At all points of the modern marketing system people have formed
associations and eliminated various middlemen in order to achieve more
efficient marketing. Manufacturers often maintain their own wholesale
departments and deal directly with retailers. Independent stores may operate
their own wholesale agencies to supply them with goods. Wholesale houses
operate outlets for their wares, and farmers sell their products through their
own wholesale cooperatives. Recent years have seen the development of wholesale
clubs, which sell retail items to consumers who purchase memberships that give
them the privilege of shopping at wholesale prices. Commodity exchanges, such
as those of grain and cotton, enable businesses to buy and sell commodities for
both immediate and future delivery.
Methods of
merchandising have also been changed to attract customers. The one-price
system, probably introduced (1841) by A. T. Stewart in New York, saves sales
clerks from haggling and promotes faith in the integrity of the merchant. Advertising
has created an international market for many items, especially trademarked and
labeled goods. In 1999 more than $308 billion was spent on advertising in the
United States alone. The number of customers, especially for durable goods, has
been greatly increased by the practice of extending credit, particularly in the
form of installment
buying and selling. Customers also buy through mail-order catalogs
(much expanded from the original catalog sales business of the late 1800s), by
placing orders to specialized "home-shopping" television channels,
and through on-line transactions ("e-commerce") on the Internet.
Services are marketed in
much the same manner as goods and commodities. Sometimes a service, like that
of a repair person or physician, is marketed through the same act that produces
it. Personal services may also be brokered by employment agencies, booking
agents for concert or theatrical performers, travel agents, and the like.
Methods of marketing now include market research, motivational research, and
other means of determining consumer acceptability of a product before the
producer decides to manufacture and market it on a large scale. Market
research, often conducted by means of telephone interviews with consumers, is a
major industry in itself, with the top 50 U.S. marketing firms tallying
revenues of $5.9 billion in 1998.
site reference:http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/business/marketing-modern-marketing.html
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