Marketing entails making products that are desired by a certain section of the target population or consumer. Marketing has been viewed as an ongoing dynamic process involving a set of interacting activities dealing with a market offering by producers to consumers on the basis of reliable marketing anticipation (sales or demand forecast). It is clear that marketing activities should be conducted under an organized system that caters to all the players in the marketing environment. However, there are five competing philosophies under which organizations carry out their business: the production concept, product concept, selling concept, marketing concept, holistic marketing concept (Kotler 2003). The following paragraphs explain these concepts and how they vary depending on marketing situations.
Production concept: This concept proposes that “consumers will favor those products that are widely available and low in cost”. Thus, the organization focuses on what it can make. The focus is on performance and cost, and the price is based on production and distribution costs. This concept is best applicable only in the seller’s market, in a buyers market it fails to retain market under keen competition. More so, it is applicable when customers are low-income earners and the product is a basic necessity.
Product concept: Management firmly believes that if the product has superb features, quality, and performance, customer response is bound to be favorable and all promotion efforts needles. Managers should be involved in making appealing products with quality features. Thus, the concept may be applied when the market does not price-sensitive or when customers are financially stable.
Selling concept: It outlines that a company cannot secure enough customer response to its product without high-pressure salesmanship and aggressive advertisement. This concept works well when the firm has adequate machinery for effective production and when the product is new in the market.
Marketing concept: The essence of the marketing concept is that the customer and not the product shall be the center of the entire business system. It emphasizes a customer-oriented marketing process. All business operations revolve around customer satisfaction and service. This concept applies when the management seeks to attract and retain customers.
Holistic marketing concept: This concept presumes that everything matters in the market-oriented process. These include the development, design, and implementation of marketing strategies, processes, and tasks. The components in this philosophy are integrated marketing, internal marketing, social marketing, and relationship marketing. This concept is applicable in the modern market because of increased competition and the need to adapt to the marketing environment (Bennett and Blythe 2002).
In conclusion, organizations need to understand their marketing environment and the need of customers in order to survive in the competing market setup. The various competing concepts discussed in this section, which vary according to the market situations, include the product concept, the production concept, the marketing concept, the selling concept, and the holistic marketing concept.
References
Bennett, R, & Blythe, J, 2002, International Marketing. Kogan Page Publishers, London.
Kotler, P, 2003, Marketing Management, Eleventh Edition, Prentice Hall, New York.