D

DAGMAR: Originally title of a book advocating evaluation of advertising effectiveness by communications goals rather than sales. Acronym for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Response.

DAGMAR Approach: an approach to measuring advertising effectiveness devised by Russell H. Colley in 1961, in which advertising objectives are turned into specific measurable goals. See DAGMAR.

Daily activities report: a record of a salesperson's activities on a day-by-day basis, showing clients visited, products presented and results; it may also include reasons for the failure to sell. See Call Report

Daily report of calls: List of interviews obtained and visits made by salespeople, sometimes submitted daily but may be given in form of weekly summary to regional or head office.

Daily sales plan: a record of a salesperson's intended sales-calls on a day-by-day basis, listing the clients to be visited, the objectives of each call, and the anticipated outcomes.

Data: Statistical term describing classified factual information. Singular is datum.

Data analysis: Study of tabulated figures to establish trends or exceptions. May involve study for current or future problems or opportunities.

Data base: Collection of facts and information in a magnetic storage system which enables it to be accessed either in total or in predetermined categories.

Database marketing: the use of large collections of computer-based information in marketing; the database listings may be reference databases containing information on specific topics; full databases which contain full transcripts of documents or articles being sought; or source databases which contain listings of names and addresses, etc of prospective customers.

Data capture: Information taken on to a computer.

Data collection: Accumulation of facts and information with a view to inputting it into a data base.

Data processing: Arrangements of data into a systematic form and its further analysis, most frequently by mechanical or automatic means.

Data reduction: The activities involved in developing a basic data array as complete and error-free as possible and calculating the appropriate summarising statistics (mean, median, etc.).

Data sheet: Leaflet containing factual information and data about a product and its performance.

Data system: The part of a decision support system that includes the processes used to capture and the methods used to store data coming from a number of external and internal sources.

Date coding: Practice of showing manufacturing date or, more commonly, date by which product should be sold to reach consumer in an acceptably fresh condition.

Date in charge: Date from which the rental for a poster site is charged.

Day-After recall (DAR): A widely used method of copy testing television advertisements based on telephone interviews of TV viewers in sample cities where a TV advertisement is being tested. Viewers are contacted the day after the ad is broadcast and asked to describe the advertisement using an aided recall method.

Days of grace: Additional time allowed by customs for payment of a bill of exchange after the due date. Normally maximum of three days is allowed in this way.

DC: Double column in an advertisement which spans two columns.

DE: See Socioeconomic groups.

Dead freight: Payable where the charterer is unable entirely to fill a ship with cargo and is therefore charged against empty space.

Dead matter: Typescripts, roughs of diagrams, proofs, etc., which have been superseded by the next stage.

Deadline: Time by which a particular stage of a job must be completed, particularly in journalism where the story becomes dead if not completed in time. Also with advertising and broadcasting and indeed has been generally adopted as a term in planning procedure.

Deal: Agreement reached between two or more parties to a contract.

Dealer: Intermediary in distribution chain, buying goods in order to sell them, usually but not always to the general public: generally synonymous with 'retailer' but often applied to the larger distributor. Term can apply more broadly to anyone 'dealing' in the transfer of ownership of goods, whether industrial, commercial, or consumer. See Distributor.

Dealer aid: Any material supplied to dealers (retailers) in order to assist them in their task of selling merchandise, eg. point-of-sale display items, leaflets, samples and dispensers.

Dealer audit: See Retail audit.

Dealer brand See Own label.

Dealer incentives: Special promotional offers to retailers to encourage buying, promoting, and active selling of branded goods.

Dealer leaders: Promotional device providing incentives to retailers to stock a product, or range of products, at predetermined quantities.

Dealer listing: the naming in a product advertisement of certain retailers who have stocks. This naming is done as a convenience to consumers and to encourage the retailers to carry higher stock levels. Also referred to as Tagging.

Dealer loader: a gift given to a retailer who purchases a specified quantity of a product during a trade sales promotion. See Trade Sales Promotion.

Dear money: Applies when interest rates (the price of money) are high and loans have generally become more difficult to obtain.

Death of a Salesman: a play by the U.S. playwright, Arthur Miller, set in the 1930s, the era of the "selling concept". The play and its central character, Willy Loman, a salesman, are often referred to in sales training material. See Selling Concept.

Debit: The left-hand side of an equal entry in the double-entry bookkeeping system. All debits and credits are equal in value to one another at all times, so that the balances of both sides will equal zero. When this condition is not present, the books are not in balance.

Debit card: Plastic card issued to an individual which enables a retailer to debit directly a customer's account in consideration of a purchase of goods or services.

Debt capital: Funds to carry on a business raised from bonds and long term contracts payable. Stock, in comparison, is equity capital. The combination of debt and equity capital represent the total capitalisation of a company. Investors who assume a debt position are compensated in the form of interest, whereas equity investors receive dividends and may profit from increased market value of the stock.

Debug: Logically to trace and eliminate errors from a program

Decentralisation: Assignment of accountability from central unit of control to individual units within an organisation, involving transfer of decision-making authority and responsibility.

Decentralised exchange system: any system for the exchange of goods or services which does not utilise a central marketplace. See Centralised Exchange System.

Decentralised organisation: An organisation in which decision making authority is delegated as far down the chain of command as possible.

Deceptive advertising: advertising intended to deceive consumers with false or misleading claims, bait advertising is an example of this type of advertising. See Bait Advertising.

Deceptive pricing: the pricing of goods and services in such a way as to cause a customer to be misled; an example of deceptive pricing is bait-and-switch pricing. See Bait-and-Switch Pricing.

