A market is a set of all present and potential buyers. We can classify the market according to the nature, objectives, behaviour of the market, which are discussed below.
1. Consumer markets :
This market is constitute by the consumer who buys goods and services for their
ultimate consumption. They do not process it to produce another goods and
services or resell it to another customer. Their buying behaviour is mostly
emotional and they are not well informed about goods and services. Producer or
marketer requires to getting a clear sense about their target customers. Most
of the product’s strength depends on developing a superior product and
packaging and backing it with continuous advertising and reliable service.
Consumer marketers decide on the features, quality level, distribution coverage
and promotional activities that will help their product or service to achieve
the best position in the market.
2. Business markets :
This market is constitute by the business men or professionals who buys goods
and services to produce another goods and services or resell it to another
customer. They are well - trained and well - informed professional buyers who
have the skill to evaluate the competitive offerings. Business buyer purchase
products to make profit. Their buying behaviour is purely rational. Business
marketers must demonstrate how their products will help business customer to
achieve their profit goals. In this market advertise has very small role, but
stronger role is played by sales force, price and company’s reputation for
reliability and quality.
3. Global markets :
Companies selling their goods and services in the global market place and face
additional decision and challenges. Marketer must be decide which countries to
enters, how to enter each country, how to adapt their product and service
features to each countries, how to price their product in different countries.
In the global market, marketer must have to take other decisions, such as how
to adapt their communication to fit the cultural practices of each country.
These decisions must be made on different legal system, different styles of
negotiation, different type of requirements for buying, owning and disposing of
property and so on.
4. Non - profit and governmental markets :
Companies selling their goods to non - profit organizations such as churches,
Universities, Education boards, charitable organizations or government agencies.
In this market, company must be careful to set price for their goods, because
these organizations have limited purchasing power. Lower prices can be affect
the features and quality of the goods. In this market, different type of
formalities are needed to make sales.
Core Marketing
Concepts
Marketing have different type of core
concepts, which are helpful to understood marketing as a modern social science.
These core concepts are discussed below.
1. Target markets and segmentation :
A marketer can not satisfy all type of customers in a market at a time. Not
everyone likes same soft drink, same dress, restaurant, automobile, movie etc.
Customer likeness or dislikes of goods and services are depends upon the age,
sex, income, culture, education, status and so on. Therefore, marketer
segmented total market according to age, income, culture, education, status of
the customers. Then firm decides which segment is more profitable and which
segment is easy to serve or to satisfy.
2. Marketers and prospects :
A marketer is someone who seeking a
response ( attention, a purchase, a vote, a donation ) from another party.
Where another party is called the prospects. If two parties are seeking to sell
something to each other, then we called them both marketers.
3. Needs , wants and demands :
The marketer must try to understand the needs, wants and demand of the target
market. Needs describe the basic human requirements. People need food, air,
water, clothing and shelter to survive. People also have some strong needs for
recreation, education, health care, justices and entertainment. A marketer can
not create needs for his market.
These needs become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might
satisfy the need. A persons needs can be food but his wants can be rice, brad
or fruits.
Demands are wants for specific products backed by ability to pay. Three factors
are important to create demand for a product. First, desire to buy a specific
product, second, ability to buy ( purchasing power ) and third, willingness to
pay. Demand can be created by the marketers.
4. Product or offering :
People satisfy their needs and wants through products. A product is any
offering that can satisfy a need or want of the customers. Product is the most
important factor in marketing for any type of manufacturing and business
organizations. Marketers chose their marketing policies and strategies on the
basis of the product nature, position and stage of product life cycle. Major
types of basic offerings of business or social organizations are goods,
services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations,
information and ideas.
