INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

Meaning and definition

Marketing is often understood as a set of activities such as selling, physical distribution,

retailing, advertising etc. These activities just form a part of marketing Marketing has
attained a much wider meaning and scope in the present context. One has to understand
the present scenario to understand and appreciate the meaning and scope of marketing.
The present scenario is characterized by-fierce competition, a large number of alternatives
(brand) available for every product, a very strong focus on the consumer needs, globalization
etc. Therefore marketing in the present context refers to the task of understanding the
needs of the consumers, getting an appropriate product design, creating demand by
bringing the product to the notice of the consumers and ultimately make them buy a
product. This task involves several activities-understanding the consumer and his needs
through market studies and surveys, conceiving a product that suits the needs of the
consumer, designing such a product, branding the product, appropriate pricing, creating
demand for such a product through creation of awareness and finally making arrangements
for the consumers to buy the i product.

Definitions of Marketing

Since marketing is a very wide term, different experts have defined marketing from)
different viewpoints. One can get a complete picture of marketing only by understanding
several such definitions

The following are the few definitions of marketing:

"Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what
they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others".-
Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong "

Marketing is finding out what people need, helping to develop need satisfiers, informing and
persuading, moving properly priced products and services to consumers and keeping
consumers satisfied -Fox and Wheately

Marketing is a business process by which products are matched with market and rough
which transfers of ownership are effected".

Marketing is getting and keeping the customer" -Cundiff and Still -Theodore Levitt

"Marketing is a process of discovering and translating consumer needs and wants into
product and service specifications, creating demand for these products and services and
then, in tum expanding the demand". -Harry L. Hansen
"Marketing includes all those activities having to do with effecting changes in ownership and
possessions of goods and services. It is that part of economics which deals with the creation
of time, place and possession utilities and that phase of business activity through which
human wants are satisfied by the exchange of goods and services for some valuable
consideration-American Marketing Association (Committee on Definitions)

"Marketing is the process by which a firm profitably translates customer needs into
revenue -Mark Burgess

"Marketing is products that don't come back and consumers that do". Steve Dawson

"Marketing is branding, naming, pricing, and the bridge between paid and earned media. -
Gini Dietrich

It is NOT sales" "Marketing is the process of exposing target customers to a product through
appropriate tactics and channels, gauging their reaction and feedback, and ultimately
facilitating their path to purchase" -Dr. Augustine Fou

"Marketing is a way to connect what products and services you have to offer with
customers who want and need such products and services. It is multi-faceted, starting with
researching your target market and how best to deliver the message to coming up with a
plan to execute your promotion via various marketing media. The goal is to develop a
strategy to create, price and distribute your products and services for an exchange that will
satisfy both, your and your customers' objectives. It is an ever evolving process-always
evaluating that your message still meets the needs and wants of your market" -Trish Green

"Marketing is discovering what the prospect wants and demands and delivering it more
efficiently and effectively than the competition". -Paul Kulávis "

Marketing is a total system of business activities designed to plan, price, promote &
distribute want satisfying products to target markets in order to achieve organizational
objectives. -William Stanton,

"Marketing is a human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange
process."

Market

The term market, though perceived to be very common means different things to different
people. Market may just mean a place for some people where goods are available such as
vegetable market, textiles market etc. For a few people market is just a place where buyers
and sellers meet. A seller may consider market to be the entire area where his customers
aresituated. All the above interpretations of the term market depict different aspects of
market.

Market actually is a much wider term. It means the entire geographical area-local, at
timeextending to the whole nation and even the entire World where buyers and sellers are
situated and transact with each other. These transactions equalize the prices of the goods by
making possible exchange of goods.
"Market is the aggregate demand of the potential buyers for a product/service"-American
Marketing Association

"Market includes both place and region in which buyers and sellers are in free competition
with one another"

"Market is an area for potential exchanges"J.F. Pyle -Philip Kotler

"Market is not any geographical meeting place but getting together of buyers and sellers in
person by mail, telephone, telegraph or any other means of communication"

"A market is a group of buyers with significant buying potential and unfulfilled needs or

desires who have the means to purchase and whom the marketer can profitably serve".-Fox
and Wheatley

Concepts of Market

1. Place concept-According to this concept market is a place where buyers and sellers meet,
discuss and transact business. Therefore according to this interpretation market is a physical
concept.

2. Area concept-According to this concept market is the entire area where buyers and
sellers are situated and they trade with each other. The forces of demand and supply
operate throughout such an area. There is an active communication among all such buyers
and sellers. Therefore according to this market is a very wide concept.

3. Demand concept-According to this concept market is a total amount of demand that exits
for a certain product at a point of time. This is the aggregate demand for the product from
all the potential customers of the product. Therefore according to this market is an abstract
concept.