Deciders: those who actually make the purchase decision in the organisational buying process; the deciders are often difficult to identify because they may not necessarily have the formal authority to buy. See Buying Centre.

Decision criteria: Although a number of possible decision criteria are available, theorists are unanimous in recommending that one should seek to maximise the expected utility (MEU) flowing from a decision. In turn, it is usual to express maximum expected utility in monetary terms so that expected value becomes the appropriate decision criterion.

Decision making: choosing between alternative courses of action using cognitive processes - memory, thinking, evaluation, etc; also called Problem Solving.

Decision-making unit: Group of people who together contribute to a decision on whether or not, and what to purchase (DMU). Used more in industrial marketing but can apply for example, to a consumer situation, eg. the multiple household. Usually comprises specifier, authoriser, purchaser and user.

Decision matrix: a tool used in decision making in which the various dimensions of a problem are listed and rated to determine the most appropriate alternative in a particular situation.

Decision-perspective: Occurs when consumers move through a series of rational steps when making a purchase. These steps include: problem recognition, search, alternative evaluation, choice, and post acquisition evaluation.

Decision process: The steps through which consumers move when purchasing a product , including problem recognition, search, alternative evaluation, choice, and post acquisition evaluation.

Decision support system (DSS): any computerised system of changing raw data (sales, stock levels, etc) into information that can be used by management in decision making.

Decision theory: Quantitative techniques for reducing complex problems to a limited number of easier problems.

Decision tree: Decision flow diagram of events, past, present and future, leading to and effecting the outcome of a business decision.

Deck: Subsidiary section of a headline.

Deck cargo: Cargo stowed on deck rather than in the ship's hold. Deck cargo may often be of a hazardous nature and must, therefore, be easier to jettison in a situation of jeopardy.

Decline stage: the final stage of the product life cycle (after introductory stage, growth stage and maturity stage) when sales are dropping because the original need and want have diminished or because another product innovation has been introduced. See Growth Stage of Product Life cycle; Introductory Stage of Product Life cycle; Maturity Stage of Product Life cycle; Product Life cycle;

Decoding: the step in the communication process in which the receiver accepts and interprets the message. See Communication Process; Encoding.

Deep assortment: an assortment strategy in which a reseller decides to carry many variants of each product in the range. See Assortment Strategies; Broad Assortment; Exclusive Assortment; Scrambled Assortment.

Decreasing marginal utility: The concept that as a consumer obtains more of something, each additional unit brings less utility or satisfaction.

Decreasing returns: Occur when economies of scale cease to operate, because of the counter-acting effect of increasing average costs and resulting in a decrease in profitability. See Diseconomies of scale.

De-dupe: Identifying and removing duplicates from a mailing list.

Deep-rooted demand: Continuing loyalty to a product or brand ' even where its original competitive advantage or value may no longer be significant. May sometimes be the result of cultural or traditional beliefs.

Defence mechanisms: Psychological adjustments made by people to keep themselves from recognising personality qualities or motives that might lower self-esteem or heighten anxiety.

Defensive advertising: advertising intended to combat the effects of a competitor's promotion.

Deferred rebate: Rebate or discount on goods accumulated for an agreed period; used as an incentive to customers to remain loyal to supplier or to buy all needs from one supplier. A form of contract where the discount allowed is conditional upon both the total and period of the purchases.

Definition: In communications, this refers to the clarity or fidelity with which an illustration or image is reproduced.

Deflation Reduction in the amount of available money causing incomes to fall and unemployment to grow.

Delayed response: Reaction to marketing initiative at a later time but often within the expected period of time. See Gestation period.

Delayed quotation pricing: an industrial pricing method in which the seller delays quoting a price until delivery; the method protects the seller against cost over-runs and production delays.

Del credere agent: Agent who accepts responsibility for the payment of money due to the principal, and who earns an increased commission for taking the additional risks involved.

Delegation: The sharing of authority and responsibility with others. Supervisors and managers may delegate to subordinates, just as top management may delegate on a broader scale to entire divisions, subsidiaries, or departments. Delegation frees up management I s time to analyse and plan, without having to be concerned with more detailed concerns. Ideally, the higher one is on the corporate organisation chart, the less detail should be involved in the day.

Delivered price: Ex-works selling price plus all costs involved in freighting or transportation.

Delivered pricing: a pricing method in which the final price to the buyer is adjusted to include transportation costs; the seller takes responsibility for arranging delivery but adds the cost to the quoted price.

Delivery note: Document accompanying goods on delivery to buyer. Used as a means of checking delivery, dealing with claims for shortage, damage and empties and subsequently clearing the invoice for the goods.

DeLozier, M. Wayne: Professor of Marketing at the University of South Carolina and author of the widely used of the very few textbooks on advertising theory. The Marketing Communications Process, published by McGraw-Hill in 1976, draws mostly upon empirical studies of social communication to build up a theory-based explanation of advertising effect and also, in less detail, the effect of publicity, sales promotion and personal selling on their target audiences. The transferability of these experimental findings is sometimes open to question, but the book makes a valuable contribution to the long overdue theoretical refinement of advertising practice. It deserves to be better known within the business.

Delphi technique: a forecasting method in which a coordinator seeks predictions from a number of experts who revise their opinions in light of the opinions of the others until some degree of consensus is reached.

Demand: Derived from economics, its usual reference in marketing is to the aggregate of effective purchasing intentions in a community regarding a particular product.

Demand analysis: Study of demand for product in order to establish reasons for its success or failure or in order to discover how sales performance may be improved.

Demand-backward pricing: a method of pricing in which prices are set by determining what consumers are willing to pay; then, costs are deducted to see if the profit margin is adequate.

Demand curve: statistical distribution of demand expressed in the form of a graph.