5. Value and satisfaction :
The product or offering will be successful if it is able to delivers value and
satisfaction to the target buyer. The value is a ratio between what the
customer gets ( benefits ) and what they gives ( cost ). The buyer chooses
different offerings on the basis of which is perceived to deliver the most
value. The benefits include functional benefits and emotional benefits. The
costs include monetary cost, time cost, energy cost and psychic costs. The
marketer can increase the value of the customer offering in several ways. Raise
benefits, reduce costs, raise benefits and reduce costs, raise benefits by more
than the raise in costs, Lower benefits by less than the reduction in
costs.
6. Exchange and transactions :
Exchange is the core concept of marketing, involves obtaining a desired product
from someone by offering something in return. Exchange is only one of four ways
in which a person can obtain a product. The person can self - produce the
product and service, as when a person hunts, fishes, produce cloths or gathers
fruits. The person can use force to get a product, as in a holdup or burglary.
The person can beg, as happens when a homeless person asks for foods. Five
conditions are more essential to create exchange. these are.
(a) There is at least two parties.
(b) Each party has something that may be valuable to the other party.
(c) Each party is capable to communicate and delivery.
(d) Each party is free to accept it or reject the exchange offer.
(e) Each party believes that it is appropriate or desirable to deal with the
other party.
Exchange is a process rather than an
event. Two parties are engaged in exchange if they are negotiating, trying to
arrive at mutually agreeable terms.
A transaction is a trade of values between
two or more parties. A transaction involves several dimensions, at least two
things of value, conditions of agreement, a time of agreement, and a place of
agreement.
7. Relationship and networks :
Relationship marketing has the aim of building long term mutually satisfying
relations with key parties – customers, suppliers, distributors – in order to
earn and retain their long term performance and business. Marketers accomplish
this by promising and delivering high quality products and services at fair
price to the other parties over time. Relationship marketing builds strong
economic, technical and social ties among the parties. It helps to cut down
transaction costs and time.
The ultimate outcome of relationship
marketing is the building of a unique company asset called marketing network. A
marketing network consists of the company and its supporting stakeholders, such
as customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, retailers, adverting
agencies, university scientists and others with whom it has built mutually
profitable business relationships.
8. Marketing channels :
To reach a target market, the marketer uses three kinds of marketing channels.
The marketer uses communication channel to deliver and receive message from
target buyers. This includes newspapers, magazines, radio, television, mail,
telephone, billboards, posters, CDs, audiotapes and internet.
The marketer uses distribution channels to display or deliver the physical
product or services to the buyer or user. This includes warehouse,
transportation vehicles, distributors, wholesalers and retailers.
The marketer also uses selling channels to effect transactions with potential
buyers. Selling channels include not only the distributors and retailers but
also the banks and insurance companies that facilitate
transactions.
9. Supply chain :
Marketing channels connect the marketer to the target buyers, the supply chain
describe a longer channel stretching from raw materials to components to final
products that are carried to final buyers. The supply chain represents a value
delivery system. Each company captures only a certain percentage of the total
value generated by the supply chain.
10. Competition :
Competition includes all actual and potential rival offerings and substitutes
that a buyer might consider. Competition can be classify into four categories.
(a) Brand competition : A company
sees its competitors as other companies offering a similar product and services
to the same customers at similar price.
(b) Industry competition : A company
sees its competitors as all companies making the same product or class of
products.
(c) From competition : A company
sees its competitors as all companies manufacturing products that supply the
same service.
(d) Generic competition : A company
sees its competitors as all companies that compete for the same
customers.
11. Marketing environment :
The marketing environment consists of task environment and broad environment.
The task environment includes the immediate actors involved in producing,
distributing and promoting the offering. The main actors are the company,
suppliers, distributors, dealers, agents, brokers, manufacturer
representatives, marketing research agencies, advertising agencies, banks,
insurance companies, transportation and telecommunication companies and the
target consumers.
The broad environment consists of demographic environment, economic
environment, natural environment, technological environment, political
environment, legal environment, social environment and cultural environment.
These environments contain forces that can have a major impact on the actors in
the task environment.