What is a Market?

A Market can be defined as the summation of all the buyers and sellers in an area or region under consideration. The area may be a country, a region, a state, a village or a city.

Market is a place where goods, commodities or services provided by the sellers are swapped with the buyers or purchasers for some value combined with need, demand, supply etc. We can say that it is a place, which satisfies the potential needs of the buyers as well as the sellers. The market may have a physical existence or a virtual one. It may be local or global one.

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Characteristics of a Market

A Market has its own characteristic features. It involves only exchange and trade of commodities but that activity also has its own features.

Let us take a look at the characteristics of a market.

A place for swapping goods and services for some value. The goods can be swapped for money, land or some other commodity.

This is a place where you can negotiate commodities

Coverage of all customer requirements is possible here

This is a place for innovation and creation

There is potential or capacity for buying and selling.

There is share of consumption as well as total part of demand.

Let us now take a look at the key elements of the market.

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Elements of a Market

The key elements that make a market, without which a market is not complete, or the elements on which a market depends are as follows −

Place − The area where the swapping of goods, commodities or services takes place between the seller and the buyer. The place should be convenient to both the parties.

Demand − Market runs on supply and demand. A seller provides the products or services and a buyer wants to fulfill his/her requirements. A product with high demand is supplied more.

Seller − A seller is the person or the party who offers a variety of or even a single product or service to others in return of some valuable item.

Buyer − A buyer is the person or party who needs a product or service and in return is ready to pay some valuable item as demanded by the seller for the product.

Price − This is the cost or the amount that is to be paid for a product or service. It should be fixed; else, it may lead to conflict as well as an imbalance in the seller-buyer relationship.

Government Regulation − The government makes some regulations that both the buyer and seller have to abide. Everyone is treated equally in front of the law. For example, the buyer is not allowed to sell illegal products while the seller is prohibited from buying them.

Product Specification − It is very important to specify the quantity required, ingredients used and all other details of the product as everybody has different tastes and requirements. It is also not necessary that what suits one person should suit another.

These are the key elements that can make or deteriorate a market. A market runs with all these elements together; if one of them is removed, there is no market. For example, if we remove the buyer from the market, the question of who will purchase the commodities arises. In the same way, each element has its own role in the market.

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Factors Affecting a Market

There are numerous reasons why a market grows or reduces its profitability. There are different factors affect the growth of a market in many ways.

Let us understand the importance and effect of each factor given below on a market with the help of relevant examples.

Number of Buyers and Sellers

Flipkart offers a special sale offer, where the candidate needs to register for an item in order to purchase it. In this way, the site gets an idea about the product’s demand and thus it tries to maintain the quantity of the item as per the demand. If the number of buyers is more, the product needs to be bought again. However, if the buyers are fewer, then the product needs to be hiked to increase the sale.

Types of Goods

If a person wants to buy a car, following things need to be considered: what type of a car does he /she need, which brand, what are the brands available, what is the budget, etc. Most importantly, with this factor, one gets a variety of choices in a limited budget.

Presence of Competition

Lakme launches a new product, which gives the customer three-in-one service. It works as a face wash, face scrub as well as face pack. But the question is what was the need. The simple answer is competition; this product is a technique to attract more customers and cope with the growing competition.

Expectation of Buyers

We buy a product only if it stands up to our expectations. Yardley claims that it moisturizes and nourishes the skin for six hours, so a person with dry skin will buy it expecting that claim to be true.

Cultural Factors

Cultural factors like the culture and tradition we follow also affect the market. For example, an Oriya woman would prefer a Sambalpuri saree for some special event over silk or any other type.

Economic Factors

An individual will prefer buying gold only when the rates are down. When the rate is Rs 20,000 for 10g, the customers increase while, when the rate is Rs 26,300 for 10g, the customers decrease.

Social Factors

What the market provides is very much dependent on social factors. Analysis shows that social factors impact the business of beverage companies. For example, Pepsi projects itself as a non-alcoholic beverage because it has to maintain the strict differences in cultures around the world.

Political Factors

Political factors are also important. Something that is banned by the government cannot be sold in the market, for example, the recent meat ban.

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Objectives of Marketing Management

Marketing management is the process of planning & implementing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of products or services. It is a target-oriented process and an operational area of management.

Marketing management is basically an organizational discipline, which focuses on the practical usage of marketing orientation, techniques and methodologies in companies and organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities.

The following are the main objectives of marketing management:

To satisfy the clients’ requirements and their objectives.

To leverage the gain for the growth of business.

To develop customer base for the business.

To create an appropriate marketing mix.

To raise the quality of life of people.

To build a good image of the organization.

To maintain the long-run concept.

Now, we are clear about the need and objective of marketing management. Moving forward, let us discuss the broad marketing concepts in detail.

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