Marketing Concepts

Marketing Concepts:

1. Production Concept: It is the oldest concept in business. It holds that consumers prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive. Thus, managers concentrate on achieving high production efficiency, low costs and mass distribution.

2. Product Concept: The product concept holds that consumers favour those products that offer highest quality performance or innovative features. Thus, managers focus on making superior products. However, a new or improved product will not be successful unless the product is priced, distributed, advertised and sold properly.

3. Selling Concept: This concept holds that consumers and business, if left alone, will ordinarily not buy the products. Thus, organizations must undertake aggressive selling and promotion efforts. It also believes that the consum­ers have the opportunity to choose from many alternatives.

4. Marketing Concept: With the emergence of the marketing concept, business shifted to a customer-centred ‘sense and respond’ philosophy instead of a product-centred ‘make and sell’ philosophy. Theodore Levitt drew a difference between the selling and marketing concepts to emphasize on the need to shift to the marketing concept.

Selling:           i. It focuses on the needs of the seller.

                        ii. Its aim is to convert product into cash. 

Marketing:   i. It focuses on the needs of the buyer.

                       ii. Its aim is to associate with creating, delivering and final consumption of the product.

Thus, the companies understanding and meeting customers’ expressed needs are likely to be successful. However, this results in organized resistance. Departments such as production, finance and HRD believe that a stronger marketing function threatens their power in the organization.

Marketers argue that marketing is a core function and needs top priority as it generates revenue, and the other functions have to support them. However, what is necessary is to put customers at the centre of the company for survival and sustainability.

5. Holistic Marketing Concept: New marketing and business practices that have appeared in the last decade have given rise to the holis­tic marketing concept. According to Kotler and Keller, it is an approach to marketing that attempts to recognize and reconcile the scope and complexities of marketing activities..