I

Image repositioning
keeping product and target market the same, but changing the image of the product

Implementation
the stage of the marketing planning process when the plan is put into operation

Impulse purchasing
a consumer’s decision to buy which is taken on the spur of the moment

Inadequate delivery barrier
a barrier to the matching of expected and perceived service levels caused by the failure of the service provider to select, train and reward staff adequately, resulting in poor or inconsistent delivery of service

Inadequate resources barrier
a barrier to the matching of expected and perceived service levels caused by the unwillingness of service providers to provide the necessary resources

Indirect exporting
the use of independent organizations within the exporter’s domestic market to facilitate export

Individual brand name
a brand name which does not identify a brand with a particular company

Industrial market
companies which purchase inputs for further processing or their own use

Industry
a group of companies that market products which are close substitutes for each other

Information
Combinations of data which provide decision-relevant knowledge

Information framing
the way in which information is presented to people

Information processing
the process by which a stimulus is received, interpreted, stored in memory and later retrieved

Information search
the identification of alternative ways of problem solving

Innovation
the commercialisation of an invention by bringing it to market

Innovators
the first customers willing to buy a new product after launch

In-or-on-pack gifts
gifts which are given away free with brands

Inseparability
a characteristic of services, namely that their production cannot be separated from their consumption

Inside order-taker
usually a retail sales assistant whose task is simply to take payment and hand over the products

In-supplier
a competitor who is already supplying to a target account and therefore has the ‘inside track’

Intangible repositioning
targeting a different market segment with the same product

Intangibility
a characteristic of services, namely that they cannot be touched, seen, tasted or smelled

Interaction approach
an approach to buyer-seller relations which treats the relationships as taking place between two active parties

Intermediaries
distributors or resellers

Internal marketing
the training, motivating and communicating with service to cause them to work effectively in providing customer satisfaction. More recently the term has been expanded to include marketing to all staff with the aim of achieving the acceptance of marketing ideas and plans

Internet
a vast global computer network that permits instant global communication such as the gathering and sharing of information and the ability of users to communicate with each other

In-the-mail offer
a promotion involving the collection of packet tops, labels or ring-pulls which are sent in the mail as proof of purchase to claim a free gift or money voucher

Intranet
a website which operates inside an organization and does not offer access to any external users

Invention
the discovery of new methods and ideas