Whether you're looking for an obscure phrase or your basic marketing definition, the AMA Dictionary has it all! Originating from the print version in 1995, we're always adding new terms to keep marketers up to date in the ever-evolving marketing profession.
| Term | Definition | See Also |
|---|
| early adopters | The second identifiable subgroup within a population that be-gins use of an innovation. They follow innovators and precede the early majority. Their role is to be opinion leaders and have influence over the early majority. | |
| early majority | The third identifiable subgroup within a population that adopts an innovation. They are pre-ceded by early adopters and innovators. The early majority like to await the out-come of product trial by the two earlier groups, yet are not as slow to adopt as the next two groups, late majority and laggards. | |
| early markdown | A markdown taken early in the season or while the demand for the merchandise is still relatively active. | |
| early sales-based forecasting models | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| earned income | The income resulting from work or services performed as contrasted with income from such sources as investments or rent. | |
| EBA model | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| ebusiness | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| e-business | A term referring to a wide variety of Internet-based business models. Typically, an e-commerce strategy incorporates various elements of the marketing mix to drive users to a Web site for the purpose of purchasing a product or service. | |
| ecology | The study of the relations among living species and their physical and biotic environments, particularly adaptations to environments through the mechanisms of various systems. | |
| ecommerce | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| e-commerce | A term referring to a wide variety of Internet-based business models. Typically, an e-commerce strategy incorporates various elements of the marketing mix to drive users to a Web site for the purpose of purchasing a product or service. | |
| econometric market models | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic and technological factors | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic and technological position | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic concentration | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic concept of rent | A term reflecting the maximum amount that can be spent by a retail store for yearly rent expenses. It is calculated by subtracting from planned sales all projected nonrent costs including a projected or planned profit figure. | |
| economic determinism | A philosophy, perspective, or belief that economic forces ultimately are determinants of social and political change. | |
| economic environment | The economic environment encompasses such factors as productivity, income, wealth, inflation, balance of payments, pricing, poverty, interest rates, credit, transportation, and employment; it is the totality of the economic surroundings that affect a company's markets and its opportunities. | |
| economic goods | The goods that are so scarce relative to human wants that human effort is required to obtain them. | |
| economic indicator | The data collected over time that reflect economic activity and general business conditions. | |
| economic infrastructure | The internal facilities of a country available for con-ducting business activities, especially the communication, transportation, distribution, and financial systems. | |
| economic integration | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic man | A model of human behavior assumed by economists in analyzing market behavior. The economic person is a rational person who attempts to maximize the utility received from his/her monetary outflows and sacrifices. | |
| economic order quantity | The order quantity that minimizes the total costs of processing orders and holding inventory. | |
| economic organization | The way in which the means of production and distribution of goods are organized, such as capitalism or socialism. | |
| economic shoppers | The shoppers who try to maximize the ratio of total utility and dollars of expenditure. | |
| economic stage of the fashion cycle | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic status | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic union | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economic well-being | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| economics | 1. The science that deals with human wants and satisfaction. 2. The science that deals with a person's efforts to satisfy his/her wants through the use of the scarce resources of nature. | |
| economies of scale (economic definition) | The savings derived from producing a large number of units-e.g., in a situation in which all inputs are doubled, output may be more than doubled. | |
| economies of scale (global marketing definition) | The de-cline in per unit product costs as the absolute volume of production per period increases. | |
| economy pack | A merchandising phrase pointing out savings by including several products as one item in one wrap-ping. | |
| ecosystem | The complex of interactions of all the organisms with their environments and with each other. Technically, it is a subunit of the biosphere or a unit of a landscape. The interactions of members of a distribution channel, or the interaction of a company and its products with consumer environments are examples of marketing applications. | |
| ECOWAS | Economic Community of West African States | |
| eCPM | Acronym for Effective Cost per Thousand, a hybrid Cost-per-Click (CPC) auction calculated by multiplying the CPC times the click-through rate (CTR), and multiplying that by one thousand. (Represented by: (CPC x CTR) x 1000 = eCPM.) This monetization model is used by Google to rank site-targeted CPM ads (in the Google content network) against keyword-targeted CPC ads (Google AdWords PPC) in their hybrid auction.