Features of Market

1. Meeting place-According to one interpretation market is a place where buyers and sellers
meet.

2. Two sides-A market essentially has two sides-supply and the demand. The supply side
constitutes the sellers and the demand side constitutes the buyers.

3. Agreement-In any market the agreement of the terms and conditions by both the parties-
the seller and the buyer is more important than the face to face meeting of them

4. Medium of money-All the transactions in a market happen through money. All the
transactions are monetary in nature.

Classification of Market
1. Area of operation A market is classified as local, regional, national and international based
on the extent of operations.

2. Volume of business-A market is classified as wholesale (goods sold in large quantities to

resellers) and retail market (goods sold in small quantities to final consumers)

3. Regulation of transactions-A market is classified as regulated (the transactions, terms and

conditions are regulated by set of rules framed either by government or trade associations)
and unregulated market (the transactions can be done freely within the framework of the
general law).

4 Nature of competition-A market is classified as being under prefect competition at the

one end and monopoly at the other. In a perfect competition there are no restrictions on the
price, no barriers on the entry or exit of the sellers. There is a free flow of information etc. In
a monopoly there is only one seller and several buyers and because of this the seller can
virtually dictate terms to the buyers. However in reality, these situations may not exit. There
are several other types of situations in between these two.

5. The equation between demand and supply-In a market if the demand exceeds the supply
the sellers can dominate and dictate terms and conditions. This is called a sellers market. If
the supply exceeds the demand the buyers can dictate the terms and conditions. This is
called a buyers market

6. The time factor A market can be classified as short term or long term market. In a short
term market the transactions are completed within a short time and in a long term market,
the very nature of the transactions is such that the time taken is long.

7. The commodity transacted-A market can be classified based on the commodity/product

transacted such as gold market, metals market, cotton market etc

8. Nature of the transactions-A market can be classified as spot mal et and futures market. In
a spot market the transactions are completed immediately. In a futures market however the
transactions will be completed at a late date and only the agreements for such transactions
will be entered into initially .

Goals of Marketing Marketing itself is a series of activities with the ultimate aim of
increasing the sales of the goods. However, selling goods in a competitive situation such as
the present one is not easy.

Therefore, the following are the objectives of marketing in the present scenario:

1. Identification of consumer wants/preferences/needs/tastes

2. Get an appropriate product designed to get consumer approval.

3. Create demand in the minds of the consumer for the product of the company.

4. Make arrangements for the consumers to buy the products.

5. Market research to help product development

1. Identification of consumer wants/preferences/needs/tastes. In a competitive situation
such as the present one, the consumer requirement is the guiding point for any product
development. All the aspects of the product such as the quality, features, size, appearance,
image, durability, price etc. should be to the satisfaction of the consumers. Consumer was
considered the king of market, but not anymore because presently consumer is considered
the God of the market. Therefore, the most primary function of marketing is to understand
the requirements of the consumers.

2. Get an appropriate product designed to get consumer approval. All the understanding
about the consumer wants, preferences, tastes, needs etc. should be used to design an
appropriate product. Only then will the product be acceptable to the consumer.

3. Create demand in the minds of the consumer for the product of the company. A mere
designing of the most appropriate product is not sufficient. An awareness about such a
product in terms of the brand, the price, the availability, a comprehensive description about
the positive features, the competitive advantages etc. should be brought about in the minds
of the consumers. This is done by various means such as advertising, salesmanship etc. If
sufficient demand is created for a product, it is likely to sell by itself.

4. Make arrangements for the consumers to buy the products. After product designing and
demand creation, it must be ensured that the product is widely available, so that consumers
can purchase the product easily. Product availability goes a long way in determining the
success of a product. This is brought about by a pragmatic distribution scheme.

5. Market research to help product development. Securing knowledge about the consumers
tastes and preferences is not restricted till the development of the product. It is must be an
ongoing activity. Since the market is a very dynamic place, consumer preferences change
very fast. The product also has to keep pace with such changes. All products are consistently
evolving. There is nothing like a perfect product in the long run because the perfect product
remains sold only at a given point of time. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the marketing
to devise a system to study the consumer and understand his needs and wants .

Concepts of Marketing

A concept is a general ides, notion, course of thinking or philosophy of a person, regarding a

topic, object, issue etc. A concept of marketing refers to the understanding, idea, view etc.,
an organization has regarding marketing of its products. The general concept of marketing
has been constantly evolving as a result of the companies' adaptation to the changing
environment of the market.

The following are the five basic concepts of marketing:

1. The production concept

2. The product concept

3. The selling concept

4. The Marketing concept

5. The societal marketing concept

1. The production concept

This concept is the oldest concept of marketing. This concept advocates that consumers will
buy products that are available and affordable. Therefore, a manufacturer in order to sell
large quantities of goods only has to concentrate on production, distribution of goods and
The production concept was relevant during the initial stages of Industrial Revolution, price
them affordably.

characterized by-mechanized production, division and specialization of labour, application of

tochnology, large scale production and a focus on cost reduction. The market was large to
absorb the increased output. The focus of the management was on production and cost
reduction rather than on market development. The underlying assumption was that the
sales department will sell whatever is produced by the production department.

