Market belongs to the category of commodity economy, and it is a form of economic contact with commodity exchange as its content. For enterprises, the market is the starting point and destination of their marketing activities. Whether we can correctly understand its characteristics and functions and understand the behavior of market buyers is related to whether an enterprise can make a correct marketing plan and then to the rise and fall of an enterprise.
(A) the meaning of the market
Market is the product of social production and social division of labor. People's understanding of the market is deepening, enriching and perfecting with the development of productive forces and the expansion of social division of labor. Market is the product of commodity economy. Where there is social division of labor and commodity production, there is a market. As Lenin said, "as soon as the commodity economy appeared, the domestic market appeared;" The domestic market is caused by the development of this commodity economy "(Selected Works of Lenin, vol./kloc-0, p. 1 89). Moreover, the meaning of market is constantly changing with the development of commodity economy, and it has different meanings in different historical periods and different occasions. The original meaning of "market" refers to the place where goods are traded, "market" refers to buying and selling, and "market" refers to the place where buyers and sellers get together for exchange at a certain time. So the market is a place for trading, which is the oldest definition of the market. At that time, the level of productivity was low, and the exchange of human beings was barter, which required both parties to exchange at the agreed time and place. Certain time and space create conditions for barter, but at the same time restrict barter. For example, in China's ancient literature, it is recorded that "the city of Shennong, the city of Japan and China ... to the people of the world, to gather the wealth of the world, and to retreat from the transaction, each has its own place".
With the development of commodity production and commodity exchange, the meaning of market has also changed. This is because due to the development of social division of labor, each producer's production activities are not only to meet their own needs. On the one hand, producers produce products to meet their own needs, and at the same time provide goods for the needs of others, thus the commodity circulation that realizes commodity exchange appears, which is the market. At this time, the market not only refers to the specific trading places, but also refers to the sum of all the exchange relationships between buyers and sellers that realize the transfer of goods. Marx pointed out: "The division of productive labor makes their products become commodities, equivalents and markets." Therefore, the market refers to the sum of commodity exchange relations under certain time and place conditions. Economics generally uses the concept of "market" in this sense.
With the progress of science and technology, the division of labor is more detailed, productivity is further improved, and the function of money is further improved. Commodity exchange is not fixed in some places, and it can take many forms such as telephone, telegram, postal remittance, wire transfer and fax.
The way to realize the purpose of commodity exchange, therefore, the definition of market has also undergone fundamental changes. From the perspective of micro-marketing
Look, it is to study the buyer's market from the seller's point of view. Then, the market is made up of people who have specific needs or desires and are willing to pass.
Exchange to meet this demand or desire of all potential customers. From the perspective of macro-marketing, the market is a commodity supply.
Find the sum of relations. The concept of market is defined as: the market has demand, desire and purchasing power to conduct trading activities.
The relationship between the demand subject of individuals, enterprises and organizations and the object of commodity owners.
Marketing is to know and understand the significance of the market from the seller's point of view, and to study how to take effective measures to meet the needs of consumers, including actual needs and potential needs. It can be said that in the field of marketing, "market" is equivalent to "demand". For example, American Marketing Association (AMA) Definition Committee 1960 put forward the following definition of market: "Market refers to the total demand of potential buyers of a commodity or service." Philip kotler defined the market as "the market refers to the collection of all actual and potential buyers of a product" (Page 2 1 of Marketing Management 4th Edition and Page 16 of Marketing Principles).
Compared with economics, marketing has a different understanding of the meaning of "market" not only from different angles, but also from different factors that constitute the market.
According to the above two views, the market includes the following meanings:
1. There are a certain number of goods or services, which are the material basis for people to exchange.
2. The concept of market is relative, and they become each other's markets in exchange. Because money has become a special business.
Commodities are mutually supplied and demanded.
3. Different commodity owners need each other's commodities, which makes commodity exchange necessary. In other words, there is a purchase.
Purchasing power and motivation. Purchasing power includes goods and money.
4. There are parties involved in the exchange activities. The parties refer to producers, consumers, middlemen, individuals, enterprises and groups.
Knitting. Both parties are essentially direct consumers or indirect consumers of the other party. From the above meaning, we know that the market is a dynamic combination concept, but we should highlight the needs of consumers, so the factors that constitute the market are population, purchasing motivation and purchasing power. These three factors coexist and are indispensable, and the change of any one factor will affect the change of market size and capacity. It can be expressed by a functional formula, that is, market size and capacity are functions of population, purchasing motivation and purchasing power, among which population is the most active basic factor to determine market size and capacity. Generally speaking, the larger the population, the larger the market size and capacity, and vice versa; But only the population, and the purchasing power level of the population is not high, can not constitute an ideal market; At the same time, although there is a large population and strong purchasing power, consumers can't arouse their desire to buy if they pay for it or because the goods don't meet their needs. For sellers, it is still not a realistic market. Therefore, the three elements of the market are indispensable.
