Part 1 Marketing Dynamics
18
Customers’ needs and wants also change
because the world that customers live in is
changing. Changes occur in the economy,
technology, and social trends. Changes in
technology provide the clearest example.
Although the Internet was developed in the
1960s, the first commercial use of the Internet
occurred in the early 1990s when Delphi
began offering e-mail and Internet access. In
recent years, Internet use has exploded. In
2007, total Internet sales were $62.7 billion or
up 26 percent from 2006.
Marketing Is
Customer-Focused
A customer is an individual or group
who buys products. A customer can be an
individual person, a business, a nonprofit
organization, or a government. For example,
when you buy jeans at the local jeans store,
you (an individual person) are the customer.
When a manufacturer buys denim to make
jeans, the manufacturer (a business) is the
customer. When a school buys food for the
cafeteria, the school (an organization) is
the customer. When the government buys
equipment for the military, the government is
the customer.
In order to be successful, a business has
to sell its products. In order to be able to sell
its products, the customers have to want
to buy the products. In order for customers to
want to buy products, the products have to
meet the customer’s needs and wants. As a
result, the main goal of marketing is to meet
customers’ needs and wants. Marketers focus
on learning what customers need and want.
They then develop and market products that
meet those needs and wants.
A target market is the specific group of
customers whose needs a company will focus
on satisfying, 1-3. There are many kinds
1-2
How have your wants and needs changed since you were a child?