What does the CCEA Marketing section cover?

Marketing is the second section of Unit 1 Starting a Business. It covers market research (primary and secondary, quantitative and qualitative, and sampling), the marketing mix or four Ps (product, price, place and promotion) including pricing and promotion methods, competition and how a business gains a competitive advantage, customer service, e-business and m-business, and the factors that influence business location.

What is the marketing mix?

The marketing mix is the four Ps: product (the good or service, its design and quality), price (how much is charged, using methods such as cost-plus, competitive, penetration and skimming), place (where and how it is sold and distributed) and promotion (how customers are told about it and persuaded to buy). The four Ps must work together and suit the target market; a premium product needs a premium price, upmarket place and stylish promotion.

What is the difference between primary and secondary research?

Primary research is new information collected first-hand by the business for a specific purpose, such as questionnaires, interviews and surveys; it is specific and up to date but costs time and money. Secondary research uses information that already exists and was collected by someone else, such as government statistics or competitors' websites; it is cheaper and quicker but may be out of date. Quantitative data is numerical, while qualitative data is about opinions and reasons.

How does e-business help a business grow?

E-business (selling and trading online) and m-business (trading through mobile devices) let a business reach a wider market, sell anywhere not just locally, trade 24 hours a day, keep costs lower without an expensive shop, and collect customer data. This makes online selling a powerful route to growth, even for small firms, though it brings strong competition, set-up costs and security and delivery challenges.

How can a small business compete with larger rivals?

A small business usually cannot win a price war against a large rival that buys in bulk, so it competes on non-price factors: quality, excellent customer service, branding, product range, convenient location and unique features. Good customer service is one of a small firm's strongest competitive advantages, because it brings repeat custom, positive word of mouth and a strong reputation at low cost.

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CCEA GCSE Business Studies Marketing: a complete Unit 1 section overview

A complete overview of Marketing, the second section of CCEA GCSE Business Studies Unit 1. Covers market research, the marketing mix and the four Ps, e-business and m-business, competition and customer service, and business location, and how each is examined.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.815 min readUnit 1 Marketing (CCEA)Updated 2026-06-14

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

Jump to a section

What this section demands
Market research
The marketing mix
E-business and m-business
Competition and customer service
Business location
Check your knowledge

What this section demands

Marketing is the second section of Unit 1 Starting a Business, examined in the 1 hour 30 minute written paper. It looks at how a business understands its customers and then reaches them: market research, the marketing mix, competition and customer service, online selling, and location. The exam rewards precise terms, accurate examples and, above all, the ability to apply ideas to the business in the stimulus and to judge what would work for it. This overview ties the dot-point pages together.

Market research

Market research reduces risk by finding out what customers want before money is spent. Primary research is collected first-hand (questionnaires, interviews, surveys); secondary research uses existing data (statistics, competitors' websites). Quantitative data is numerical (how many); qualitative data is about opinions (why). Research is done on a representative sample, and it reduces but never removes risk.

The marketing mix

The marketing mix is the four Ps: product, price, place and promotion. Pricing methods include cost-plus, competitive, penetration (low to enter a market) and skimming (high at launch). Promotion methods include advertising, sales promotions and PR. The four Ps must be consistent with each other and suit the target market.

E-business and m-business

E-business means trading online (e-commerce, online payments, internet advertising); m-business means trading through mobile devices and apps. The benefits are a wider market, lower costs, 24-hour trading and easy data collection, making online selling a major route to growth. The drawbacks are strong competition, set-up costs, and security and delivery challenges. Online selling reshapes the place and promotion of the mix.

Competition and customer service

A business competes on price or on non-price factors such as quality, service and branding, aiming for a competitive advantage. Competition forces lower prices and improvement but threatens to take customers. Customer service, looking after customers before, during and after a sale, brings repeat custom, word of mouth and reputation, and is one of a small firm's strongest ways to compete.

Business location

Location is influenced by nearness to the market (footfall), the cost of premises, the availability of labour, nearness to suppliers, and transport links. The best location depends on the type of business: a shop prioritises customers; a factory prioritises low costs and transport; an online business depends far less on location.

Marketing, the second section of CCEA Unit 1, is about understanding customers and reaching them. Market research reduces risk: primary research is collected first-hand (questionnaires, interviews), secondary uses existing data, quantitative is numbers and qualitative is opinions, all gathered from a representative sample. The marketing mix is the four Ps, product, price, place and promotion, with pricing methods such as cost-plus, competitive, penetration and skimming; the four Ps must be consistent and suit the target market. E-business and m-business let firms reach a wider market, cut costs and trade 24 hours a day, a major route to growth, though competition and security are challenges. Businesses compete on price or non-price factors, and good customer service brings repeat custom and reputation, a key advantage for small firms. Location depends on the type of business: shops prioritise footfall, factories prioritise costs and transport. The exam rewards applying every point to the business and target market in the stimulus.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall questions covering the whole section. Attempt them, then check the solutions.

What is the difference between primary and secondary research? (2 marks)
State the four Ps of the marketing mix. (2 marks)
Explain penetration pricing. (2 marks)
What is meant by e-commerce? (1 mark)
Give one benefit of e-business for a business. (1 mark)
State two non-price ways a business can compete. (2 marks)
Give one benefit of good customer service. (1 mark)
State two factors that influence business location. (2 marks)

Sources & how we know this

CCEA GCSE Business Studies specification — CCEA (2017)