Principles and purposes of marketing
Marketing is about anticipating, identifying, stimulating, and meeting demand namely how much of a product or service a person is willing and able to buy at any price.
Anticipating demand
Businesses can anticipate demand in a number of ways. If they are a long-established business, they can look at customers' buying trends in the past and from these, anticipate future demand. Market research can also be undertaken to try to anticipate demand. This may include primary research such as questionnaires etc or secondary, using existing research. For example, supermarkets use 'retail forecasting' to be aware of the long and short term weather forecast. That is why barbecue equipment and food are ready on supermarket shelves when good weather looks likely.
Recognising demand
Recognising demand is about understanding existing demand. This may be about identifying what your competitor is doing or what is selling well.
Stimulating demand
Businesses are able to stimulate demand through advertising. They hope to persuade customers that they need the product or service they offer and therefore create a demand for it. They could also stimulate demand by creating products that match other successful goods or services, e.g., T-shirts depicting characters from a successful show or film.
Satisfying demand
If demand is identified, then it’s important that the business is able to satisfy this demand. To sell goods, a business needs to satisfy demand in the best way possible. There may be more than one way to satisfy demand. Often, the business that does it best will gain an edge over other companies.