Introduction
by
Charles Lamson
The greatest difficulty in writing an academic blog about marketing is that people already
know much about the subject. The rather dry academic text can seem a poor substitute for
the excitement of shopping, or working out what a particular advertisement is saying, telling
friends about the latest new product you have bought. Even complaining about the poor
level of service received from a shop, the local transport company or perhaps the bank can
seem more relevant. Typically, people associate marketing with advertising or selling but
while there is no doubt that marketing practice definitely encompasses both, there is much
more to the subject than a narrow focus on either advertising or selling might suggest. The
true scope of the subject is astonishing and a central aim of this analysis is to provide a flavor
of the diverse nature of marketing. Another key aim is to ensure that your knowledge of
marketing is built on solid foundations. For this reason, the approach generally follows the
traditional managerialist focus on the ‘4 Ps’ (product, price, promotion and place).
Additionally, there is an overview of other perspectives, including social marketing, green
marketing and relationship marketing.
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There are many different approaches to the study of the marketing subject. Sheth et al. (1988) suggests that there are no less than twelve schools of marketing thought. While the variety of approaches contributes to the dynamism of marketing scholarship, the same diversity may confuse readers who expect marketing to be a unified subject. Readers may think that marketers are being contradictory when actually they represent different approaches to the subject. To discuss this diversity it is useful to outline key issues in the historical development of the study of marketing. To begin with it is important to distinguish the practice of marketing from its academic study. From earliest recorded history markets have existed as a means of bringing producer and consumer together. Likewise individuals have sought to influence the perceptions of others in favor of the goods that they offer. One might also point to medieval courtiers as being early consumers (McCracken, 1990). On the other hand, it can be argued that it is wrong to reach back into history in order to label practices that had a particular meaning and function in earlier times as being ‘marketing’ practices. According to American academics, the study of marketing first began in the US in the late nineteenth century. The following is a simplified account of some of the major developments in the academic study of marketing during the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
As the study of marketing developed during the early 1900s, academics focused on understanding and classifying the profusion of products that were coming on to the market. Much effort was expended on building a product classification which in a revised form is still used today and is reflected in the division between convenience, shopping and specialty goods. The idea is that consumers behave in different ways when purchasing convenience products, relatively inexpensive and frequently purchased goods, compared with shopping products, e.g. consumer durables such as stereos, bicycles and furniture. Specialty products possess a single unique characteristic which buyers are willing to expend a considerable amount of effort to obtain, e.g. a Cartier watch.
Another group of academics focused on what marketers do. This research yielded up a classification of marketing activities, e.g. in assembling goods and storing them, assuming risk, rearranging commodities by sorting, grading and breaking up large quantities into smaller units, selling and transporting. This work is integrated into the discussion of place or distribution in upcoming posts.
*SOURCE: FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING, 2007, MARILYN A. STONE AND JOHN DESMOND, PG. 27*
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