Demand curve shift: the shift of the demand curve to the right or left.

Demand elasticity: see Elasticity of Demand.

Demand forecasting: Undertaking a series of value forecasts at different selling prices to establish the optimum profit opportunity. It is based on the principle of elasticity, whereby demand increases at lower prices and decreases at higher prices.

Demand function: Relationship between demand and the determinants of demand such as price, substitute products, income, or credit facilities.

Demand inelasticity: see Inelasticity of Demand.

Demand, latent: A demand which the consumer is unable to satisfy, usually for lack of purchasing power. For example, many housewives may have a latent demand for automatic dishwashers but, related to their available disposable income, this want is less strong than their demand for other products and so remains unsatisfied. In other words, wants are ranked in order of preference and satisfied to the point where disposable income is exhausted. From the manufacturer's point of view the problem is to translate latent demand into effective demand by increasing the consumer's preference for his/her particular product vis-Avis all other product offerings. Marketing is largely concerned with solving this problem.

Latent demand may also be thought of as a vague want in the sense that the consumer feels a need for a product, or service, to fill a particular function but is unable to locate anything suitable. If such a product exists marketing's role is to bring it to his/her attention; if it does not exist, then marketing should seek to identify the unfilled need and develop new products to satisfy it. Potential demand exists where the consumer possesses the necessary purchasing power, but is not currently buying the product under consideration. Thus, where a marketer has identified a latent demand and developed a new product to satisfy it, the potential demand consists of all those who can back up their latent want with purchasing power. In another context, potential demand may be thought of as that part of the total market (effective demand) for an existing product which a firm might anticipate securing through the introduction of a new, competitive brand.

Demand, law of: Indicates an inverse relationship between price and quantity, assuming the other determinants of demand, income, consumer changes, and the prices of substitutes are held constant ' This causes the demand curve to have a negative slope, implying that the higher the price the smaller the quantity demanded in a period of time, and the lower the price the greater the quantity demanded.

Demand management: Exercising control over the amount and levels of demand for company products in terms of quantity, quality, price, and timing.

Demand-orientated pricing: A pricing policy based on the level of demand for the product, resulting in a higher price when demand for the product is strong and a lower price when demand is weak.

Demand pull: Resultant of demand stimulants applied in marketing: works in conjunction, for example, with sales push.

Demand schedule: The relationship, usually inverse, between price and quantity demanded; classically, a line sloping downward to the right, showing that as price falls, quantity demanded will increase.

Demand, short-run versus long-run: Shortrun demand refers to existing demand, with its immediate reaction to price changes, income fluctuation etc, whereas long-run demand is that which will ultimately exist as a result of changes in pricing, promotion or product improvement, after enough time has elapsed to let the market adjust itself to the new situation. The distinction between short-run and long-run dictates competitive response. In the short run the question is whether competitors will meet the cut in price while in the long run the entry of potential competitors, exploration of substitutes, and other complex factors may affect the response.

Demand theory: Branch of economic theory devoted to the analysis of demand determinants and consumers/users scales of preferences.

Demarketing: Deflating demand when in short supply; effective rationing of supplies by marketing methods. A term coined by Philip Kotler and Sidney J. Levy ('Demarketing, Yes Demarketing', Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec 1971) to describe means of reducing overfull demand. 'Demarketing deals with attempts to discourage customers in general or a certain class of customers in particular on either a temporary or permanent basis.' In other words demarketing seeks to modify demand through differential pricing or the reduction of promotion, quality, service etc.

Democratic (Leadership Style): a style of leadership characterised by group participation in decision-making. See Autocratic Leadership Style.

Demographic characteristics: variables within a nation's population, such as age, gender, income level, marital status, ethnic origin and education level.

Demographic factors: Personal characteristics such as age, sex, race, nationality, income, family, life-cycle stage, and occupation; also called socioeconomic factors.

Demographic segmentation: the division of the heterogeneous population of a country into relatively homogeneous groups on the basis of variables within the population mix, sometimes called State-of-Being Segmentation. See Segmentation Bases.

Demography: Science of social statistics, particularly population statistics, essential to market research and effective campaign planning. See Socio-economic groups.

Demonstration: Showing the product in action. Sometimes used to refer to an artificial situation where audiovisual equipment is used instead of the actual product/service itself.

Dendrogram: Treelike device employed to interpret the output of a cluster analysis that indicates the groups of objects forming at various similarity levels.

Density sales: Product achieving the highest level of sales within a company or an industry relative to others within that product field.

Deontology: An ethical or moral reasoning framework that focuses on the welfare of the individual and that uses means, intentions, and features of the act itself in judging its ethicality; sometimes referred to as the rights or entitlements model.

Department store: Large store selling a wide range of commodities, particularly clothing, where merchandise is segregated into different departments, each having a specialist manager, usually wholly responsible for own buying and selling but subject to central control. Frequently offers credit and delivery facilities to customers and usually will be located only in urban marketing centres.

Dependent variable: Statistical term describing a factor which changes as a result of some other directly linked factor - another variable - which is independent, eg. sales, which may increase as a result of advertising. Advertising is then the independent variable and sales the dependent variable.

Deployment: the configuration or arrangement of a sales force into territories on some logical basis, for example, geographic deployment or deployment by product or market type.

Depreciation: Diminution in value of an asset due to use and/or lapse of time. Normally, such reductions in value are charged against the profit and loss account with an accounting formula, which spreads the value of the asset over its expected life, in order to show a more realistic cost of operations to the business. In most cases, the amount written off is put into reserve in order to provide for a future replacement. An allowance made in a balance sheet for wear and tear; a measure of the loss of value of a fixed asset because of use or obsolescence.