(B) the classification of the market
The market can be divided into various specific types from different angles. Generally speaking, the methods of division mainly include the following:
1. According to the degree of competition, the market can be divided into perfect competition market, complete monopoly market, imperfect competition market and oligopoly market.
The so-called perfect competitive market refers to a market where the market price is determined by many peers of sellers and buyers, and any single seller and buyer can only bear the price. Therefore, in a perfectly competitive market, every buyer and seller has complete information about price information; In the market, price spontaneously regulates the relationship between supply and demand of commodities, and the law of value has been fully utilized; Enterprises can freely enter and leave the market. However, such a market is rare in real life, it is only a theoretical abstraction, and only a few agricultural products markets are similar to it.
The so-called "complete monopoly market" refers to a market with only one buyer or seller, so the only buyer or seller can completely control the price, so this monopolist is also called "price maker". A completely monopolized market is the other extreme relative to a completely competitive market, which rarely exists except for products and industries monopolized by a few countries.
"Imperfect competitive market", also known as "monopoly competitive market", refers to a market where there are many sellers and there is competition among them, but each seller's products have certain characteristics and advantages, which have an impact on prices and the law of value plays a greater role in the market. "Imperfect competitive market" or "monopoly competitive market" is a more realistic market. The general daily industrial products market belongs to this type.
"Oligopoly market" refers to a market composed of a few large enterprises occupying a considerable share. These large enterprises have considerable influence on the market price, but each enterprise should consider the reaction of other enterprises when pricing. This market type mostly exists in automobile, steel, petroleum and non-ferrous metal industries.
2. According to the region of commodity circulation, the market can be divided into local market, national market and international market.
"Local market" refers to the market where commodities are traded in a specific local activity space due to some economic and geographical factors or administrative division. There are two types of local markets: one is economic local market, which is influenced by commodity trading conditions or some economic and geographical factors and is conducive to the realization of commodities; One is the administrative local market, which is formed by local administrative divisions and the behavior of local governments. Generally speaking, the economic local market plays a positive role in promoting economic development, while the administrative local market sometimes hinders economic development.
"National market" refers to the national market for the movement of goods. The existence of local market is the basis of the formation of national market. The formation of the national market must first have a stable political situation, and social unrest and local separatism cannot form a unified national market. Secondly, it is necessary to form a trading competition with comparative interests, so that the circulation of goods has an internal driving force; Thirdly, it is necessary to form developed circulation facilities and extensive information and transportation networks to break through the natural obstacles of geography. The formation of the national market is the manifestation of the organic connection of many local markets.
"International market" refers to the market where commodity exchange takes the whole world as the activity space. It came into being and developed with the internationalization of social division of labor and socialized mass production. Compared with the domestic market, the international market has larger capacity, more intense competition and more restrictive factors for trading. To enter the international market, we should not only have a strong sense of openness, but also strive to improve economic benefits and competitive strength of products.
According to the transaction form of commodity circulation, it can be divided into "futures market" and "spot market"
"Spot market" refers to the trading market where buyers and sellers trade in cash and spot, realizing the simultaneous transfer of physical goods and their ownership. Spot transactions are divided into spot transactions and forward transactions. Spot spot transaction refers to the transaction in which buyers and sellers make immediate cash delivery; Forward spot transaction refers to a transaction in which buyers and sellers sign a contract for the sale of goods in advance and agree to make physical delivery according to the terms of the contract within a certain period of time.
"Futures market" refers to the market where futures contracts are bought and sold on commodity exchanges. The object of futures trading is not commodity entity, but standardized contract of commodity. Therefore, the purpose of futures trading by futures traders is generally not to get physical objects, but to "hedge", that is, to use the futures market to reduce the risk of price changes, or to say "speculation", that is, to use the futures market and favorable price changes to "gamble". Futures exchanges generally take the form of membership organization, and only members of futures exchanges can trade in futures exchanges.
4. According to the attributes of commodities, markets can be divided into general commodity markets and special commodity markets.
"Special commodity market" refers to the market provided to meet people's demand for capital and various services, including financial market (or capital market), labor market and technical information market.
