Minimarket test

A type of controlled-sale market testing whereby the outlets used are a small, non-representative sampling of the market. Product is usually place into the outlets (not sold), and promotion is much less than planned ultimately. Primarily tests just the customer’s willingness to spend money for a product trial.

Granfalloon

Term coined by writer Kurt Vonnegut to mean a false and arbitrary sense of belonging to a group.

Trade-in-allowances

These are the allowances that are given for accepting an old item from a consumer and given a new one in replacement.

X-II technique

A time-series-based forecasting model that provides information on seasonal trends, and cycles and measures of how closely they fit the data. It also provides a measure of growth rate that can be used or forecasting turning points.

Transaction

A trade of values between two parties. Transaction takes place when the two parties in the exchange process reached to an agreement at mutually agreeable terms. A transaction involves several things: (1) At least two things of value, (2) Agreed upon conditions, a time of agreement and a place of agreement. A legal system supports and enforces compliance on the part of the transactors i.e., companies. Without a law of contracts, people will approach transactions with some distrust, and every one would lose.

Analog model

A retail management technique. It is a computerized site selection tool in which potential sales for a new store are estimated based on sales of similar stores in existing areas, competition at a prospective location, the new store’s expected market share at that location, and the size and density of a location’s primary Trading area.

Time-series analysis

One of the ways of estimating future sales of a product or service by analyzing the past sales of a company. This method consists of breaking down past time series into four components (trends, cycle, seasonal, and erratic) and projecting these components into the future.

Yankelovich monitor

A research service that tracks more than fifty social trends and provides information as to shifts in size and direction, and resulting marketing implications.

Social trends

Broad changes in people's attitudes and behaviors. Some marketing research firms try to predict social trends in a society to find out the consumer-purchasing pattern.