Marketing

Marketing is the work of studying what buyers need and adapting the firm’s work to meet that need; a specialist doing this is called a marketer. With marketing a firm decides what to produce, how much, at what price, for whom and for which market. Marketing research has four stages: studying the product (the market) — finding demand through questionnaires and surveys; pricing — setting a price buyers can afford that also gives the firm profit; advertising — announcing the product, showing which need it meets and encouraging purchase; and establishing in the market — choosing a place and time of sale and offering service before and after the sale. In selling, the PUSH strategy (“pushing” goods to the buyer: shop windows, discounts) and the PULL strategy (“pulling” the consumer to the seller by arousing desire through advertising) are used; as a result of PULL, a buyer who likes a product becomes attached to its brand. The producer sells to a wholesaler, who sells to a retailer, and each adds a markup to the price, so the retail price is higher than the wholesale price and the wholesale price higher than the production price. Advertising must be truthful and must not deceive the buyer.