Depression: Period during which a nation's productive resources are persistently underemployed; often manifests itself through a long period of high unemployment among a community's labour force.

Depth interviews: a qualitative market research approach in which interviews are conducted by a trained moderator with individuals, rather than with groups, to obtain information about a product or brand. See Focus Group, Group discussion.

Depth interview: Personal interview within an open, informal atmosphere; It is used to study motives.

Depth of product line: see Product Line Length.

Depth selling: see Problem-Solving Approach.

Deregulation: the complete or partial removal of government control and restrictions relating to a specific business activity or industry.

Derived demand: Indirect demand for capital goods, materials or other factors of production which are used to provide goods for which there is direct demand.

Derived population: Population of all possible distinguishable samples that could be drawn from a parent population under a specific sampling plan.

Descender: Lower case letter in which the stroke drops below the base line, eg. g, p, q, y. See Ascender.

Descriptive label: a label on a product which announces the size, net weight, ingredients, composition, nutritional value, etc. See Label.

Descriptive research: Research design in which the major emphasis is on determining the frequency with which something occurs or the extent to which two variables co vary.

Descriptive study: A type of study undertaken when marketers see that knowledge of the characteristics of certain phenomena is needed to solve a problem; may require statistical analysis and predictive tools.

Descriptor variables: The characteristics used to describe individuals, groups, or organisations that have been grouped into segments.

Design: In marketing, used as a generic term embracing all types of visual work, eg. roughs, typography, graphics, finished art, for all kinds of application - advertising, exhibitions, print work, house styling.

Design factor: Measurement of relative efficiency of sample design against a reading of 100 for a completely random sample.

Designer products: Ostensibly up-market products, created designs by notable people giving an image of prestige or superiority.

Desire: Expression of human appetite for given object of attention.

Desire competitors: all companies and organisations offering a product that the consumer desires immediately. See Competitors.

Desired state: The preferred state that a consumer would like to achieve. When differences between the desired state and the actual state are sufficiently large, a need state is said to exist.

Desk jobber: see Drop Shipper.

Desk research: Obtaining facts and information from sources which are already published (eg., directories), or which are readily accessible (eg., sales records). As opposed to field research. See Secondary data.

Detached nuclear family: Pattern in which children from middle-class families tend to strike off on their own to form families away from their parents.

Detailer: a salesperson, especially in the pharmaceutical drug industry, whose primary task is to inform clients about new products. See Missionary Selling.

Determinant: Factor determining, limiting, or defining, a decision.

Deterministic models: a statistical tool used in sales forecasting in which marketing variables, such as price levels, advertising expenditures and sales promotion expenses, are used to predict market share or sales.

Devaluation: Reduction in the value or price of one currency or commodity relative to other currencies or commodities.

Developmental marketing: marketing activity intended to increase demand for a product that appears to meet an evident market need.

Deviation, standard: Statistical term used to describe, by formula, movement of the spread of data around an average.

Diadic: Paired comparison test involving informants reporting on two products or advertisements, one against the other.

Dialogue system: The part of a decision support system that permits users to explore the data bases by employing the system models to produce reports that satisfy their particular information needs. Also called "language systems."

Diary method: Research technique in which respondents keep a regular written record of events such as reading a publication, viewing television or purchasing certain goods.

Diary panel: A group of households each of which records purchases of selected products for a specified time period using a predetermined diary format. Consumer diary panels are available commercially

Dichotomous questions: Closed ended questions for which there are only two possible answers, normally a yes or no. See Multichotomous Question.

Die stamping: Raised impression on a sheet of paper of a design or symbol, produced by compressing the sheet between two dies. Also known as Embossing. See Blind.

Difference threshold: The minimum amount of difference in the intensity of simulation that can be detected 50 percent of the time.

Differential advantage: Perceived benefit of a product, whether real or imaginary, compared with a competitive product. With undifferentiated products particularly, there is a need to build in a differential advantage in order to produce a motivation for purchase. See Unique selling proposition.

Differential pricing: a pricing strategy in which a company sets different prices for the same product on the basis of differing customer type, time of purchase, etc; also called Discriminatory Pricing, Flexible Pricing, Multiple Pricing, Variable Pricing. See One-Price Policy.

Differentiated marketing: the division of a heterogeneous market into relatively homogeneous segments so that the needs and wants of the different segments may be served more effectively; a segmented approach to marketing.

Differential sampling: Weighted samples adjusted to allow for known bias in penetration or spending power.

Differentiation: Providing a product with a benefit, making it able to be promoted as a unique brand, to a segment of the market which is seen as valuable and for which people will pay, as they believe it is not available elsewhere.

Diffusion of innovation: The process, by which new ideas are communicated to members of a particular target audience. Not to be confused with adoption of innovation.

Diffusion process: the manner in which an innovative technology spreads across a market group by group according to the readiness of each group to adopt it. See Diffusion of Innovation; Adoption of Innovation Curve

Dimension: Measurable quantity, used in marketing research to compare responses at different levels or in regard to platforms.

Diminishing returns, law of: States that where one 'factor of production' is increased while others remain constant, output will increase by steadily decreasing amounts.

Direct accounts: large accounts serviced by head office personnel or company executives rather than by salespeople in regional offices; sometimes called House Accounts or National Accounts.

Direct close: the most straight-forward closing approach; the salesperson simply asks the buyer for an order. See Close.

Direct competitive advertising: advertising intended to stimulate immediate purchase of a particular brand. See Indirect Competitive Advertising.

Direct costs: costs which can be attributed directly to the production of a particular product. See Indirect Costs.