This concept does not pay any heed to understanding consumer preferences and tastes,
before production or the consumer satisfaction, after the sale. The job of marketing is over
the moment the goods are sold and no amount of sales effort is necessary to sell the goods.

The production concept would be relevant under the following circumstances:

1. When the demand exceeds supply.

2. When the product cost is very high and production has to be increased to bring it down.

3. In the situation of monopoly.

2. The product concept

This concept advocates that consumers will buy products that are better in quality,
performance, durability and features. Therefore, manufacturers have to focus on product
improvement continuously. The customers choose good products. The manufacturers under
this concept do not attempt to understand the needs and preferences before either
designing products or effecting product improvements. The manufacturers a that their
production engineers know how to design and improve the product.

3. The selling concept

This concept advocates that consumers will buy products only when the manufacturers put
in sufficient amount of selling and promotion efforts. Therefore, manufacturers have to
advertise, improve the distribution and do anything else to bring the product to the notice of
the consumers and make it easy for them to buy the product. However, even according to
this concept there is no effort on the part of the manufacturer to understand the consumers'
needs and tastes before designing the product or improving an existing product.

4. the marketing concept

This concept advocates that a manufacturer should begin his task with the consumer focus.
He has to primarily study the consumer and understand the needs, desires, requirements
and conveniences of the latter. A manufacturer should design a new product or improve an
existing one strictly keeping in mind the needs, desires etc. of the consumer. The product
should exactly satisfy the consumer. Therefore, a manufacturer should design and
manufacture a product which will be accepted by the consumer rather than the one which
can be manufactured by him easily. A consumer is basically fastidious and fickle minded. This
makes that task of understanding the consumer and designing an appropriate product much
more difficult, however this is the only way a manufacturer can succeed in a competitive
market. Selling should be preceded by customer study, marketing research and product
development. The entire focus should be on the consumer and his needs.

"There will always, one can assume, be need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to
make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the consumer so
well that that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally marketing should result
in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product c
service available" This concept is also called customer orientation.

The marketing concept which is also called the modern marketing concept as practised by
most of the firms in the present situation is actually a combination of all the other concepts.
The modern marketing concept consists of an integrated effort on the part of the marketer
to identify the consumer needs and satisfy them through appropriately designed products
and for this task use all the marketing techniques related to product, selling, market study,
consumer behavior, product designing, pricing etc.

"The Marketing concept is a customer orientation backed by integrated marketing aimed at

generating customer satisfaction as the key to satisfying organizational goals".-Philip Kotler

"Modern marketing concept is a corporate state of mind that insists on the integration and
co-ordination of all marketing functions which in turn are welded with the other corporate
functions for the basic objective of producing maximum long range corporate profits.-Felton

The following are the features of marketing concept (modern marketing concept, integrat
marketing concept, customer orientation):
1. Focus on customer needs. The needs of the consumer are studied and these become the
basis of all product related activities such as designing, pricing. distribution, packaging etc.

2. Providing consumer satisfaction. Every organization aims at providing maximum consumer

satisfaction by understanding his needs and designing an appropriate product. The success
of an organization is directly related to the consumer satisfaction it provides.

3. Integrated Marketing Management. Marketing management is only a part of the total

managerial functions of an organization such as finance management, production
management, human resources management etc. All these functions are integrated in order
to provide maximum satisfaction to the consumer. Thus all the functional areas of an
organization are integrated.

4. Achieving organizational goals. Modern marketing states that organization must aim at
maximizing consumer satisfaction and in the process enable itself to achieve its goals such as
growth, market share and reasonable amount of profit or return on investment.

5. Innovation. Innovation is an important tool to provide consumer satisfaction. Innovative

methods must be used to understand the consumer, design an appropriate product and
offer it to the consumer.

5. The societal marketing concept

This concept advocates that a manufacturer should understand the consumers' needs and
preferences, design appropriate products, bring them to the notice of the consumers, sell
them, earn profit, but do everything in such a way that the interest of the society or
mankind is not adversely affected. The focus should not merely be on consumer wants or
profit but it should be equally on the welfare of the society. Therefore an automobile
manufacturer should address the problem of environmental pollution because of the tail
pipe emissions, a ready to consume food manufacturer should address the problem of
disposal of the plastic packages in which the food is packaged.

The societal marketing concept holds that the organization's task is to determine the needs,
wants, and interests of a target market and to deliver the desired satisfactions more
effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the
consumer's and the society's well-being.

