A product has five levels and every level adds some attribute to the basic level which provides value to the consumer. These levels together forms a customer value hierarchy.

Consumer decision making is a process which is followed by the consumer to purchase any product. Various stages are involved in the consumer decision-making process. The marketer should concentrate only on those stages which are found to be highly influential in nature.

A Marketing Information System (MIS) comprises of people, equipment and procedures for accumulating, sorting, analyzing, evaluating and disbursing the required, timely and connect information to the decision makers.

A Marketing Plan is a written document outlining the marketer’s experience about the market. It also denotes the ways in which an organization plays to attain its marketing objectives.

Process of Marketing Research In general, for larger enterprises, the process of marketing research comprises the following six steps,

The core marketing concepts involve, needs, wants and demands, marketing offers (products, services and experiences), value, satisfaction, exchanges, transactions, relationships and markets. There is a close link between all the core marketing concepts, which can  be clearly explained with the help of the following figure,

The four main distinguishing features of marketing are,