Marketing Mix Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
Define product.
Answer:
“Product is a bundle of utilities consisting of various product features and accompanying services” – By Alderson.

Question 2.
What is product?
Answer:
Product is anything that one receives in an exchange transaction.

Question 3.
What is consumer products?
Answer:
These are the products purchased by the consumer for their final consumption.

Question 4.
What is industrial product?
Answer:
These are products used by industries to convert it into some other product through production process.

Question 5.
What is durable product?
Answer:
These are tangible products used by the customer repeatedly for longer time.

Question 6.
What is non-durable product?
Answer:
These are the products which get exhausted with a single or a few uses example – Food items, soaps, etc.

Question 7.
What is product modification?
Answer:
Product modification means any deliberate alteration in the physical attributes of a product or its packaging. It is a new innovation on design of the product.

Question 8.
What is product line?
Answer:
It is a group of products that are related either because they satisfy similar needs of group of customers, or because they function in a similar manner.

Question 9.
Define product line?
Answer:
Product line is defined as “a broad group of products intended for essentially similar uses and possessing reasonably similar physical characteristics constitute a product line” by Wiliam J. Stanton.

Question 10.
What is trading up?
Answer:
It is the act of adding a high priced prestigious product to the existing product line with a view to increase the sales of currently available low priced product.

Question 11.
What is trading down?
Answer:
In this approach manufactures of high quality products encourage his customer to go in for low quality product.

Question 12.
What is product mix?
Answer:
Product mix the set of all product lines and product that a particular seller offers for sale to buyer.

Question 13.
Explain characteristics of product mix?
Answer:
Product mix of a company has three main characteristics.

  • Product mix width: Width of the product mix depends upon the number of product groups or product lines found within the company.
  • Product mix depth: Depth of the product mix depends upon the number of items within each product line.
  • Product mix consistency: It refers how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels etc.

Question 14.
What are the stages in product life cycle?
Answer:

  • Introduction stage
  • Growth stage
  • Maturity stage
  • Saturation stage
  • Decline stage.

Question 15.
What are the attributes of a product?
Answer:
The essential attributes of a product are tangibility, money value, customer/satisfaction etc.

Question 16.
Mention any two bases of classification of products.
Answer:
The two bases of classification of products are –

  • on the basis of purposes
  • on the basis of attitudes.

Question 17.
What is product development?
Answer:
Product development includes the technical activities of product research, engineering and design. Product development includes scientific techniques of the product to improve or to make a better product than before.

Question 18.
What is product planning?
Answer:
A product planning is the function of marketing in which the process of manufacturing is determining in advance. It includes the answers for what to produce how to produce, when to produce what is the cost of production which product to produce etc.

Question 19.
What is product line?
Answer:
Product line is a group of related products. These products satisfy similar needs of customers of different market segment.

Question 20.
What is product addition?
Answer:
It means adding a new product in the existing product line. This product addition work have been made for the further expansion of the business. This result in increase in sales volume, profit demand reputation of the firm.

Question 21.
What is product deletion?
Answer:
Product deletion refers to the reducing the product from the existing product line. It means simplifying the product. The product deletion have been made when the product fail.

Question 22.
What do you mean by commercialisation?
Answer:
After test marketing firms distribute the product through channel of distribution to final consumers. This process is called commercialisation. Mass production and distribution work will be started by the company and it is the introduction stage of the product.

Question 23.
What is product differentiation?
Answer:
Product differentiation refers to a situation when the buyer of the product differentiate with other products. The product differentiation may be real or imaginary. Real differences are like design, material, etc., and imaginary differences are advertisement, trade mark etc, These product differentiation indication that the goods are close substitution but are not homogeneous.

Question 24.
What is a new product?
Answer:
New product is a product that is new to the company. Company is introducing a new product even though may have been made in some form by others.

Question 25.
What is product innovation?
Answer:
Product innovation is the adoption of new idea for production. Product or process which is prospectively useful.

Question 26.
What is test marketing?
Answer:
Test marketing is the actual conduct of marketing compaign with in limited market for a limited period. It minimizes the risk of national or regional launch. It confirms the management’s expectations about the product by testing those variables in the marketing planning.

Question 27.
What is brand?
Answer:
A brand is a symbol, a mark, a name, that acts as a means communication which brings about an identity of a given product.

Question 28.
What is branding?
Answer:
Branding is the process of finding and fixing a brand name to a product for identification of the product.

Question 29.
What is family brand name?
Answer:
It means all the manufactured products of a company are sold under a single brand name. This is called as family brand name. Example – Godrej, Bajaja etc.

Question 30.
What is brand mark?
Answer:
A brand mark is that part of the brand which appears in the form of symbol design etc.

Question 31.
What is packaging?
Answer:
Packaging means “the general group of activities concentrating on formulating a design of the package and producing an appropriate and attractive container or wrapper for a product.

Question 32.
Give the meaning of package?
Answer:
Package is a wrapper or a container in which a product is enclosed or sealed.

Question 33.
What is packing?
Answer:
It means the activities of wrapping the product for performing the marketing functions more economically and easily. Packing helps for shipment, storage, sale or final use.

Question 34.
Mention any two essentials of a good package.
Answer:
They are –

  • It should be attractive.
  • It should communicate product message and motivate the consumers to buy product.

Question 35.
What is label?
Answer:
Label is an informative tag, wrapper, or seal attached to product to inform the user about product, producer, and such useful information to be beneficial to the user.

Question 36.
What is price?
Answer:
Price is amount for which a product, a service or an idea is exchanged from the seller to the buyer.

Question 37.
What is pricing?
Answer:
Pricing is the function of determining the product value in monetary terms by the company before it is offered for sale to the target customers.

