14 Business and commercial practices

Content

• The importance of identifying and satisfying consumer needs, to provide a product that customers will

buy.

• The stages in a product’s life cycle:

– research and development

– introduction

– growth

– maturity

– decline.

• The use of a product extension strategy when a product enters its decline stage.

• The advantages and disadvantages of product extension strategies, such as:

– discounting

– updating packaging

– adding more features.

• The types of market research methods, such as:

– surveys/questionnaires

– interviews

– focus groups

– customer observation.

• The purpose of market research relating to:

– demand

– competition

– target market.

• How and why businesses target customers by:

– demographics

– socio-economic background.

• The elements of the marketing mix (4Ps):

– price

– product

– promotion

– place.

• The relationship between the scale of production and unit cost.