Direct costing: Method of producing a statement of costs which are directly attributable to a particular product, brand, or function. Especially significant at extreme ends of the product life cycle, eg. during the growth and decline stages.

Direct denial method: handling a buyer's objection by contradicting it in a "head-on" manner. See Objections.

Direct distribution channels: Distribution channels in which products are sold directly from producer to ultimate users. see Direct Marketing

Direct expenses: All costs directly attributable to a product, a project, or an accounting centre.

Directional policy matrix: The product portfolio matrix developed by Shell. It is based on two dimensions: the profitability of the market segment in which the business operates and the competitive position of the business in this segment. The factors that determine these two dimensions are flexible and therefore can be made relevant to a particular industry. The strategy recommendations are not unlike those generated by the Growth Share Matrix. See Portfolio analysis.

Direct labour: Labour costs that vary in direct relationship to sales levels The distinction between direct labour and salaries and wages (an expense) is the direct relationship of labour to sales. An expense will be incurred regardless of sales levels. Direct labour will increase during periods of higher sales, and will decrease when the opposite occurs. For example, a company pays manufacturing employees on an hourly rate. When work slacks off, workers are laid off and direct labour decreases. Administrative salaries are paid, however, regardless of volume levels. Administrative salaries are not direct costs, but are part of overhead.

Direct mail: Mailing of a piece of informative literature, or of any other promotional material, to selected prospects. Not to be confused with direct marketing or direct response marketing.

Direct mail advertising: advertising directly to end-users by sending catalogues or other sales literature through the post.

Direct mail shot: One single batch or mailing in a direct mail campaign. One mailing shot might therefore comprise a large number of items and a campaign might consist of several mailing shots.

Direct marketing: Producer supplying direct to consumer without the use of any retail outlet. Includes mail order companies and direct response firms selling through the media or by post.

The total of activities by which the seller, in effecting the exchange of products with the buyer, directs efforts to a target audience using one or more promotional media (direct selling, direct mail, telemarketing, direct-action advertising, catalogue selling, cable TV selling, etc.) for the purpose of soliciting a response by phone, mail, or personal visit from a prospect or customer. See Direct Selling

Direct marketing channel: a distribution channel in which no intermediaries are used; a manufacturer sells direct to an end-user; also called a Zero Level Channel. See Channel Length.

Direct overhead: The part of fixed overhead allocated to the cost of manufacturing, calculated on a set schedule known as the burden rate. The process is the only consistent method for allocating overhead to the cost of goods sold, and involves detailed analysis of accounts to identify square footage usage and other means for making the allocation.

Direct response selling: a system of retailing in which customers order merchandise by mail or telephone and the goods are shipped direct to the customer's home.

Direct Selling: selling directly to end-users by means of a sales force. See Direct Marketing.

Direct-to-Home retailing: see Direct-Response Selling.

Directive probes: questions posed to prospective buyers by salespeople to obtain a better understanding of the customer and the customer's business.

Directory: Published source of reference, usually on annual basis but possibly more frequent, setting out comprehensive coverage of companies and services in a particular area of business and/or their range of products,

Direct response marketing: Selling by means of direct mail or press advertisements which invite a direct placement of orders without further negotiation or intermediate channels of distribution. See Mail order.

Direct selling: Selling without the use of a retail outlet, distributor, broker or wholesaler or any other form of middle person.

Direct taxation: Taxes on individuals or organisations levied directly by income or wealth.

Dirty proof: Proof with many corrections.

Disaggregated market: a market in which separate products must be made for each customer because each has different needs; also referred to as Complete Segmentation. See Customised Marketing Mix; Market Atomisation Strategy.

Discontinuous innovation: entirely new-to-the-world products made to perform a function for which no product has existed previously. Innovations that produce major changes in the lifestyles of consumers.

Discontinuous products: New product idea in different market group.

Discount: Reduction on the quoted or list price of a product, usually in the form of a percentage. Examples include discounts for prompt payment, large quantities, bulk deliveries, special sizes and deliveries at off-peak times. Five types of discounts are common: trade, quantity, cash, seasonal and allowances. See Allowances; Cash Discount; Quantity Discount; Seasonal Discount; Trade Discount.

Discounted cash flow: A method for calculating the present value of future receipts or expenditures. It involves figuring a compound interest value based on the time involved between today and the expected time of receipt or payment. The discounted method is assumed to be more accurate than a straight calculation, because time value of money is included in the calculation. However, this assumes that a reasonable interest rate is applied to the calculation. To be reasonable, the rate must be based on a logical assumption. For example, one may calculate future profits using discounted cash

Discount house: Large store or branch of chain, offering mainly durable consumables at heavily discounted prices but providing little or no handling, delivery or credit services to customers.

Discounting principle: The idea from attribution theory that people will examine the environmental pressures that impede or propel a particular action. When a person moves with the environmental pressures little understanding of the person's true motivations can be gained, therefore the information is discounted.

Discount rate: Rate at which bills of exchange are discounted. Linked with the now discontinued Bank Rate - since termed Minimum Lending Rate.

Discount store: Retail outlet offering goods at reduced price by limiting or eliminating the range of customer services at the point of sale. Compare with Discount house, an alterative term.

Discrete data: Research information used in stochastic process, where data or numbers are discontinuous. Refers to evidence bearing on changes in brand preferences by users.

Discrete exchange: A one-time interaction in which money is paid for a commodity. Discrete exchanges are short, one-time purchases that do not involve the creation of a relationship.

Discretionary buying power: That part of an income which remains after essential purchases have been made, and which thus can be retained as savings or disposed of in the purchase of non-essential goods, ie. at the discretion of the buyer.

