Various Marketing Concepts

(i) Production Concept

 This concept assumes that customers will favour products that are available and highly affordable and that management should therefore; focus on increasing production and distribution. Most of producers believe that the customers prefer only low priced products and so they concentrates on large scale production to reduce the cost. A firm may apply this concept in two types of situations:
(a) When the demand for the product or service is higher than the supply of the same.
(b) When the cost of the product is high and increase in production is going to reduce the cost due to economics of large scale production. This concept can work only in a sellers market. In buyer’s market it fails to market under keen competition. American luxury car market was captured by Japanese and European car because of this concept.

(ii) Product Concept

 This concept assumes that buyers favour those products that offer the most quality, performance and features. The producers are of the opinion that it is the quality of product that attracts the customers, the quality of the product alone will yield satisfactory sales and profits. Though this concepts appears to be initially very sound, it failed in actual operation. Leading companies have produced quality products but have not been able to push up the sales, unless they take positive steps to design, pack and price attractively, to place them in proper distribution channels, bring them to the notice of persons concerned and convince them that the product is of superior quality. No wise marketer can follow this philosophy of marketing in this competitive world. This concept may lead to “marketing myopia” or short-sighted marketing because of undue concentration on the product rather than the needs and desires of consumers for whom the products or services produced.

(iii) Selling concept

  The selling concept assumes that the consumer’s response will not increase without promotional efforts. Even the best products cannot have assured sales without the help of sales promotion and aggressive salesman-ship. It implies, the consumer’s satisfaction is considered secondary; selling the product is the primary consideration. The seller in the long run is likely to lose his customers, who would not be satisfied with the product. Dissatisfied customers do act on their dissatisfaction. As a result, the dissatisfied consumers do not purchase further and do not recommend your product to any of their friends and relatives or they do complain to consume. Since there are many potential customers, the producer is not very particular about the reparative sales in monopoly or less competitive markets but in highly competitive market, the producers are under compulsion to play attention or reparative purchases. The selling concept starts with the factory and it focuses on the existing products and promotion and calls for heavy selling and promotion to obtain profitable sales volume. This concept may be explained with the help of the following diagram.

(iv) Marketing Concept
 This is a new idea in the field of exchanging of goods. Under this concept the organization trice its best to determine the needs, wants and values of the buyer’s market and takes all possible steps to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than its competitions do. Every attempt is made to satisfy the wants of customers and to achieve this objective; a special programme of Market Research is undertaken. The organization fully understands that it can win the loyalty of its customers and their appreciation only by providing them satisfactory services in respect of their needs and wants. Winning the confidence of customers is as good as fulfilling the goals of the organization. It fully believes in theory known as customer sovereignty and ensure the maximum welfare of consumers, thereby ensuring a good amount of profits. This concept assumes that organizations produce what customer want and thereby yield consumers’ satisfaction and make profits. This concept may be explained with the help of the following diagram.



(v) Societal Marketing Concept
 This concept is management orientation that holds that the key task of the organization is to determine the needs and wants of target market and to adapt the organization to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than its competitor in a way that preserves or enhances the customers’ and society’s well being.

Environmental trends like public welfare concerns for better living quality of life etc. indicate that organization would have to adopt socially responsible marketing policies and plans in order to assume social welfare in addition to consumer welfare. The socially responsible marketing concept is based on the assumption:
(a) The mission of an organization is to create satisfied and healthy customers and contribute to the quality of life.
(b) The organization will not offer a product to customer if it is not in the best interest of customers.
(c) Marketing plans and programmes shall duly consider consumers wants, interest, desires, social welfare and corporate needs e.g. profits.
(d) The organization will offer long run customer and public welfare.

The last two concepts of current market philosophy have been extensively adopted and widely accepted in the interest of the organization, the consumer and society.

The first three concepts remained successful till competitors did not emerge in a large number and supply was less than demand. As the numerous competitors came into market it became flooded with goods and services of same quality and price. That led producers to give importance on selling efforts like personal selling and advertisement. But the selling efforts of the producers did not last long. As almost all producers applied the same sort of selling efforts. Ultimately, the producers started price-war to increase their market share but all of them were adversely affected in price-war. Thus during those periods marketing managers were in big crisis. Some enlightened marketing managers thought changing of their basic attitude and philosophy to solve the crisis. They started to take into con-sideration of needs, wants, tastes and preferences of consumers for marketing their products. This idea saved them from un-necessary selling efforts including false propaganda and protected them from going out of market with the adoption of this concept. The first three concept are known as traditional concept and the last two concepts are known as Modern marketing concept.