Question

Four Mark Question:
Define marketing and state any three functions of marketing.

Answer 1

Phillip Kolter has defined marketing as, “a social process by which individual groups obtain what they need and want through creating offerings and freely exchanging products and services of value with others”.

Thus, marketing is a social process where in people interact with others, in order to persuade them to act in a

particular way, say to purchase a product or a service, rather than forcing them to do so. A careful analysis of the definition shows the following important features of marketing: 1. Need and Want: The process of marketing helps individuals and groups in obtaining what they need and want. Thus, the primary reason or motivation for people to engage in the process of marketing is to satisfy some of their needs or wants. In other words, the focus of the marketing process is on satisfaction of the needs and wants of individuals and organisations. A need is a state of felt deprivation or feeling of being deprived of something. If unsatisfied, it leaves a person unhappy and uncomfortable. For example, on getting hungry, we become uncomfortable and start looking for objects that are capable of satisfying our hunger. Needs are basic to human beings and do not pertain to a particular product. Wants, on the other hand, are culturally defined objects that are potential satisfiers of needs. In other words, human needs shaped by such factors as culture, personality and religion are called wants. A basic need for food, for example, may take various forms such as want for dosa and rice for a South Indian and chapatti and vegetables for a North Indian person.

2. Creating a Market Offering: On the part of the marketers, the effort involves creation of a ‘market offering. Market offering refers to a complete offer for a product or service, having given features like size, quality, taste, etc; at a certain price; available at a given outlet or location and so on. Let us say the offer is for a cell phone, available in four different versions, on the basis of certain features such as size of memory, television viewing, internet, camera, etc., for a given price, say between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 20,000 (depending on the model selected), available for sale at say firm’s exclusive shops in and around all metropolitan cities in the country. A good ‘market offer’ is the one which is developed after analysing the needs and preferences of the potential buyers.

3. Customer Value: The process of marketing facilitates exchange of products and services between the buyers and the sellers. The buyers, however, make buying decisions on their perceptions of the value of the product or service in satisfying their need, in relation to its cost. A product will be purchased only if it is perceived to be giving greatest benefit or value for the money. The job of a marketer, therefore, is to add to the value of the product so that the customers prefer it in relation to the competing products and decide to purchase it.