Source: SEMPO | |
| ECU | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| EDI | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| editing | The inspection and correction, if necessary, of each questionnaire or observation form. | |
| Editorial Coverage | Exposure that is generated by media coverage of the sponsored property that includes mention of the sponsor.
Source: IEG | |
| Editorial Review Process | A review process for potential advertiser listings conducted by search engines, which check to ensure relevancy and compliance with the engine’s editorial policy. This process could be automated – using a spider to crawl ads – or it could be human editorial ad review. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. Not all PPC Search Engines review listings.
Source: SEMPO | |
| EDLP | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| EEC | European Economic Community | |
| effective frequency | An advertiser's de-termination of the optimum number of exposure opportunities required to effectively convey the advertising message to the desired audience or target market. | |
| efficient market hypothesis | In its so--called "semi-strong" form, this hypothesis states that in setting security prices at any time, the market correctly uses all publicly available information about the underlying corporations whose stocks are traded in the market. In the absence of inside information, this implies that investors cannot consistently achieve performance in excess of the market "average" for any given level of risk. The "semi-strong" hypothesis enjoys wide acceptance in financial economics. | |
| EFTA | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| ego | According to Freudian Theory, the ego is one prong of the three parts of the personality. The ego is the executive, or the planner, compromising between the demands for immediate gratification of the id and the pristine rigidity of the superego (conscience or moral self). | |
| ego defenses | The tools the ego has avail-able to defend the individual from psychological stresses such as the forces of the id (libido) and the superego. Ego defenses are psychological constructs such as identification, rationalization, reaction formation, repression, sublimation, etc. | |
| ego defensive drives | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| ego-defensive function of attitudes | The protection of the individual self pro-vided by attitudes. The ego-defensive function protects the individual from threats by concealing the "true" self and any socially undesirable feelings and wants. It is one of the functions of attitudes proposed by the functional theory of attitudes. | |
| eighty-twenty principle | The situation in which a disproportionately small number (e.g., 20 percent) of salespeople, territories, products, or customers generate a disproportionately large amount (e.g., 80 percent) of a firm's sales or profits. This phenomenon can be identified and addressed by conducting a sales analysis and cost analysis. | |
| elaboration | The degree of elaboration determines the number of meanings or beliefs formed during comprehension. | |
| Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) | A model of attitude formation and change that proposes that the process by which attitudes change depends upon the message recipient's level of motivation. According to Petty and Cacioppo, the authors of the ELM, when motivation is high, the message recipient will pay attention and respond to the quality of message arguments. When motivation is low, the message recipient will be more responsive to peripheral elements of the message (e.g., music, spokesperson attractiveness, etc.). | |
| elastic demand | 1. A situation in which a cut in price increases the quantity taken in the market enough that total revenue is increased. 2. A situation in which a given change in the price of an economic good is associated with a more than proportionate change in the quantity that buyers would purchase. 3. A situation in which the percentage of quantity taken "stretches" more than the percentage drop in price. | |
| elastic supply | 1. A situation in which a percentage increase in price attracts a greater percentage of' products offered to the market. 2. A situation in which the percentage of goods offered "stretches" more than the percentage increase in price. | |
| elasticity | The degree that an economic variable changes in response to a change in another economic variable. | |
| elasticity coefficient | 1. A measure of the responsiveness of the quantity of a product taken in the market to price changes. 2. (technical definition) E is the limit as the change in price tends to zero of a ratio composed of two ratios: the change in quantity/quantity, divided by change in price/price. E is al-ways negative: if the absolute value of E is greater than one, demand is said to be elastic; if exactly equal to one, unitary price elasticity prevails; if less than one, demand is said to be inelastic. | |
| elasticity of demand | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| elasticity of expectation | A measure of the changes in prices of goods and changes in the quantity taken by the market stemming from expectations by consumers. | |
| elasticon | A conjoint analysis-based model for estimating self- and cross-price elasticity. Subjects are asked to indicate their likelihood of buying each brand (when each brand is priced at some experimental level). A first order Markov model represents the price--induced brand switching. The price--demand model is fitted by generalized least-squares to the share of choices (Mahajan, Green, and Goldberg 1982). | |