Financial market is the place where economic entities finance each other and the sum of their relations, which includes two forms: money market and capital market. Money market refers to a market that specializes in financing short-term funds, with a general term of less than one year. It is characterized by a short financing period, and the financing funds are mainly used as the liquidity needed in the reproduction process. Capital market refers to the market that provides long-term working capital. It raises funds by issuing bonds, stocks and long-term mortgage loans, and mainly uses it as the capital needed to expand reproduction.
The labor market refers to the place that promotes the rational allocation of labor and meets the demand of consumers or producers for labor services through the role of market mechanism.
The technology and information market mainly consists of two parts of market activities: one is the technology market, in which technological achievements are transferred with compensation to meet the needs of consumers; One is an information market that specializes in information exchange to meet the needs of production and consumption. The technology market has the functions of realizing value, transferring services, horizontal connection and accelerating transformation. (Ma Hong Editor-in-Chief: What is the socialist market economy? Page 103)
The real estate market actually refers to the real estate market and the real estate market. The real estate market transaction is housing, while China's real estate market is the transaction and transfer of land use rights. The establishment of the real estate market is not only conducive to the rational use of land, but also conducive to the better development and utilization of this important resource; The formation of the real estate market is conducive to adjusting the consumption structure of residents, promoting the virtuous circle of real estate construction funds and improving the housing level of the people.
"General commodity market" refers to the commodity market in a narrow sense, also known as the goods market, that is, the consumption data market and the production data market, and these two markets are the markets that marketing should focus on, which we will analyze later.
(C) the role of the market
The market plays an important role in both macroeconomic and microeconomic activities. From a macro perspective, in a market economy society, the market has become a "barometer" and "regulator" of the social economy, that is, the rise and fall of the social economy is often reflected through the market. When the social economy is prosperous, the market will prosper, otherwise, the market will decline. The market is the connection point between production and consumption, and it is an important means to ensure the normal operation of the national economy and the living needs of residents. From the microscopic point of view, the market plays a huge role in enterprise marketing.
1. The market is the place where enterprises constantly meet customers' needs.
Market is the starting point of enterprise's production and operation activities. On the one hand, enterprises can understand customers' needs only through the market, and formulate correct marketing strategies according to the characteristics of market demand to achieve enterprise marketing goals; On the other hand, under the condition of commodity economy, products must be exchanged in the market before they can be sent to consumers. Market economy requires the establishment of market concept, which is embodied in "fixing production by sales" and emphasizing customer (user) as the center. The concept of marketing inevitably requires that the center and starting point of enterprise business activities are customers and consumers, and everything is to meet the needs of customers and consumers. It is necessary to understand the needs and desires of customers and consumers and their development trends through market research, and to understand which products are marketable and which products are in oversupply or in short supply through market exchange activities. According to the change of market demand, enterprises constantly modify marketing plans, adjust internal production organization and product structure, and constantly meet market demand. Adjust the relationship between supply and demand through the market to ensure supply.
2. The market is the place to ensure the profits of enterprises.
Market is a necessary condition to realize enterprise profits, and it is also an important part of marketing concept. In order to make profits, enterprises must first invest less money in the market to buy high-quality means of production, and combine the means of production with the labor force through the production process to produce new products and create more value. After market exchange, commodities are converted into monetary funds to realize enterprise profits, and labor consumption in the production process is compensated and can be reproduced.
3. The market is the place where enterprises compete.
Market is the product of commodity economy. With the existence of commodity economy, the law of value plays a role. There is competition between sellers to realize the value of products, between buyers to buy products, and between buyers and sellers. There are differences between enterprises in production technology, management level and personnel quality, so the amount of labor invested in a single product is different from the socially necessary labor, which will inevitably lead to differences in product prices, product quality, promotion methods and distribution channels. The marketing mix factors of enterprises should be directly tested and judged by the market (consumers). With the development of market economy, the competition among sellers is more complicated, including not only the competition of products and prices, but also all-round competition such as marketing strategies.
4. Market is the main source of information for enterprises.
The marketing activities of any enterprise are inseparable from market information, especially in the highly developed commodity economy, the market scope is expanding, the consumer demand is diversified and complicated, and the competitors joining the market are increasing day by day. Whether enterprises can understand and master this information and make correct marketing strategies is related to the survival and development of enterprises, and the market just concentrates all kinds of information related to marketing. In other words, the information of enterprises mainly comes from the market, and the market guides marketing.
The above is an analysis of the role of the market in enterprise marketing activities. The market plays a "regulator" role in the macro-economy; The price that consumers can accept-the market price-determines the fate of every commodity producer.