Nature and Scope of Marketing

Management
What is Mar
Marketing derived from the word Market. A market is a place where buyers and sellers
come together and exchange products and services. Marketing is a process of determining the
needs and wants of consumers. It helps the customers to provide them with those products
that they are looking for. It helps the company to find out new customers.
Definitions of Marketing

According to Cardiff and Still

Marketing is a social process by which products are matched with markets and
through which the consumer is able to use or enjoy the product. It makes goods and
services more useful to the society by creating the place, time and possession
utilities.

According to William MPride and OC Ferrel

Marketing is the process of creating, distributing, promoting, and pricing goods,
services and ideas to facilitate satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic
environment”
Customer Focus
Marketing is a customer-centred function of the business. It aims at finding out what
customers want and fulfilling their needs by delivering them the right products.

Creates Market Offering

Marketing provides offers of various goods and services to potential customers. It is the one
that communicates all information regarding products like its prices, uses, quality, and
technology to customers. 

Exchange Oriented
It is a process which aims at exchanging products among buyer and seller. Marketing attracts
and influences people to buy the products of the company. 

Continuous Activity
Marketing is a regular and continuous activity of business for selling their products.
Businesses always need to monitor the marketing environment and should accordingly plan,
implement, and control all marketing programs.
Goal-Oriented
Marketing is a goal-oriented business activity that aims at achieving the desired sales and
profitability. It focuses on approaching more and more customers and thereby satisfying their
needs by delivering them the required goods or services.

Manages 4 P’s
It is a combination of four elements that are product, place, price, and promotion. The
whole marketing system is made up of these variable factors which are influenced by
customer behaviour, competition, trade factors, etc.
Creates Utilities
Marketing creates various utilities such as form utility, time utility, and place utility. It
creates form utility by manufacturing the right product using inputs, time utility by storing
goods in warehouses, and place utility by delivering goods properly to end customers.

Economic Process
It is a process that involves exchanges of goods in monetary terms. Marketing is one by
means of which monetary transactions as per the exchange value of goods take place for
transferring goods among buyers and sellers.
Create Awareness
Informing customers about the company’s products is a must for attracting them to buy
products. Marketing is the medium through which companies communicate with the public
and explain the features or benefits of their products. Marketing helps in creating wide
publicity of goods and services in the market.

Studies Customer’s Wants

Marketing helps in understanding the needs or wants of customers which enables them to
provide satisfactory services. Business through their marketing programs interacts with
customers and understands their behaviours. Proper understanding of customers’ demands
helps in designing the right product which satisfies their needs.
Product Planning
A product refers to a bundle of benefits that offers satisfaction to the consumers.
Product planning starts with the generation of the idea and continues until the product is
ready to be launched in the market. To create a successful product the company must
understand the needs of the consumer and the currently available competition in the market.
Advertising
Advertising is the best tool for marketing.  It makes the consumers aware of the product that
is going to hit the market. Through marketing, big companies are able to condition our
subconscious mind about the goodness of the product. The advertisement also helps to
increase the sale drastically and ultimately the profits. Advertising can be done through
various media sources such as newspapers, television, magazines, hoardings, the internet, etc.
Pricing Policies
Determination of the pricing policies of the product is crucial because good pricing policies
will definitely help in attracting more consumers. Generally, consumers are highly-priced
elastic which means lower the price, higher will be the demand and higher the price, lower
will be the demand. Cost of manufacturing the product, government policies, marketing,
competitor’s price, etc. are the factors that influence the price of the product.

Distribution
The selection of the proper distribution channel is very necessary for the product to attract
new consumers towards it. Selecting a distribution channel means defining the route of the
goods they will take while reaching from the producer to the ultimate consumer. Wholesaling
and retailing are the two most popular distribution channels.
Selling
It refers to the process of selling what is manufactured by the company as a product in the
market. Selling refers to the supply of goods and services directly or indirectly to the
targeted consumers. Selling involves performing and managing various activities
simultaneously such as approaching to the new consumers, distributing the free samples,
making sales on a huge discount, and getting feedback.
Packaging
The packaging is essential for delivering the product safely and secures a good image in the
consumer’s mind. It also helps in the goodwill formulation. Packaging involves designing
and producing the external covering for the product which will keep the product safe and
hygienic. Packaging is inclusive of the product information which adds to the appeal of the
product which ultimately helps in the sales promotion.

After-Sales Services
The term marketing includes after-sale services to be provided by the business to its
customers. Resolving issues of the customer’s and problems in case of any product failure
will help in developing better relations with customers.
Collects Feedback
It involves collecting the feedback or suggestions of customers once the product is sold.
Through this, satisfaction or dissatisfaction level of customers can be easily identified which
helps in improving the service quality using suggestions provided by them.
The term functions of marketing management means the main role of this type of
management in any organization.
Major Functions of Marketing Management
We need to understand the major functions of marketing management in order to understand
and groom our organization. The following are some of the major functions of marketing
management −

 Selling
 Buying and Assembling
 Transportation
 Storage
 Standardization and Grading
 Financing
 Risk Taking
 Market Information
The marketing process performs certain activities as the products and services move from
the producer to consumer. All these activities or jobs are not performed by every company.
Nonetheless, it is recommended that they be carried out by any company that wants its
marketing systems to function successfully.
Selling
Selling is the crux of marketing. It involves convincing the prospective buyers to actually
complete the purchase of an article. It includes transfer of ownership of products to the
buyer.
Selling plays a very vital part in realizing the ultimate aim of earning profit. Selling is
groomed by means of personal selling, advertising, publicity and sales promotion.
Effectiveness and efficiency in selling determines the volume of the firm’s profits and
profitability.
Buying and Assembling
It deals with what to buy, of what quality, how much from whom, when and at what price.
People involved in business purchase to increase sales or to decrease costs. Purchasing
agents are much tempted by quality, service and price. The products that the retailers buy for
resale are selected as per the requirements and preferences of their customers.
Assembling means buying necessary component parts and to fit them together to make a
product. ‘Assembly line’ marks a production line made up of purely assembly functions.
The assembly operation includes the arrival of individual component parts at the work place
and issuing of these parts for assembling.

