The Five Main Marketing Concepts.

Companies have different perceptions and orientations towards the business and the marketplace. Five are main marketing concepts which almost all the companies will follow:

1. Production concept.
2. Product concept.
3. Selling concept.
4. Marketing concept.
5. Societal concept

Also read | List of Marketing Exchange Function.

Production Concept:

It emerged during the initial stages of industrial revolution. As per this concept producers believe that customers will buy a product that is inexpensive and available easily and widely.

So managers aimed at high production efficiency with low cost and making the product easily available to the customers by mass distribution efforts.

They believed that customers would automatically buy their products if they offered low cost. This strategy is viable in developing countries where companies want to expand with inexpensive production.

Limitations to this concept were that it does not consider consumer needs and quality suffers due to low cost.

Also read | Observation Method of Primary Data Collecting.

Product Concept:

This concept is different from the production concept where instead of high production and low cost, emphasis is on product attributes.

In this concept producers believe that customers will buy the products which have best features and attributes like quality, appearance etc.

So they stress more on improving the product, modifying it and adding innovative features.

In this concept producer’s main emphasis is on improving product features. Major limitation to this concept is that the producer is just concerned about the product and its improvement not about other factors like, price, distribution and promotion, which are equally important for the success of the business.

Also read | Merits and Demerits of Census Method.

Selling Concept.

In this concept producers believe that a customer will buy a product only if aggressive selling and promotion is done for the product main aim is to maximize the sales volume by aggressive selling efforts.

Limitation to this concept is that producers first produce a product and then decide to sell it without identifying what customers want Producers are product-centered ignoring the needs of the buyers.

It focuses on the needs of the sellers and aim to earn profits through sales volume. Seller is considered to be the king and customer is viewed as the last link in business.

STARTING POINT: Factory  →  MEANS: Selling and promotion  →  FOCUS: Product  →  ENDS: Profits through sales volume.

Also read | International marketing research is full of complexities.

Marketing Concept.

This concept emphasizes on understanding what customer wants and satisfying their needs by means of the product. It constantly stresses on the needs of the buyers.

It focuses on the customer and not just on the product Customer is considered to be the king.

Companies start from target market, focus on customer’s needs and by means of the integrated marketing earn profit through customer satisfaction more efficiently than their competitors.

STARTING POINT: Target market  →  MEANS: Integrated marketing  →  FOCUS: Customer needs  →  ENDS: Profits through customer satisfaction.

Also read | What is Piggyback Marketing?

Societal Concept.

It aims to produce a product in such a way that preserves the society’s well-being. The concept is based on the societal welfare.

Companies should not forget the social and the ethical issues in the process of marketing. It emphasizes on efficient utilization of resources, societal welfare and environmental concerns.

Consumers are likely to favor organizations which are concerned with meeting their wants, long-run interests, and society’s long-run interests.

The organization’s task is to serve target markets in a way that it not only satisfies the wants but also meets long-run individual and social requirements as the key to attract and hold customers.

Also read | Types of Domestic Merchants.

Evolution of Marketing in India.

The origin of marketing management dates back to the prehistoric period when the barter system emerged. It was not possible for everyone to produce everything they needed so they eventually started the barter system.

In this, two parties exchange the physical products that carry value On mutual agreement. The emergence of barter system led to the growth of modern day marketing.

During the late 80s in the initial stages of Industrial revolution, there was no competition and producers were able to sell whatever they produced.

There was no competition in the market and customers had to purchase the products that were available in the market.

Also read | The concept of Physical Distribution.

They believed in production concept which means consumer prefers inexpensive and widely available products, so major emphasis was on high production efficiency.

But as more companies came in producers were unable to sell whatever they produced and product concept emerged where companies started to improve their product features.

Later in 1920s selling concept came into being, where producers believe in aggressive selling and promotion o fa product or service to create customers.

And as the competition increased producers started realizing the value of customers and customer satisfaction.

Also read | Direct Exporting Vs Indirect Exporting.

Companies started analyzing what customer need or want and the main idea was to satisfy customers and maximize profits; this led to the emergence of marketing concept.