sales figure set up in the sales budget. Since it is a managerial device, it is not an immutable figure inexorably arrived at by the application of absolutely "exact" statistical formulas.

SALES TERRITORY. A geographic area which is the responsibility of one salesperson or several working in a coordinated effort.

SAMPLING. The process of selecting a representative number of people from a given universe for the purpose of market research (or of products for quality assurance).

SELECTIVE DISTRIBUTION. The use of a small, but carefully selected number of retailers to handle a product line.

SELLING. The personal or impersonal process of assisting and/or persuading a prospective customer to buy a commodity or a service or to act favorably upon an idea that has commercial significance to the seller.  Comment.  This definition includes advertising, other forms of publicity, and sales promotion as well as personal selling.

SELLING UP. A sales technique used to induce a customer to buy a better and more expensive product than was originally being considered.

SERVICES. Activities benefits, or satisfactions which are offered for sale or are provided in connection with the sale of goods. Examples are amusements, hotel service, electric service, transportation, the services of barber shops and beauty shops, repair and maintenance service, the work of credit rating bureaus.  This list is merely illustrative and no attempt has been made to make it complete.  The term also applies to the various activities such as credit extension, advice and help of sales people, delivery, by which the seller serves the convenience of his customers.

SHOPPING CENTER. A cluster of retail stores, centrally located to provide easy access for a large number of people.

SHOPPING GOODS. Those consumers' goods which the customer in the process of selection and purchase characteristically compares on such bases as suitability, quality, price and style. Examples of goods that most consumers probably buy as Shopping Goods are:  millinery, furniture, dress goods, women's ready-to-wear and shoes, automobiles, and major appliances.  Comment.  It should be emphasized that a given article may be bought by one customer as a Shopping Good and by another as a Specialty or Convenience Good.  The general classification depends upon the way in which the average or typical buyer purchases.

SKIMMING PRICE POLICY. Trying to sell the top of the demand curve at a high price before aiming at more price-sensitive customers.

SHRINKAGE. A term the refers to missing inventory at a retail store. The missing inventory can be the result of shoplifting , employee theft or accounting mistakes.

SLOTTING FEE. A fee paid by manufacturers for a better location on a retailers shelf. A type of rental fee paid for use of shelf space in a retail store.

SPECIALTY GOODS. Those consumers' goods with unique characteristics and/or brand identification for which a significant group of buyers are habitually willing to make a special purchasing effort. Examples of articles that are usually bought as Specialty Goods are:  specific brands and types of fancy foods, hi-fi components, certain types of sporting equipment, photographic equipment, and men's suits.  Comment Price is not usually the primary factor in consumer choice of specialty goods although their prices are often higher than those of other articles serving the same basic want but without their special characteristics.

STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC) CODES. A multi-digit coding system which identifies type of business, by logical groups and related subdivisions, and is used in market and research planning, as well as for government industrial census information.

STANDARDIZATION. The determination of basic limits or grade ranges in the form of uniform specifications to which particular manufactured goods may conform and uniform classes into which the products of agriculture and the extractive industries may or must be sorted or assigned.  Comment.  This term does not include Grading which is the process of sorting or assigning units of a commodity to the grades or classes that have been established through the process of Standardization. Some systems of standardization and grading for agricultural products are compulsory by law.

STATUS. A psychological term which describes an individual's relative position within a specific group.

STOCKOUTS. Are the shortages of a product resulting from carrying too few product items in inventory.

STOCK TURNOVER. The number of times an average inventory is turned over within a given year.

STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNIT (SBU). An organizational unit within a larger company which focuses its efforts on some product-markets and is treated as a separate profit center.

STRATEGIC (MANAGEMENT) PLANNING. The managerial process of developing and maintaining a match between the resources available to an organization and its market opportunities.

STRIP MALL. A small mall that is usually several stores in a row.

 SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING. The attempt to influence people by presenting a stimulus (advertising message) below the threshold of recognition.

SUBOPTIMIZATION. An operations research term describing a problem solution that is best from a narrow (but not overall) point of view.

SUPERMARKET. A department store for food products and related items which operates as a self-service unit, and often competes with other types of stores by offering lower prices on certain consumer items.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT.  Is the logistics of managing the pipeline of goods from contracts with suppliers and receipt of incoming material, control of work-in-process and finished goods inventories in the plant, to contracting the movement of finished goods through the channel of distribution.

SURVEY. A market research study which is conducted by asking respondents specific questions in order to obtain information on attitudes, motives, and opinions. Such studies can be conducted face-to-face, by telephone, or through the mail.

SWEETHEARTING. A method of stealing from a retail store when the checkout worker does not charge a shopper for all products.

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