1. Need and Want:
Marketing is the process of fulfilling the needs and wants of the consumers. This is why people get attracted to this process.
All the people have almost the same needs but their wants happen to be different .
EXAMPLE :Feeling hungry is a need but satisfying it by eating only sambhar and dosa is a want. A seller tries to find out the needs of the consumers and how those needs are to be satisfied.
2. Creating a Market Offering:
It refers to providing complete information about the product and services, e.g., providing information about the name of the product and service, type, price, size, center of availability, etc. A good market offer is always prepared keeping in mind the needs and priorities of the customers.
3. Customer Value:
A buyer analyses the cost and the satisfaction that a product provides before buying it.
When they finds that the satisfaction that it provides outweighs the cost factors, only then they buys it.
The seller should manufacture the product keeping in view this tendency of the customer. A seller who does not pay attention to the importance that a buyer pays to a product is sure to lag behind in the race of competition.
4. Exchange Mechanism:
Exchange has a special importance in marketing. Literal meaning of marketing is exchanging things. Marketing has two sides-buyer and seller. Marketing becomes possible only by the medium of exchange between the two.
For example, the seller gives goods and services and in exchange the buyer gives money or something equivalent to it. These days the distance between the place of production and the place of consumption has increased.
To lessen this distance the help of many intermediaries like the agents, wholesalers, retailers, etc., is taken. All these reduce this distance through the medium of marketing.
Therefore, it can be said that exchange is the essence of marketing following things are important in respect of exchange.
(a) The presence of two sides the buyer and the seller.
(b) Both should be capable of playing each other something, e.g., money in exchange of product.
(c) Both must have the ability to communicate. In the absence of communication no buying and selling can take place.
(d) Both do the transaction independently and without any pressure.
(e) Both the parties make transaction for their own satisfaction.
FUNCTIONS OF MARKETING :
Marketing is related to the exchange of goods and services. Through
its medium the goods and services are brought to the place of
consumption. This satisfies the needs of the customers. The following
activities are undertaken in respect of the exchange of goods and
services:
1. GATHERING AND ANALYSING MARKET INFORMATION :
Gathering
and analyzing market information is an important function of marketing.
Under it, an effort is made to understand the consumer thoroughly in
the following ways:
(a) What do the consumers want?
(b) In what quantity?
(c) At what price?
(d) When do they want (it)?
(e) What kind of advertisement do they like?
(f) Where do they want (it)?
What
kind of distribution system do they like?
All the relevant information
about the consumer is collected and analysed. On the basis of this
analysis an effort is made to find out as to which product has the best
opportunities in the market.
2. MARKET PLANNING :
In
order to achieve the objectives of an organisation with regard to its
marketing, the marketeer chalks out his marketing plan. For example, a
company has a 25% market share of a particular product.
The
company wants to raise it to 40%. In order to achieve this objective
the marketer has to prepare a plan in respect of the level of production
and promotion efforts. It will also be decided as to who will do what,
when and how. To do this is known as marketing planning.
3.PRODUCT DESIGNING AND DEVELOPMENT :
Product
designing plays an important role in product selling. The company whose
product is better and attractively designed sells more than the product
of a company whose design happens to be weak and unattractive.
In
this way, it can be said that the possession of a special design
affords a company to a competitive advantage. It is important to
remember that it is not sufficient to prepare a design in respect of a
product, but it is more important to develop it continuously.
4.STANDARDISATION AND GRADING :
Standardisation
refers to determining of standard regarding size, quality, design,
weight, colour, raw material to be used, etc., in respect of a
particular product. By doing so, it is ascertained that the given
product will have some peculiarities.
This
way, sale is made possible on the basis of samples. Mostly, it is the
practice that the traders look at the samples and place purchase order
for a large quantity of the product concerned. The basis of it is that
goods supplied conform to the same standard as shown in the sample.
Products
having the same characteristics (or standard) are placed in a given
category or grade. This placing is called grading. For example, a
company produces commodity – X, having three grades, namely A’. ‘B’ and
‘C’, representing three levels of quality; best, medium and ordinary
respectively.