| electronic data interchange (EDI) | 1. (physical distribution definition) The intercompany, application-to-application exchange of business transactions in a standard data format. 2. (retailing definition) The interfirm computer-to-computer transfer of information, as between or among retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. | |
| Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Co | The basic electronic data interchange format utilized globally or internationally for communication transmissions. | |
| electronic funds transfer | The use of electronic means, such as computers, telephones, magnetic tape and so on, rather than checks, to transfer funds, or to authorize or complete a transaction. This development has given rise to the concept of the cashless economy. | |
| Elimination-By-Aspects (EBA) model | A brand choice model that represents the ultimate selection decision as a series of eliminations. Each alternative available for choice is viewed as having some set of aspects (e.g., product features). At each stage of the choice process an aspect is selected (with probability proportional to that aspect's importance for this consumer), and all alternatives still being considered that do not possess the selected aspect are eliminated. The process continues until only one alternative remains, and that remaining item is assumed to be the one chosen by the consumer (Tversky 1972). Although more difficult to calibrate and apply than Luce's Choice Axiom model for choices, it does avoid the independence from irrelevant alter-natives property of the latter model, which is often seen as an appealing feature of the EBA model. It has led to the development of other hierarchical/ sequential choice models, including the Hierarchical Elimination Model (Tversky and Sattath 1979) and Generalized Elimination Model (Hauser 1986). | |
| ELM | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| email | (See also e-mail.) | |
| e-mail (email) | A communication format that involves sending computer-based messages over telecommunication technology. E-mail can include a letter-style text message or more elaborate Web-style HTML messages. Users can also attach other files to the e-mail and transmit all elements simultaneously. | |
| e-mail marketing (email marketing) | Marketing via email. | |
| embargo | The prohibition of shipment of goods or services to designated countries. | |
| Emblem | A graphic symbol unique to a property.
Source: IEG | |
| EMC | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| emergency product | A good (such as a portable generator) or a service (such as ambulance delivery) in which an essentially nondeliberative purchase decision is based on critical and timely need. | |
| emotional appeals | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| emotionally neutral | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| Emotions | Refer to "See Also" column to the right. | |
| employee discount | A certain discount from retail price offered by most general merchandise retailers to employees. It is a kind of retail reduction from the point of view of accounting. Usually stores grant a larger percentage on personal wearing apparel than on gifts purchased by the employee. | |
| empty nest stage | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| emulation stage of the fashion cycle | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| emulative product | A new product that imitates another product already on the market. It is somewhat different from previous products (not a pure "me-too" product), but the difference is not substantial or significant. | |
| end of month dating (EOM) | The cash discount and the net credit periods be-gin on the first day of the following month rather than on the invoice date. EOM terms are frequently stated in this manner: "2/10, net 20, EOM." Sup-pose an order is filled and shipped on June 16 under these terms. In such a case, the cash discount may be taken any time through July 10 and the net amount is due on July 30. | |
| end sizes | Those sizes that are usually large, small, or extraordinary in some respect. | |
| end user | A person or organization that consumes a good or service that may consist of the input of numerous firms. For example, an insurance company may be the end user for a keyboard for a personal computer, originally produced for and sold to the personal computer manufacturer. | |
| end-aisle display | An exhibit of a product set up at the end of the aisle in a retail store to call attention to a special offering or price. | |
| endless chain method | A method of prospecting in which a salesperson asks customers to suggest other customers who might be interested in the salesperson's offerings. | |
| enduring involvement | The general, personal relevance of a product or activity. | |
| Engel's Law | The observation that the proportion of income spent on food de-clines as income rises with given tastes or preferences. This law or tendency was formulated by Ernst Engel (1821-1896) in a paper published by him in 1857. | |
| entering new segments | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| enterprise group | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| Entry Page | Refers to any page within a web site that a user employs to "enter" your web site.
