i. Human need: A need is the most basic concept underlying marketing. Human need is a state of felt deprivation like physical food , clothing , shelter, safety, social need for belonging and attention, individual need for knowledge and self-expression .When a need is not satisfied ,an individual will look for a way of satisfying or reducing the deprivation altogether .Need represents a gap between the desired state and the actual state .Thus need makes an individual to behave in a certain manner to fulfill or meet that deficiency. Consumers buy products that will best meet their needs, as well as provide the most fulfillment resulting from the exchange process.
ii. Human want: A want is the conscious recognition of a need. It is a deeper or stronger satisfier of needs e.g. want for education. Marketing begins with an idea about a want-satisfying product and does not end until customers' wants are completely satisfied, which sometimes occurs after the sale. The wants of individuals change as both society and technology change i.e. wants are shaped by culture and societal values .For example, when a computer is released, a consumer may want it simply because it is a new and improved technology. The wants of individuals change society and technology change. The purpose of marketing is to convert these generic needs into wants for specific goods, ideas, or services. All products are produced to satisfy the needs, wants, and demands of individual buyers.
iii. Demand: Is the desire/want for a specific product that is backed by the willingness and ability to pay for it. More specifically, it is the quantity of a product that will be sold during a period of time at different prices .Human beings have unlimited wants but limited resources and therefore have to choose those products that provide the most satisfaction.
iv. Product: anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that may satisfy human needs or wants. Consumers view products as bundles of benefits and choose products that give them the greatest satisfaction. Consumers buy the best bundle or value for their for money.
The product can be:
- Tangible (good that delivers services, properties, places such as tourist attractions e.g. game parks and ocean beaches, people (personalities) such as dancers, singers, pianists and choristers, organizations such as memberships to clubs and associations such as sports clubs and Red Cross) or
- Intangible (service/activities such as soccer, dancing and swimming, idea and concepts such as adopting a new philosophy about life such as religious convictions , information, knowledge, events, experiences)
v. Exchange: This is the process of obtaining a desired product from someone else in return for something of equal or greater value i.e. it is the exchange is to give or receive something of value for another thing. The process of exchange is at the heart of marketing as it is responsible for satisfying human needs or wants. Thus, marketing occurs when there is exchange. Exchange is a value creating process as it leaves each of the parties to the transaction better off.
vi. Value/ utility: Consumers make choices among products that satisfy their needs depending on their goals to be satisfied. The consumer will choose the most satisfying product guided by value. Utility is the attribute in an item that makes it capable of satisfying needs and wants i.e. it is the product's ability to satisfy the consumer's set of goals.
• Value is the worth of a product, usually in money. "Something of value" exchanged by the marketer can be an idea, good or service and is not limited to physical objects
• Consumers estimate the value expected from each product in satisfying their goals and rank them from the least desirable to the most desirable. The consumer will then choose an ideal product that will maximize his/her value /utility (assuming the consumer is rational).
• Marketing creates and provides forms of value or utility to the consumers.
• Value has a cost attached to that includes monetary costs, time costs, emotional costs and energy costs that is expressed in the ratio of benefits to costs: Utility = Benefits - Costs.
• The marketer's challenge is to increase the value of the product offering to the consumer by increasing benefits and reducing costs. Utility is higher when benefits are greater than costs (U=B> C) .
vii. Customer satisfaction is the extent to which a product's perceived performance matches buyer's expectations. It is the products' ability to deliver value. The ability of a product to match customer expectations with their perceptions is known as quality . Quality can only be defined by consumers and not by the marketer. Quality begins with customer needs and ends with customer satisfaction. Successful marketers want their customers to be delighted which occur when actual performance exceeds expectations. When customers are surprised by product performance, their perceived sense of value is heightened.
viii. Transaction: This is the trading of values between two parties based on certain agreed upon conditions. Each party has something of value to offer to each other. Examples include: employment, medical, education, commercial , civic , religious and charity transactions. The marketer's challenge is to analyze and identify what each party needs or wants from the transaction and try to deliver it .
ix. Customer: The customer is an individual or organization that actually makes the exchange or purchase. A consumer is the person or organization that actually uses or consumes the product. Even though customer and consumer are differentiated, he or she can be one and the same person.
x. Market: The concept of exchange and transaction leads to the concept of a market. A market is a group of actual and potential consumers and organizations sharing a particular need and want, having the ability and authority to engage in exchange to satisfy that need or want . Thus buyers constitute a market i.e. a set of actual and potential customers /buyers with the ability and willingness to purchase a given product, The size of the market depends on the number of people who show a need, have the resources that interest others and are willing to offer these resources in exchange for what they want i.e. market consists of sellers and buyers. Thus markets consist of grouping customers with similar needs and wants.
xi. Marketer: is an individual who seeks a response from someone else and willing to offer something of value in exchange. It is an individual who is seeking a response from another party which can be either to sell or buy something. Thus, a marketer can be either a seller or buyer seeking exchange.
Lellah answered the question on November 3, 2021 at 07:37