What is Marketing?

Marketing Discriminates in Customer Selection

We will see later that a key to marketing success is to engage in a deliberate process that identifies customers who offer marketers the best chance for satisfying organizational objectives.  This method, called target marketing, often drives most marketing decisions, including product development and price setting.  But some argue that target marketing leads marketers to focus their efforts primarily on customers who have the financial means to make more expensive purchases.  They contend that doing so intentionally discriminates against others, especially lower income customers who cannot afford to purchase higher priced products.  This group ends ups being targeted with lower quality (and in some cases less safe) products or for some groups, no product options.

While this criticism is often valid, it is worth noting that while many “lower quality” products are inferior to current high-end products, comparison of their quality to similar products from just a few years ago shows there has been significant improvement.  For instance, low cost electronic equipment, such as digital cameras, offer more features compared to low cost cameras of just a few years ago.  Thus, while certain customer groups may not be the target market for certain new product offerings they may eventually benefit from higher-end products.

Marketing Contributes to Environmental Waste

In recent years one of the loudest complaints against marketing concerns its impact on the environment.  Those critical of marketing’s effect on the environment point to such issues as:

• the use of excessive, non-biodegradable packaging (e.g., use of plastics, placing small products in large packages, etc.)
• the continual development of resource consuming products (e.g., construction of new buildings, golf courses, shopping malls, etc.)
• the proliferation of unsightly and wasteful methods of promotions (e.g., outdoor billboards, direct mail, etc.). 

Marketers have begun to respond to these concerns by introducing “green marketing” campaigns that are not only intended to appease critics but also take advantage of potential business opportunities.  For example, auto makers see opportunity by creating new fuel efficient hybrid vehicles, the demand for which has accelerated in the last few years.  Also, certain retailers are finding financial opportunity and promotional value by asserting their marketing muscle to encourage customers to become more environmentally responsible.  This can be seen with retailers, such as Wal-Mart, that are shifting its inventory of light bulbs from standard incandescent types to more efficient fluorescent products.  It is expected that as environmental activism gains political clout and more consumer support, marketers will see even more opportunity to market environmentally friendly products.