This mini-lesson covers Unit 4: the role of marketing, marketing planning, market research, the seven Ps of the marketing mix, and e-commerce. At HL you also study sales forecasting and international marketing.
Screens flagged HL only cover sales forecasting and international marketing.
Work through each screen, answer the questions as you go and collect ⭐ stars. Press Start when you are ready.
Marketing identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer needs profitably. A market-oriented firm researches customers first; a product-oriented firm leads with the product. Key measures: market share and market growth. Firms choose mass marketing (whole market) or niche marketing (a small specialist segment).
Concept — ethics and sustainability: marketing must avoid misleading claims and can promote sustainable consumption.
A marketing plan sets objectives and a strategy to reach them:
Primary research gathers new data first-hand (surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation). Secondary research uses existing data (reports, government statistics, internal records).
The mix is the controllable tools a firm blends to meet customer needs. Services extend the classic 4Ps to seven:
All seven must be consistent with the target market and positioning.
The product life cycle runs introduction → growth → maturity → decline; extension strategies prolong maturity. The Boston Matrix plots products by market share and market growth:
Tap a description, then the Boston Matrix category it fits.
Common methods: cost-plus (mark-up), penetration (low price to enter), skimming (high launch price), competitive, psychological, loss leader, premium, price discrimination and dynamic pricing.
Sales forecasting predicts future sales from past data. A time series contains a trend, plus seasonal, cyclical and random variations. A moving average smooths the data to reveal the underlying trend, which can then be extrapolated forward.
Forecasts aid planning (stock, staffing, cash) but assume the past predicts the future — risky when the market changes suddenly.
International marketing sells across borders. Firms choose between standardisation (one global mix, cheaper via economies of scale) and adaptation (tailoring the mix to local tastes, language and culture). They weigh opportunities (larger markets, growth) against threats (cultural mistakes, exchange-rate and legal risk).
E-commerce trades goods and services online. Models include B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer) and C2C (consumer to consumer). Benefits: wider reach, lower fixed costs, 24/7 trading and data on customers. Costs: delivery and returns, cyber-security, and intense price competition. It reshapes every element of the mix, especially place and promotion.
Tap a term on the left, then its meaning on the right.
Role: market vs product orientation; market share and growth; mass vs niche.
Planning: segmentation, targeting, positioning, USP.
Research: primary vs secondary; qualitative vs quantitative; sampling and bias.
Seven Ps: product (life cycle, Boston Matrix), price, promotion, place, people, processes, physical evidence.
E-commerce: B2B, B2C, C2C; reshapes the mix.
HL: sales forecasting (moving averages, extrapolation) and international marketing.
You have covered Unit 4. Press Finish to see your score.
You have worked through Marketing for IB Diploma Business Management HL. 🎉
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