Question

Vasvi was a student of Commerce in class XII. Her father was a farmer, who grew different varieties of wheat and was well versed about various aspects of wheat cultivation. He was also selected by the government for a pilot-project on wheat cultivation. As a project, she decided to study the feasibility of marketing good quality wheat at the reasonable price. Her father suggested to her to use the internet to gather customers’ views and opinions. She found that there was a huge demand for organic packed wheat. She knew that there were no pre-determined specifications in case of wheat, because of which it would be difficult to achieve uniformity in the output. To differentiate the product from its competitors, she gave it the name of ‘Mahan-organic wheat’ and classified it into three different varieties namely — Popular, Classic and Supreme, based on the quality. She felt that these names would help her in product differentiation.
Explain the three functions of marketing, with reference to the above paragraph

Answer 1

The functions of marketing referred in the given paragraph are as follows.
1. Gathering and analysing information: The marketer must properly analyse the market so as to identify the best opportunities. This is done by collecting various information related to the target market segment including the size of the market, as well as behaviour, culture, needs and wants of the consumer.
2. Standardisation and grading of the product: Standardisation implies production of goods with certain specific qualities such durability, safety and utility so that uniformity is maintained in the output. On the other hand, grading implies classification of product as per certain characteristics such as size, quality, etc.
3. Branding: Under this function the producers decide the name of the product. In this regard they may opt for a generic name (i.e. a general name used for the entire category of products) or a brand name (i.e. name specific to that particular product).