Source: SEMPO | |
| environment | The complex set of physical and social stimuli in the external world of consumers. | |
| environmental analysis | The gathering and analyzing of data about a company's or nation's external environment to identify trends and their impact upon an organization or country. Included among the environmental forces considered are the political, cultural, social, demographic, economic, legal, international, and ecological factors. | |
| environmental factors | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| environmental impact analysis | The assessment of the impact of a strategy or decision on the environment, especially the ecological consequences of the strategy or decision. | |
| environmental monitoring | The activities aimed at keeping track of changes in external factors that are likely to affect the markets and demand for a firm's products and services. Among the external factors usually considered are the economic, social, demographic, political, legal, cultural, and technological forces. | |
| environmental motives | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | A federal agency formed in 1970 that regulates the amount of pollutants manufacturers can emit. | |
| environmental scanning | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| environmental stimulus | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| environmentalism | 1. (legislation definition) This refers to public concern over protecting, enhancing, and improving the environment, which includes conserving natural resources, eliminating pollution and hazardous substances, historic preservation, and preventing the extinction of plant and animal species. 2. (environments definition) That part of consumerism that concentrates on ecology is-sues such as air, water, and noise pollution and the depletion of natural resources. Marketing decisions and action, such as new product offerings, can impact directly on physical environments. | |
| EOM dating | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| EPA | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| episodic knowledge | The mental representations of the specific events in a per-son's life. | |
| Equal Credit Opportunity Act (1974) | This act prohibits discrimination by a creditor against any applicant for credit on the basis of sex or marital status. | |
| equal time | Section 315 of the Federal Communication Commission Act pro-vides that if a broadcaster permits a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunity to use the broadcasting station to all other candidates for that office. | |
| equalized workload method | A method of determining sales force size that is based on the premise that all sales personnel should have an equal amount of work. The method requires that management estimate the work required to serve the entire market. The total work calculation is typically treated as a function of the number of accounts, the frequency with which each account should be called on, and the length of time that should be spent on each call. This estimate is then divided by the amount of work an individual salesperson should be able to handle to determine the total number of salespeople required. | |
| equilibrium point | A situation in which the quantity and price offered by sellers equals the quantity and price taken by buyers. | |
| equilibrium price | A price that equates supply and demand, i.e., the price at which the market clears. | |
| equipment | The durable goods used to support manufacturing, logistics, administrative, and other business processes. The definition includes fixed equipment such as generators and drill presses, light factory equipment such as hand tools and lift trucks, and office equipment such as typewriters and desks. | |
| equivalence | A measure of reliability that is applied to both single instruments and measurement situations. When applied to instruments, the equivalence measure of reliability is the internal consistency or internal homogeneity of the set of items forming the scale; when applied to measurement situations, the equivalence measure of reliability focuses on whether different observers or different instruments used to measure the same individuals or objects at the same point in time yield consistent results. | |
| erratic demand | A pattern of demand for a product that is varied and unpredictable - e.g., the demand for large automobiles. | |
| Escalator | An annual percentage increase built into the sponsorship fee for multi-year contracts. Escalators are typically tied to inflation.
