Meaning: - The concept of marketing has changed over the years, in olden days, marketers adopted the exchange concepts and now a days , professional marketers follow the holistic concept of marketing; the main concepts of marketing are as follows :
1. The exchange concept:
It is the traditional concept of marketing. According to this concept, marketing involves the exchange of a product between the seller and the buyer. This concept assumes;
· Customer will accept products of any design, quality, etc., available in the market.
The main features of marketing concept include;
1. Lack of marketing research to find out customer preferences.
2. No emphasis on research and development
3. Emphasis only on profits
4. No emphasis on after sale service.
It is to be noted that this concept is still practiced by sellers in third world countries and by some small traders. (Both in developed and developing countries), who are merely involved in trading rather than in real marketing.
2. The Production concept:
This concept came into existence after the industrial revolution in England (as a result of large scale production). This concept assumes;
· Customer will prefer those products that are widely available and are of low price.
The main features of production concept include;
1. Firms focus on large scale production to reduce costs
2. Focus on profit objective.
3. Lack of marketing research.
4. Lack of emphasis on research and development to improve quality. Etc.
Under this concept, marketers concentrate on achieving high production efficiency and wide distribution coverage. They treat marketing as an extension of production function, i.e., marketing performs the role of physical distribution of mass production. This concept makes sense in less developed countries, where consumers are more interested in purchasing the product rather than its features.
3. The Societal concept:
The 1980s and 1990s saw the emergence of societal concept of marketing. This concept assumes that a company can prosper, if it strikes a balance between;
· Society’s welfare + Customer Satisfaction + Company’s Profits.
The main features of societal concept include;
1. Emphasis on preservation of environment
2. Focus on research and development to produce ‘green goods’.
3. Emphasis on profits as well as customer satisfaction.
4. Focus on marketing research.
The societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to build social and ethical values into their marketing practices. It stresses the need for a firm to balance three factor while taking decisions; society’s well being + Consumer Satisfaction + Company’s Profits., firms should not just make consumer-satisfying goods but also ‘environmental friendly’ (green goods).
4. The product concept:
This concept came into existence in the early 20th century. There is a shift from marketing of low cost products to marketing of high quality products. This concept assumes;
· Consumers will prefer those products that offer best quality and performance.
The main features of societal concept include;
1. Firms place emphasis on research and development to improve quality.
2. Focus on profit motive.
3. Lack of emphasis on marketing research.
4. Less concern for customer satisfaction.
Product-oriented companies suffer from the phenomenon of ‘marketing myopia’---the term coined by prof. Theodore Levitt. ‘According to Prof. Levitt, “marketing myopia refers to narrow perception of marketing, where excessive attention is given to the product and ignoring the customer in the process,
5. The Selling concept:
This concept gained importance after the great depression of 1930s. This concept places emphasis on promotional efforts to expand the business. It assumes;
· Consumers will prefer those products which are aggressively promoted with the help of publicity, advertising, salesmanship and sales promotion.
The main features of societal concept include;
1. More emphasis on promotional efforts like advertising and sales promotion.
2. Focus of emphasis on marketing research.
3. Lack of emphasis on marketing research.
4. Less emphasis is placed on customer satisfaction.
This concept is adopted most aggressively with unsought goods, goods that buyers normally do not think of buying such as insurance policies magazine subscriptions, etc. firms use hard-sell techniques such as aggressive advertising and sales promotion to persuade customers.
6. The Marketing concept:
This concept came into existence in the 1950s due to large scale competition especially in advanced countries. This concept is also known as customer oriented concept. The target customer becomes the focus of all marketing decisions. This concept holds the view that.
· The key to organizational success is to identify and satisfy customer requirements more effectively than the competitors.
The marketing concept considers four factors;
1. Target customer
2. Integrated approach
3. Customer satisfaction
4. Emphasis on profits
The marketing decisions start with the identification of target customers and their requirements. The activities of all departments are integrated with each other, keeping marketing function as the pivot (turn). All activities such as R&D, production, finance, HR and marketing are undertaken to generate customer satisfaction. At the same time, equal emphasis is placed on profits.
The marketing concept differs from the selling concept as follows:
· Selling concept focuses on the requirements of the seller; marketing concept focuses on the needs of the customer.
· The purpose of selling is to sell what is made; purpose of marketing is to make what customer needs.
· Selling concept starts with the existing products of the firm; marketing concept starts with the identification of customer requirements.
7. The Relationship Marketing concept:
In the 1990s, a new concept of marketing has emerged called the ‘relationship marketing concept’. In a narrow sense of the firm, relationship marketing refers to building long term customer relationship. In a broader sense, relationship marketing involves creating, maintain and enhancing profitable and long term relationship with all stake holders such as customers, distributors, dealers, employees, financiers, shareholders, suppliers and society.
· This concept hold the view that..
Company will prosper and progress, if it maintains excellent relationship with various stakeholders.
8. The HOLISTIC concept of marketing
Philip Kotler introduced the Holistic Concept of Marketing, which gives competitive advantage to business firms. Nowadays, professional marketers adopt the holistic approach. The holistic marketing concept consists of four elements.
1. Integrated Marketing: all elements of marketing-mix (product, price, promotion and place) are integrated to deliver superior customer value.
2. Relationship Marketing: -efforts are made to build, maintain and enhance long-term relationship with customers, dealers, suppliers and other stakeholders.
3. Internal Marketing: -the task of selecting, training and motivating employees to serve the customers well. Employees within the organizational are treated as internal customers, so that they treat the external customers more effectively.
4. Performance Marketing: -emphasis is placed on profits as well as other concerns or issues such as customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, market share, product quality and other related issues.