Discretionary expenditures: Expenditures that can be postponed or eliminated.

Discretionary income: Amount of income left over after fixed regular outgoings have been paid. It constitutes the amount of money not yet committed and therefore its expenditure is subject to persuasion techniques. See Discretionary buying power, disposable income.

Discriminant analysis: Statistical technique employed to model the relationship between a dichotomous or multichotomous criterion variable and a set of p predictor variables. A form of validity in which there is a low correlation between the measure of interest (for example, number of magazines read) that are supposedly not measuring the same variable or concept.

Discriminant validity: Criterion imposed on a measure of a construct requiring that it not correlate too highly with measures from which it is supposed to differ.

Discrimination test: Investigation aimed at discovering the incidence of customer differentiation for a product or package.

Discriminative stimuli: stimulii that occur in the presence of a reinforcer but that do not occur in its absence.

Discriminatory pricing: see Differential Pricing.

Discussion group: see Group discussion.

Diseconomies of scale: Point at which the economies of scale have ceased to operate and average costs of production and/or marketing begin to increase. See Decreasing returns.

Disguise: Amount of knowledge about the purpose of a study communicated to the respondent by the data collection method. An undisguised questionnaire, for example, is one in which the purpose of the research is obvious from the questions posed, whereas a disguised questionnaire attempts to hide the purpose of the study.

Disinflation: Fiscal control in which excess purchasing power is being syphoned off by the government in taxation.

Disjunctive rule: A choice heuristic in which an option is judged acceptable if any of its attributes surpass a cutoff level.

Disparaging copy: See Knocking copy.

Disparate responses: Numerous needs in the chosen market requiring custom-built products, yet may be consolidated into acceptance of a 'designer' product.

Dispersion: Degree of scatter shown by observations in statistical analysis, usually measured against a central tendency or average, using a mean or standard deviation.

Display: Commonly used in retailing to refer to an exhibition of merchandise, whether in store or in window. Also describes panels display boards. May also refer to arrangement of control dials, meters and switches for industrial products. See Window dressing.

Display advertising: Advertising other than simple typeset lineage advertisements of the classified kind. Also implies an element of design, eg. use of display type faces as opposed to uniform body matter.

Display aids: see Visual Aids.

Display allowance: a type of trade sales promotion in which buyers are given incentives in the form of price reductions or merchandise to encourage them to display the items purchased prominently. See Allowances; Trade Sales Promotion.

Display classified: See Classified display advertising.

Display outer: Outer container for protecting goods in transit, which converts into a display unit at the point of sale. Usually a carton containing a convenient small quantity for counter show and dispensing.

Display pack: Pack which, in addition to performing a 'packaging' function, also serves as a means of displaying the product at the point of sale. Usually applies to single items as opposed to the display outer.

Disposable income: Residue of personal income after statutory deductions at source. See Discretionary Income.

Disposition phase: The phase of post acquisition in which the consumer determines what to do with an acquisition after it has been used.

Disproportionate stratified sampling: Stratified sample in which the individual strata or subsets are sampled in relation to both their size and their variability; strata exhibiting more variability are sampled more than proportionately to their relative size, while those that are very homogeneous are sampled less than proportionately

Dissociative reference group: a group with whom an individual does not wish to be associated; a group whose use of a product will deter other buyers. See Aspirational Groups.

Dissolve: In which a projected image fades and is simultaneously replaced by another, usually by use of two linked projectors. Also referred to as Cross fade.

Dissonance: An unbalanced state that results when a logical inconsistency exists among cognitive elements. See Cognitive dissonance.

Distribution based pricing strategies: pricing methods designed to recover or offset the costs associated with the shipment of goods to distant customers. See Geographic Pricing.

Distribution centre: a short-term storage centre located close to a major market to facilitate the rapid processing of orders and shipment of goods to customers; unlike a warehouse, the emphasis is on the moving of goods rather than on long-term storage.

Distribution channel: See Channel of distribution.

Distribution channels: see Marketing Channels.

Distribution check: Survey taken at retail outlets to measure levels of distribution being achieved.

Distribution costs: costs associated with the holding of inventory and the shipment of goods to customers.

Distribution intensity: the level of availability (intensive, selective or exclusive) selected for a particular product by the marketer. The level of intensity chosen will depend upon factors such as the production capacity, the size of the target market, pricing and promotion policies and the amount of product service required by the end-user. See Exclusive Distribution; Intensive Distribution; Selective Distribution.

Distribution logistics: Organisation and costing of effective distribution of goods and services to required destinations or outlets.

Distribution management: see Physical Distribution Management.

Distribution missions: Set of goals to be achieved by the system within a specific product/market context.

Distribution network: (1) Type and extent of coverage of the consuming market through appropriate outlets. (2) Logistics Of physical distribution.

Distribution of the mean: The frequency distribution created by the means of all possible samples of a specified size taken from a specified population. The sampling distribution of the mean is a normal distribution regardless of the sample size if the population is normally distributed. It is also normally distributed if samples of at least 30 are used regardless of the distribution of the population

Distribution of the proportion: The frequency distribution similar in concept to the sampling distribution of the mean, but using sample proportions instead of sample means. See Sampling Distribution of the Mean.

Distribution strategy: see Place Strategy.

Distribution, theory of: Economic theory explaining the determinants of the prices of 'factors of production' and their income, together with all processes and media for the distribution of goods and services available for consumption.

Distribution variable: The marketing mix variable in which marketing management attempts to make products available in the quantities desired, with adequate service, to a target market and to keep the total inventory, transport, communication, storage, and materials handling costs as low as possible.

Distributive justice: The concept that participants expect to receive a fair exchange of rewards and costs. The core idea of distributive justice is that the ratio of rewards to costs should be about equal for each party to the exchange.