Question 38.
What is cost plus pricing?
Answer:
This pricing method is based on cost of production and distribution. It involves the cost of product and the certain percentage of profit on the cost. It helps the businessman to each benefit.

Question 39.
What is psychological pricing?
Answer:
It is the practice of fixing odd price, to products. Example Rs. 699, Rs. 76.50 etc. This type of prices simply feels that a buyer is mentally preparing to pay little less than the rounded figure.

Question 40.
What is break even pricing?
Answer:
Cost demand oriented pricing policy is known as break even pricing. In break even point the sales revenue will be equal to total cost means there will be neither profit nor loss. It gives the relationship between the cost and sales volume. Break even price helps in analyisng, estimating the effects of different prices as profit.

Question 41.
What is prestige pricing?
Answer:
Prestige pricing is one that is fixed at a higher price than the price of substitute product. Prestige pricing is adopted because consumer may feel that high price means high quality.

Question 42.
What is meant by Exchange value?
Answer:
Exchange value refers to the capacity of the product to be being exchanged with some Other product or with money.

Question 43.
What is basic price?
Answer:
This is a kind of geographic pricing under which base point pricing is fixed at factory gate which includes cost of production and cost of sale and transport cost is collected from base point to the buyers location.

Question 44.
Mention any two pricing objectives.
Answer:
They are –

  • To achieve target rate of return on investment
  • To stabilize prices
  • To maintain or improve market share
  • To meet or prevent competition

Question 45.
Mention any two factors affecting pricing decisions.
Answer:
Factors influencing the pricing decisions are classified into two categories:

  • Cost of the product
  • Demand of the product

Question 46.
Give the meaning channel of distribution?
Answer:
Channels of distribution means routes or pathways through which goods and services flow or more from producers to consumers.

Question 47.
Define the term “Channel of distribution”.
Answer:
According to Philip Kotler “distribution channel is the set of firms and individuals that take title or assist in transferring title to the particular good or service as it moves from the producer to the consumer.”

Question 48.
What do you mean by direct channel of distribution?
Answer:
Direct channel of distribution means goods and services are supplied from the manufacturer to consumer directly without having and intermediaries. There are three alternatives in direct sale to customer. It is also called as zero channel of distribution.

  • Sale through advertising and direct network.
  • Sales through travelling sales force.
  • Sale through retail shops of manufacturer.

Question 49.
What is target marketing?
Answer:
It is a process of identifying market segments, targeting one or more of these segments and developing products and marketing programmes to suit each selected segments.

Question 50.
What are the four major channels of distribution?
Answer:
Channels of distribution are paths through which products more from the points of production to the points of consumption.
These trade channels are –

  • Manufacturer – consumer (direct channel)
  • Manufacturer – retailer – consumer
  • Manufacturer – wholesaler – retailer – consumer
  • Manufacturer – agent – wholesaler – retailer – consumer.

Question 51.
What is promotion?
Answer:
Promotion is the process of marketing communication involving information, persuasion and influence promotion communicates marketing information to consumers users and resellers.

Question 52.
Define the term “Promotion”.
Answer:
According to Williams J.Stanton “Promotion includes advertising personal selling, sales promotion and other selling tools”.

Question 53.
What are the tools of promotion mix?
Answer:

  • Advertising
  • Sales promotion
  • Publicity
  • Personal selling
  • Public relation.

Question 54.
What is colloquial copy?
Answer:
Colloquial copy refers to that type of advertisement copy which uses an informal language and talks in personal terms with the use of ‘I’and ‘You’.

Question 55.
What is promotion mix?
Answer:
Promotion mix involves advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and publicity to make the potential customers to know about a firm’s product or services.

Question 56.
Name any two advantages of personal selling.
Answer:
They are –

  • It maintains the demand for the existing products.
  • It builds goodwill or reputation for the seller.

Question 57.
What is publicity?
Answer:
Publicity means non-personal stimulation of demand tor a product, service or business unit by planting commercially significant news about it in a published medium or obtaining favourable presentation of it upon radio, television, or stage that is not paid for by the sponsor.

Question 58.
Define “advertising”?
Answer:
It is “any paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas goods or services by an identified sponsor” by the American marketing association.

Question 59.
What is advertising?
Answer:
Advertising is a promotional tool. It is a paid communication because the advertiser had to pay for the space or time in which his advertisement appears.

Question 60.
What Is advertisement copy?
Answer:
Advertisement copy is just like a prospectus which contains the information of advertisement and convince the people to buy the product advertisement copy should be scientifically drafted and it always contains merits of the product.

Question 61.
State any two criticism leveled against advertising?
Answer:

  • Advertising increases the price of goods.
  • Comparative or competitive advertising is a waste because it enables only reshuffling of customers. One company stealing customers from other company.
  • Some adverting is fraudulent.

Question 62.
Give the meaning of personal selling?
Answer:
Personal selling is an art of convincing the prospective buyer to buy the given products and service.

Question 63.
Define personal selling.
Answer:
“Sales man ship consists of winning the buyers confidence for the seller’s house and goods thereby winning the regular and permanent customer” by Mr. Garfield Blake.
OR
“Personal selling consists in individual and personal. Communication in contrast to mass relatively impersonal communication of advertising, sales promotion and other promotional tool” By Prof. William Stanton.

Question 64.
Mention any two limitations of personal selling.
Answer:
The two limitations of personal selling are –

  • It does not appeal to masses.
  • It is costly.

Question 65.
What is AIDAS formula?
Answer:

  • A – Attention : Attention of the customer must be attracted to the product.
  • I – Intrest : Salesman must curate an intrest in the mind.
  • D – Desire : The salesman must ignite the desire of customer.
  • A – Action : It must gaining an order.
  • S – Satisfaction : Satisfaction leads to repeat orders.