Source: IEG | |
| establishment stage | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| esteem needs | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| ethics | This relates to moral action, con-duct, motive, and character. It also means professionally right or befitting, conforming to professional standards of conduct. | |
| ethnocentric orientation | A home country orientation or an unconscious bias or belief that the home country approach to business is superior. | |
| ethnocentric pricing policy | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| ethnography | A detailed, descriptive study of a group and its behavior, characteristics, culture, etc. | |
| eurocurrency | A national currency de-posited outside the country of denomination: for example, U. S. dollars deposited in a foreign bank. | |
| eurodollars | U.S. dollar deposits held in banks outside the United States. | |
| European Community | An association of European countries, viz. Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark, with uniform trade rules built upon the elimination of internal tariff barriers and the establishment of common external barriers. Its goal is to integrate and harmonize the economic, social, and political life of members. On the economic front, the goal is the elimination of all barriers and restrictions on the movement of goods and services. | |
| European Currency Unit (ECU) | A weighted average currency unit created by weighting the current exchange rate of the twelve European Community member country currencies based on country GNP and trade. The ECU is a unit of value that fluctuates less than individual European Community currencies because it is a weighted average. | |
| European Free Trade Association (EFTA) | An association established by the Stockholm Convention of 1959, with member countries being Austria, Finland (associate member), Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland. EFTA's objective is to bring about free trade in industrial goods and an expansion of trade in agricultural goods. | |
| evaluation | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| evaluation and control of sales force performance | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| evaluation of alternative suppliers, in organizati | Formal supplier evaluation is the rating of alternative suppliers on preset criteria in order to evaluate their technical, financial, and managerial abilities. It is a way to substitute facts for feelings in selecting suppliers. | |
| evaluation rule | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| even price | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| event creation | The use of communication techniques such as news releases, press conferences, etc., to call attention to activities to promote a company, product, or service. Also, it is the development of a special activity, showing, display, or exhibit designed to demonstrate products or to connect the product to favorable products or activities. | |
| Event Marketing | Promotional strategy linking a company to an event (sponsorship of a sports competition, festival, etc.). Often used as a synonym for “sponsorship.” The latter term is preferable, however, because not all sponsorships involve an event, per se.
Source: IEG | |
| evergreen | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| everyday low price (EDLP) | 1. (retailing definition) A policy or strategy of retail pricing whereby presumably low prices are set initially on items and maintained, as opposed to the occasional offering of items at special or reduced sales prices. 2. (sales promotion definition) A pricing approach in which the product is offered to retailers and consumers at a consistently low cost rather than reducing price periodically through sales promotion activities. | |
| evoked set | 1. (consumer behavior definition) The set of alternatives that are activated directly from memory. 2. (consumer behavior definition) The set of possible products or brands that the consumer may be considering in the decision process. It is the set of choices that has been evoked and is salient as compared with the larger number of available possible choices. For example, from the many brands of breakfast cereals on super-market shelves, it is the half a dozen brands (or so) that the buyer may re-member and be considering for purchase. | |
| ex parte | A regulatory practice of pre-testing proposed regulatory rules in an effort to get reactions and comments from shippers, carriers, and other interested parties. | |
| exception rate | A transportation charge based on a class rate but reduced due to special circumstances, usually local or regional competitive conditions. | |
| exchange | All activities associated with receiving something from someone by giving something voluntarily in re-turn. | |
| exchange control | The control of movement of funds and of purchases of currency by a government. Exchange control may be utilized in support of any of the following objectives: (1) to keep exchange rates stable, (2) to keep the currency undervalued to stimulate ex-ports, or (3) to keep the currency over-valued to handicap exports and encourage imports. | |
| exclusion orders | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| exclusionary distribution | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| exclusive dealing | A restriction that is imposed by a supplier on a customer forbidding the customer from purchasing some type of product from any other supplier. This restriction is subject to an examination of whether it substantially lessens competition or restrains trade. Exclusive dealing should not be con-fused with exclusive distributorships, a term applied to arrangements in which a supplier promises not to appoint more than one dealer in each territory. | |
| exclusive distribution (channels of distribution d | A form of market coverage in which a product is distributed through one particular wholesaler or retailer in a given market area. | |
| exclusive distribution (retailing definition) | The practice whereby the vendor agrees to sell the goods or services within a certain territory only through a single retailer or a limited number of retailers. It may also apply to wholesalers. | |