This concept assumes a high degree of importance and relevance in the present context in
which society faces the following problems: environmental pollution, global warming.
disposal of waste, dwindling resources, explosive population, neglected social services etc.

This concept does not recommend a ban on production but rather it suggests that
production should be carried on in such a way that the interests of the society are not
compromised. Therefore, this concept advocates a focus on the long run welfare of the
entire society rather than on a short run profit of the company.
The Societal Marketing concept is an enlightened concept based on a sense of self
responsibility. The present offshoots of this concept are the concepts of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development

Approaches to Marketing:

An approach means the way in which one approaches the study of the subject. Different
persons adopt different approaches. One may approach Marketing by focusing on the
different products while another person may approach by focusing on the institutions in the
field of Marketing.

An approach increases our knowledge of the subject matter. When we select an approach it
lays down the preliminary steps to study to the phenomena in it. An approach also gives a
proper perspective of a phenomenon.

The following are the approaches to the study of Marketing:

1. Commodity approach

2. Institutional approach

3. Functional approach

4. Managerial approach (decision making approach)

5. Societal approach

6. Systems approach

1. Commodity approach -

Under this approach, the commodities which have to be marketed become the focus of the
study. The various marketing related aspects of these commodities are studied such as
distribution channels, merchant middlemen, advertising, environment, peculiar marketing
problems etc. In the process of such a study, knowledge about the various marketing aspects
is gained

For instance, one may study the marketing of household commodities or industrial
commodities taking them individually as a group. This study would lead to an understanding
of the features of the marketing of the selected commodity/s. However, it can only be a
narrow approach, and hence, may not serve the purpose of acquiring a comprehensive
knowledge of the broad field of marketing.

2. Institutional approach

Under this approach a study is made of the various institutions/individuals who are involved
in the process of marketing of goods. The functions performed, problems faced, the
practices, the methods adopted, costs involved etc. of these institutions are studied. These
institutions/individuals are typically the merchant middlemen such as wholesalers, retailers,
selling agents and service providers such as transport organizations, insurance companies.
warehouses, advertising companies etc.

3. Functional approach

The functions which are necessary to discharge the marketing activity are studied in this
approach. The different marketing functions like buying, selling, pricing, standardizing and
grading, storage. transportation, marketing finance, risk bearing, collecting market
information, advertising, packaging etc., may be studied one after another with a view to
understand them in detail and to appreciate the problems in these areas. This approach
enables one to widen the horizon of marketing and provides for a much comprehensive
understanding. These functions may also be studied in relation to certain commodities and
marketing institutions.

4. Managerial approach (decision making approach)

Under this approach a study is made of the decisions taken by the managements of
organizations to discharge the marketing functions. Since marketing in modern times,
demands more than knowledge of facts, the managerial approach has gained great
importance. Under this approach, more importance is given to managerial decisions related
to marketing, like management of the channels of distribution, advertisement campaigns,
pricing, planning, market research etc. This is justified in the sense that the objective of the
marketing student is to learn to solve marketing problems and arrive at the best solution to
achieve the corporate goals. Finally decision making or management approach combines
some features of the commodity, institutional, functional approaches and seek to relate
them from the decision making view point.

5. Societal approach

This approach does not consider marketing as a means by which business meets the needs
of consumers but as a means by which society meets its own consumption needs. This
approach focuses on the well-being of the society in the light of the interactions between
the society and the marketing activities. The societal approach to the study of marketing is
relatively recent and was born out of the criticism of the marketing behavior of business
which was obsessed with profit attainment.

This concept emphasizes several aspects of responsible marketing, beyond simply focusing
on the process of maximizing consumer purchasing.

6. Systems Approach:

This approach is based on the thinking that the marketing of an organization is also a part of
a larger system. A system itself is a set of inter related and inter dependent objects or
activities which are held together.

"A system is set of objects together with the relationships among them and their Von
Bartalanffy
Under this approach the various aspects of marketing are studied not as though they are all
independent. They are studied in the light of the other forces within the system which also
affect marketing. Similarly marketing also affects the other forces in the system.

Conclusion

In the past, most companies focused on marketing their products to consumers without paying
attention to their needs. This marketing was done by professionals whose work was relatively
predictable. However, companies have realised the important role played by customers within
today’s competitive market. Thus, it has become relevant for these companies to come up with
strategies that make their business lucrative.

As firms come up with strategic objectives, it becomes imperative that they include customers since
they play a critical role in the marketing sector. Besides, when a company understands its market well,
it is able to strategise on how to overcome the consistent threats that other companies present.
Again, it becomes easy for a company with good insight into its market to understand the behaviour
of its customers.

This is advantageous because a sense of common understanding and trust is generated between such
a company and its target. On the other hand, excellent market insights play a significant role in the
establishment of customer centricity and in dealing with automation of operations in places of work.