Assembly line is an arrangement of employees and machines in which each individual has a
particular job and the work is passed directly from one employee to the next until the
product is complete.
Transportation
Transportation is the physical means through which products are moved from the places
where they are produced to those places where they are needed for consumption. It creates
location utility.
Transportation is very important from the procurement of raw material to the delivery of
finished products to the customer’s places. Transportation depends mainly on railroads,
trucks, waterways, pipelines and airways.
Storage
It includes holding of products in proper, i.e., usable or saleable, condition from the time
they are produced until they are required by customers in case of finished products or by the
production department in case of raw materials and stores.

Storing protects the products from deterioration and helps in carrying over surplus for future
consumption or usage in production.
Standardization and Grading
Standardization means setting up of certain standards or specifications for products based on
the intrinsic physical qualities of any item. This may include quantity like weight and size or
quality like colour, shape, appearance, material, taste, sweetness etc. A standard gives rise to
uniformity of products.
Grading means classification of standardized items into certain well defined classes or
groups. It includes the division of products into classes made of units possessing similar
features of size and quality.
Grading is very essential for raw materials; agricultural products like fruits and cereals;
mining products like coal, iron and manganese and forest products like timber.
Financing
Financing involves the application of the capital to meet the financial requirements of
agencies dealing with various activities of marketing. The services to ensure the credit and
money needed and the costs of getting merchandise into the hands of the final user are
mostly referred to as the finance function in marketing.
Financing is required for the working capital and fixed capital, which may be secured from
three sources — owned capital, bank loans and advance & trade credit. In other words,
different kinds of finances are short-term, medium-term, and long-term finance.
Risk Taking
Risk means loss due to some unforeseen situations. Risk bearing in marketing means the
financial risk invested in the ownership of goods held for an anticipated demand, including
the possible losses because of fall in prices and the losses from spoilage, depreciation,
obsolescence, fire and floods or any other loss that may occur with the passage of time.
They may also be due to decay, deterioration and accidents or due to fluctuation in the prices
induced by changes in supply and demand. The different risks are usually termed as place
risk, time risk, physical risk, etc.
Market Information
The importance of this facilitating function of marketing has been recently marked. The only
sound foundation on which marketing decisions depend is timely and correct market
information.
The importance of this facilitating function of marketing has been recently marked. The only
sound foundation on which marketing decisions depend is timely and correct market
information.
IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING
Marketing is important not only for organizations but for individuals, society and economy as
a whole. Financial success often depends on marketing ability. Finance, operations, and other
business functions will not really matter if there isn’t sufficient demand for products and
services so the company can make a profit. There must be top line for there to be a bottom
line. Many companies have now created a Chief Marketing Officer, or CMO, position to put
marketing on a equal footing with other C-level executives, such as the Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Also marketing steps its foot in every walk of life. Some of its importance can be discussed
as follows.

IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING TO COMPANIES

Since marketing is consumer oriented, it has a positive impact on the business firms. It
enables the entrepreneurs to improve the quality of their goods and services. Marketing helps
in improving the standard of living of the people by offering a wide variety of goods and
services with freedom of choice, and by treating the customer as the most important person.
Marketing generates employment both in production and in distribution areas. Since a
business firm generates revenue and earns profits by carrying out marketing functions, it will
engage in exploiting more and more economic resources of the country to earn more profits.
A large scale business can have its own formal marketing network, media campaigns, and
sales force, but a small unit may have to depend totally on personal efforts and resources,
making it informal and flexible. Marketing makes or breaks a small enterprise. An enterprise
grows, stagnates, or perishes with the success or failure, as the case may be, of marketing.
―Nirma is an appropriate example of the success of small scale enterprise.

Sound marketing is critical to the success of the organisation in the following ways:

IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING TO CONSUMERS

o Provides quality products.
o Provides variety of products.
o Improves knowledge of consumers.
o Helps in selection.
o Consumer satisfaction.
IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING TO SOCIETY
o Marketing bridges the gap between firm and society.
o Provides employment.
o Raises standard of living.
o Creates utilities.
o Reduces costs.
o Solves social problems.
o Makes life easier.
o Enriches society.
IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING TO ECONOMY
o It stimulates research and innovation
o Saves the economy from depression.
o Increase in national income.
o Economic growth.
o Ploughing back of resources

IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING TO ORGANIZATIONS

o Helps in Income generation

o Helps in income generation.
o Helps in planning and decision-making.
o Helps in distribution
o Helps in exchanging information.
o Helps to adapt to changing environment.
o Expands global presence.
o Helps to earn goodwill.
Scope of Marketing