| exempt carrier | A transportation provider not subject to direct regulation regarding operating rights or pricing pollicies. It must, however, comply with licensing and safety laws. If engaged in interstate movement, the carrier must publish its rates. | |
| exhibit | The gathering and displaying of products, people, or information at a central location for viewing by a diverse audience. | |
| Eximbank | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| expandibility of demand | The degree to which the demand schedule can be shifted through the use of marketing mix variables such as advertising and personal selling. | |
| expectancy | A salesperson's estimate of the likelihood that if he or she increases his or her effort on some job activity, a higher level of performance will occur. In essence, expectancy is the linkage between effort and salesperson performance. For example, a salesperson might estimate that there is a 50 percent probability (expectancy) that if he or she spends 10 percent more time calling on new accounts, his or her sales volume will rise by 15 percent. Expectancies can influence a salesperson's level of motivation. | |
| expectancy-value model | This is one of the major schools of motivation emerging from the work of Kurt Lewin. According to Wilkie, the major proposition is that the strength of the tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of the expectancy that the act will be followed by a given consequence (or goal) and the value of that goal to the individual. It assumes that the consumer behaves purposively and evaluates, say, the purchase of a particular brand in terms of how desirable the consequences of the purchase of that brand are for him or her. | |
| expectation-disconfirmation model | model that proposes that satisfaction depends upon the consistency between expectations and performance. Dissatisfaction is proposed to result when product performance is below expectations, whereas satisfaction arises when performance equals or exceeds expected performance. | |
| expediter | An expediter is one who works to speed up a shipment for delivery. | |
| expense account | An account maintained by salespeople that includes travel, entertainment, and other expenses which they incur for business purposes and for which they are reimbursed by their employers. | |
| expense center | A collection of controllable costs that are related to one particular area of work or kind of store service. | |
| expense center accounting | The grouping of expenses by their necessity in performing a particular kind of store service. For example, some expense centers are management, property and equipment, accounts payable, etc. Natural expenses are typically included as a part of the concept (e.g., payroll). | |
| experience curve analysis | The application of the experience curve effect, to understand (1) how the components of the total cost of a company's product are affected by cumulative experience, (2) the relationship of industry experience and average industry prices and costs, and (3) how competitive cost comparisons relate to current costs of direct competitors to their cumulative experience. | |
| experience curve effect | A systematic decline in the cost per unit that is achieved as the cumulative volume (and therefore experience) increases. There are three sources of the experience curve effect: (1) learning-the increasing efficiency of labor that arises chiefly from practice; (2) technological improvements including process innovations, resource mix changes, and product standardization; and (3) economies of scale-the increased efficiency due to size. | |
| experience survey | A series of interviews with people knowledgeable about the general subject being investigated. | |
| experience-curve pricing | 1. (pricing definition) A method of pricing in which the seller sets the price sufficiently low to encourage a large sales volume in anticipation that the large sales volume would lead to a reduction in average unit costs. Generally this method of pricing is used over time by periodically reducing the price to induce additional sales volumes that lead to lower per unit costs. 2. (economic definition) A price-setting method using a markup on the average total cost as forecast by cost trends over time as sales volume accumulates. | |
| experiment | A scientific investigation in which an investigator manipulates and controls one or more independent variables and observes the dependent variable for variation concomitant to the manipulation of the independent variable(s). | |
| experimental demand curve | A price volume relationship estimated by simulating actual market conditions in an experiment or other form of pricing research. | |
| experimental design | A research investigation in which the investigator has direct control over at least one independent variable and manipulates at least one independent variable. | |
| experimental group | A group of subjects in an experiment who are exposed to an experimental treatment or alternative whose effect is to be measured and compared. | |
| experimental mortality | An experimental condition in which test units are lost during the course of an experiment. | |
| expert systems | 1. (models definition) Interactive computer systems that, by applying a variety of knowledge elements (e.g., facts, rules, models) within a specified domain, can solve a problem with an expertise comparable to that of an acknowledged human expert. As part of the developments in artificial intelligence, expert systems have been developed in various fields (medicine, defense, manufacturing, etc.) In recent years, a number of marketing expert systems have been developed, including ADCAD (an expert system for the design of advertising appeals and executions) (Burke, Rangaswamy, Wind, and Eliashberg 1990). 2. (marketing research definition) A computer-based artificial intelligence system that attempts to model how experts in the area process information to solve the problem at hand. | |