Distributive trades: Collective term for wholesalers and retail firms, especially those directly involved in selling to the public. Often abbreviated colloquially to 'The Trade'.

Distributor: Firm which buys and sells on its own account but which deals in the goods of certain specified manufacturers. Common in trades where special representation, stocking and service facilities are required, eg. motor transport.

Distributors brand: (1) Brand name used by a retail outlet. Generally referred to as 'Own Label' or private label goods that are usually competitively priced and are intended to promote outlet loyalty, rather than brand loyalty. (2) Sometimes used to include brands marketed by a collection of retailers. See Manufacturer's Brand.

District sales manager: a sales manager with responsibility for the sales activities within a particular region or district.

Divergent acquisition: diversification into new or unrelated businesses. See Convergent Acquisition; Diversification.

Divergent marketing: Setting up separate organisations for each of a company's products or product groups; thus each has its own individual marketing goals and is in itself a profit centre.

Diversification: Introduction of new products into existing markets or of existing products into new markets to extend life cycles and offset decline. Rarely involves introducing new products into new markets. Also to hedge against a company's future being tied too closely to a small number of products/outlets. Achieved either by new investment or acquisition. See Acquisition.

Diversification: a growth strategy in which an organisation takes on new products and new markets at the same time. See Concentric Diversification; Conglomerate Diversification; Growth Strategies; Horizontal Diversification.

Diversified growth: A type of growth that occurs in three forms, depending on the technology of the new products and the nature of the new markets the firm caters; the three forms are horizontal, concentric, and conglomerate.

Divestment rituals: Such rituals are performed to erase the meaning associated with the previous owner of the good (eg., thorough cleaning a new home prior to moving in).

Divest strategy: a planned decision to get out of a particular business or product line; to sell off.

Dividend: A distribution of a company's net earnings to stockholders in a corporation, usually made quarterly.

Divisibility: the extent to which a new product can be tested in a limited scale purchase; a major determinant of the rate of new product adoption. See Adoption Rate Determinants.

Divisional marketing manager: a marketing manager with responsibility for the marketing activities of one of the operating divisions of a company.

Divisional sales manager: a sales manager with responsibility for the sales activities of one of the operating divisions of a company.

DIY Do It Yourself: Used as indicative sign for shops specialising in the supply of construction, repair, decorative or assembly goods or materials mostly used by skilled artisans but made available in convenient quantities for people wishing to do the work themselves.

DIY Goods: goods produced for the "do-it-yourself" market.

DMU: See Decision-making unit.

Dock dues: Toll on all vessels entering or leaving a dock.

Documentary: Cinema or television film, or radio program, dealing with actual facts of a situation as opposed to fiction. Often used as part of a public relations plan. Sometimes referred to as sponsored promotion, ie. where its purpose is primarily or wholly commercial.

Dog: Expression used to describe products retained in production for sentimental reasons but whose retention is not justified by any contribution to profitability. See Boston Consulting Group Portfolio Analysis Matrix; Cash Cows; Question Marks; Stars.

Dogmatism: A personality characteristic marked by closed-mindedness, and rigidity in approach to the social environment.

Domain sampling model: A measurement model that holds that the true score of a characteristic is obtained when all of the items in the domain are used to capture it. Since only a sample of items is typically used, a primary source of measurement error is the inadequate sampling of the domain of relevant items; to the extent that the sample of items correlates with true scores, it is good.

Domain-specific values: Beliefs relevant to economic, social, religious, and other activities.

Domicile: The permanent place of residence of an individual or operation of a business.

Dominant leadership: The most common form of leadership, characterised by establishment of a clear line of authority. The dominant leader may be able to delegate, allow and encourage participation in varying degrees, and strike a balance between task and human orientation, to a greater degree than leaders with a more specific focus to their style.

Dominant product-line companies: business firms that obtain a majority of sales and income from one product/market combination.

Domination: (1) Refers to situation of market leader, with significant share of total market. (2) Concentration of promotional effort in one area or medium so as to dominate that area or medium.

Door-in-the-face technique: A compliance technique that involves the requester first making a very large request, which is usually refused by the target. This request is then followed by a moderate request, which is more often complied with than if no large request were made.

Door-to-Door selling: direct selling in which a salesperson calls on prospective buyers at their homes without appointments.

Dormant accounts: Accounts once active as customers but not now buying, for whatever reason.

DOS: Disk operating system created by computer company Microsoft. Common operating system used by IBM and similar micro systems

Dot matrix: A format of printing in which each character is created from a field of dots rather than in fixed, solid form.

Double-Barrelled Question: A question that calls for two responses and thereby creates confusion for the respondent.

Double column: See DC.

Double crown: Basic unit of size in posters, a sheet, size 20 in wide by 30 in deep.

Double-decker: Two outdoor advertising panels sited one above the other.

Double-entry system: The most commonly used system of bookkeeping. Each entry in the books is assigned two equal sides, a debit (left) and a credit (right). These are not plus and minus designations, only left and right sides of the system. The purpose is to (a) ensure that the books are correctly posted and balanced, and (b) provide a complete record of each transaction. For example, when a cash basis sale is completed, two accounts are affected. Cash is increased, and so is the balance of sales. The two-sided entry achieves both sides of the required entry. If the sale was earned but not yet paid, the entry would be to debit accounts receivable and credit sales. In a later period, when the payment is received, cash is debited and accounts receivable is credited.

Double front: Twin poster sites arranged to utilise both sides of the front of a bus or other commercial vehicle. Usually each a 'single sheet' or smaller.