Customers who want best
quality will be shown ‘A’ grade product. This way, the customer will
have no doubt in his mind that a low grade product has been palmed off
to him. Grading, therefore, makes sale-purchase easy. Grading process is
mostly used in case of agricultural products like food grains, cotton,
tobacco, apples, mangoes, etc.
5.PACKAGING AND LABELLING :
Packaging
aims at avoiding breakage, damage, destruction, etc., of the goods
during transit and storage. Packaging facilitates handling, lifting,
conveying of the goods. Many a time, customers demand goods in different
quantities. It necessitates special packaging. Packing material
includes bottles, canister, plastic bags, tin or wooden boxes, jute bags
etc.
PACKAGING :
Label is a slip which is found
on the product itself or on the package providing all the information
regarding the product and its producer. This can either be in the form
of a cover or a seal.
LABELLING :
For example,
the name of the medicine on its bottle along with the manufacturer’s
name, the formula used for making the medicine, date of manufacturing,
expiry date, batch no., price etc., are printed on the slip thereby
giving all the information regarding the medicine to the consumer.
The
slip carrying all these is details called Label and the process of
preparing it as Labelling.
6. BRANDING :
Every
producer/seller wants that his product should have special identity in
the market. In order to realise his wish he has to give a name to his
product which has to be distinct from other competitors.
Giving
of distinct name to one’s product is called branding. Thus, the
objective of branding is to show that the products of a given company
are different from that of the competitors, so that it has its own
identity.
For instance, if a company
wants to popularise its commodity – X under the name of “777” (triple
seven) then its brand will be called “777”. It is possible that another
company is selling a similar commodity under AAA (Triple ‘A’) brand
name.
Under these circumstances, both
the companies will succeed in establishing a distinct identity of their
products in the market. When a brand is not registered under the trade
Mark Act, 1999, it becomes a Trade Mark.
7. CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICE :
Customer
is the king of market. Therefore, it is one of the chief functions of
marketer to offer every possible help to the customers. A marketer
offers primarily the following services to the customers:
(i) After-sales-services
(ii) Handling customers’ complaints
(iii) Technical services
(iv) Credit facilities
(v) Maintenance services
Helping
the customer in this way offers him satisfaction and in today’s
competitive age customer’s satisfaction happens to be the top-most
priority. This encourages a customer’s attachment to a particular
product and he starts buying that product time and again.
8.PRICING OF PRODUCTS :
It
is the most important function of a marketing manager to fix price of a
product. The price of a product is affected by its cost, rate of
profit, price of competing product, policy of the government, etc. The
price of a product should be fixed in a manner that it should not appear
to be too high and at the same time it should earn enough profit for
the organisation.
9.PROMOTION:
Promotion
means informing the consumers about the products of the company and
encouraging them to buy these products. There are four methods of
promotion:
(i) Advertising,
(ii) Personal selling,
(iii) Sales promotion
and
(iv) Publicity.
Every decision taken by the marketer in this
respect affects the sales. These decisions are taken keeping in view the
budget of the company.
10.PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION :
Under
this function of marketing the decision about carrying things from the
place of production to the place of consumption is taken into account.
To accomplish this task, decision about four factors are taken. They
are:
(i) Transportation,
(ii) Inventory,
(iii) Warehousing and
(iv)
Order Processing.
Physical distribution, by taking things, at the right
place and at the right time creates time and place utility.
11.TRANSPORTATION :
Production,
sale and consumption-all the three activities need not be at one place.
Had it been so, transportation of goods for physical distribution would
have become irrelevant.
But generally it is not possible. Production is
carried out at one place, sale at another place and consumption at yet
another place.
Transport facility is
needed for the produced goods to reach the hands of consumers. So the
enterprise must have an easy access to means of transportation.
Mostly
we see on the road side’s private vehicles belonging to Pepsi, Coca
Cola, LML, Britannia, etc. These private carriers are the living
examples of transportation function of marketing. Place utility is thus
created by transportation activity.
12. STORAGE OR WAREHOUSING :
There
is a time-lag between the purchase or production of goods and their
sale. It is very essential to store the goods at a safe place during
this time-interval.
Godowns are used for this purpose. Keeping of goods
in godowns till the same are sold is called storage.
For
the marketing manager storage is an important function. Any negligence
on his part may damage the entire stock. Time utility is thus created by
storage activity.