| explicit costs | The costs that are generally of a contractual or definite nature, including expenses for such items as wages, telephone bills, light bills, and supplies. They are explicitly carried on the accounting records as costs and are charged against the operation of the business because they are obvious and definite in amount. | |
| exploration stage | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| exploratory research | A research design in which the major emphasis is on gaining ideas and insights; it is particularly helpful in breaking broad, vague problem statements into smaller, more precise subproblem statements. | |
| exponential smoothing | A forecasting technique to estimate future sales using a weighted average of previous demand and forecast accuracy. The new forecast is based on the old forecast incremented by some fraction of the differential between the old forecast and sales realized. The factor used to calculate the new forecast is called an alpha factor. | |
| export agent | A manufacturers' agent who specializes in marketing goods abroad. | |
| export commission representative | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| export distributor | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| Export Import Bank (Eximbank) | The primary U. S. government agency in the business of providing funds for international trade and investment. It also plays a key role in the U.S. export credit insurance program and is the primary administrator for the foreign currencies abroad that are generated by the U.S. surplus farm commodities. | |
| export management company (EMC) | A firm that manages exports for other firms. It produces no product of its own but serves as an international marketing intermediary. It acts as the export department of the client firm and may even use its letterhead. | |
| export marketing | The integrated marketing of goods and services that are produced in a foreign country. Each element of the marketing mix (product, price, promotion, and channels of distribution) is potentially variable. | |
| export selling | Selling to a foreign country with the focus on the product and the emphasis on selling. The key elements of marketing mix (product, price, promotion, and channels of distribution) are all the same as in the home market. Only the place or distribution is adjusted in export selling. | |
| export trading company | A firm that buys another firm's merchandise and assumes all responsibility for the marketing and distribution of the product abroad. | |
| exposure | Any opportunity for a reader, viewer, or listener to see and/or hear an advertising message in a particular media vehicle. | |
| exposure distribution | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| expressed guarantee | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| expressed warranty | 1. (retailing definition) A guarantee supplied by either the retailer or the manufacturer that details the terms of the warranty in simple and easily understood language so customers know what is and what is not covered by the warranty. 2. (product development definition) The spoken or written promises made by the seller of a product about what will be done if the product proves to be defective in manufacture or performance. This contrasts with promises that are only implied by common knowledge of the product or by customary practices in a trade. Expressed warranties are usually restricted to stated periods of time. | |
| expropriation | Government acquisition of private property without payment of prompt and full compensation to owners. | |
| extension pricing policy | A pricing policy that requires that the price of an item be the same around the world and that the customer absorb freight and import duties. This is also known as ethnocentric pricing policy. | |
| extensive problem solving | 1. (consumer behavior definition) A choice involving substantial cognitive and behavioral effort. 2. (consumer behavior definition) In the choice process, this includes those decisions that consume considerable cognitive activity and thought, as compared to routinized response behavior and habitual decision making. | |
| external action program | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| external data | Data that originate outside the organization for which the research is being done. | |
| external factors | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| external stimulus | A cue or stimulus or prod to action that is external to the individual such as a bright light or an advertisement. An internal stimulus would be one from within the individual such as hunger pangs, the feeling of fear, or glee. | |
| external threats | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| external validity | One criterion by which an experiment is evaluated; the criterion refers to the extent, to what populations and settings, to which the observed experimental effect can be generalized. | |
| externality | Refer to “See Also” column to the right. | |
| extinction | The process by which a learned response or learned behavior pattern is extinguished or unlearned (or forgotten). Extinction is the psychological term for unlearning. It is the process of forgetting and although there is some controversy over whether or not forgetting naturally occurs over time, it is accepted that extinction can be induced. | |
| extra dating | A form of deferred dating. The purchaser is allowed a specified number of days before the ordinary dating begins. To illustrate, in the sale of blankets the terms "2/10-60 days extra" may be offered by the vendor. This means that the buyer has 60 days plus 10 days, or 70 days, from the invoice date in which to pay the bill with the discount deducted. | |
| extrinsic reward | A reward that is external to the individual such as money, food, or a pat on the head. An intrinsic reward is one that is internal within the person such as feeling good for a job well done. | |
| Eye Tracking Studies | Studies by Google, Marketing Sherpa and Poynter Institute using Eyetools technology to track the eye movements of web page readers, in order to understand reading and click-through patterns.
Source: SEMPO | |