Double page spread: Two facing pages in a magazine or newspaper, used in advertising as if they were one single sheet, ie. the design carries right across the gutter in the centre.

Double triangle discrimination test: See Triangle Taste Test

Down market: segment where the lowest prices dominate the buying behaviour.

Down time: Period during which a machine is not operative due to mechanical failure, machine adjustment, non availability of materials, labour or maintenance work. Average down-time is built into product prices to ensure that such hidden costs are covered by sales revenue.

Downward stretching: introducing a new product into a product line at the lower priced end of the market. See Product Line Stretching; Two-Way Stretching; Upward Stretching.

DPI: abbrev. Disposable Personal Income.

DPS: See Double page spread.

Drama: An advertising technique of indirect address in which the characters speak to each other and not to the audience.

Dramatisation of Presentation: the vitality given to a presentation or demonstration of a product by a salesperson to a buyer; presentations can be dramatised by using audiovisual aids, involving the buyer in the operation of the product, etc.

Drawback: Rebate on duty paid for imported goods when used in the manufacture of products for export.

Drawing accounts: Credit made available to salespeople in anticipation of future earnings most usually operative where a substantial part of remuneration derives from a commission on sales. Particularly related to industrial goods, for example, where the number of sales over time is low but the value of each is comparatively high.

Drawing conclusions: A message strategy in which the presenter draws the conclusions of the message for the audience.

Drip: Advertising campaign covering a long period of time - usually over twelve months.

Drip advertising expenditure: a limited expenditure on advertising over a relatively long period of time, rather than a concentration of expenditure over a short period. See Burst Advertising Expenditure.

Drive: The physiological arousal that occurs when a need is felt. A motivating force or need sufficiently strong to impel a person to seek its satisfaction. See Learning Process.

Driver (Social Style): one of the four social styles (with Amiable, Analytical and Expressive) commonly used to classify salespeople and their customers; Drivers are characterised by high assertiveness and low responsiveness. See Amiable; Analytical; Assertiveness; Expressive; Responsiveness; Social Style.

Drive time: In radio broadcasting, the time during which many listeners are driving to or from work.

DRM: Direct response marketing.

Drop error: a mistake made by a company in deciding to abandon a new product idea that, in hindsight, might have been successful if developed. See Go Error; New Product Development.

Drop shipment: Describes arrangement where goods are not shipped by person or organisation receiving the initial order; commonly a dispatch by wholesaler, retailer or agent on advice from manufacturing or marketing company.

Drop shipper: a marketing intermediary who receives orders from customers and forwards them to a producer for shipment direct to the customer; the drop shipper takes title to the goods but never actually handles them. Also called a Desk Jobber.

Drum: Large cylindrical metal container mainly used for bulk packaging of liquids. Term can also apply to a small fibreboard cylinder often with metal end closures and containing powders in convenient quantities for household use, eg. salt, custard powder and abrasive cleaning products.

Drummer: a nineteenth century term, of American origin, for a travelling salesperson.

DSS: abbrev. Decision Support System.

Dry goods: Products in a retail outlet other than perishable grocery items.

Dry-run: Pre transmission television rehearsal where action, lines, cues, etc. are perfected.

Dry transfer lettering: Letters printed on to a plastic sheet in such a way that by rubbing the reverse side they can be transferred on to another surface, eg. for use in creating artwork.

Dual distribution: a system of marketing channel organisation in which a manufacturer uses two approaches simultaneously to get products to end-users; commonly, one approach is to use marketing intermediaries, while the other is to sell direct to end-users.

Dubbing: Superimposing sound upon an already completed film, as opposed to simultaneous recording.

Dummy: Simplified representation of a proposed publication, package, or other promotional item. Used to test advertising effectiveness See Mock-up.

Dummy table: Table that contains a title and headings to denote the categories to be used for each variable making up the table to categorise the data when it is collected.

Dummy (or Binary) variable: Variable that is given one of two values, 0 or I , and that is used to provide a numerical representation for attributes or characteristics that are not essentially quantitative.

Dump display: Unit of fibreboard or woven wire into which a quantity of products is exposed in random order for self-selection at a retail outlet. Particularly associated with supermarkets in connection with product launches or clearances and carrying special price or other offers.

Dumping: Distribution of goods overseas at a price much less than the equivalent in market of origin and which would not normally be expected to make a full contribution to the recovery of overheads.

Duplication (in advertising): Extent to which the audience of one medium or vehicle overlaps that of another. See Reach.

Durable goods: Goods providing a service over a period of time rather than extinguished at the moment of consumption. Includes goods lie TV, motor cars, refrigerators.

Dustbin check: Survey at consumer level to establish purchases over an agreed period according to brand and pack. Emptied containers are retained in a bin known as a dustbin. It is a form of household audit for which greater reliability is claimed because tangible evidence of consumption is provided.

Dutch auction: Bidding starting at a high price and reducing until a bid is made. Most often associated with charities but may be used as a method of sales promotion which gains an audience for a required exposure or demonstration.

Duty free shop: Retail establishment in which selling prices do not include Customs and Excise duties and may, therefore, be fixed at a lower level than those prevailing generally within a particular country. Most often located at air or seaports where operators can, as a result, take a higher margin of profit than other retailers.

Dynamic continuous innovations: Innovations that involve some major change in an existing product and minor changes in the behaviour of consumers.

Dynamic obsolescence (style, creative, artificial): Deliberate restyling of goods or services, often including a technical advance, to out-date established models. See also Style obsolescence and Planned obsolescence.

Dynamically continuous: Same basic product idea but innovation in technology takes product into new product field.

Dysfunctional: Element in strategy or plan that fails and disrupts part or all of other elements.