• Market: Normally people understand the term market as a place where goods are bought and sold. But, in the context of Marketing, it refers to a group of buyers for a particular product or service. For example, the market for Accountancy textbooks consists of students in Commerce and specialized Accountancy Programmes; the market for ladies readymade garments consists of girls and women, and so on.
Types
of Market
• Marketer: It refers to the person who organises the various marketing activities such as market research, product planning, pricing, distribution etc.
• Seller: It refers to a person or organisation who is directly involved in the process of exchange of goods and services for money. This includes the wholesaler, retailer, etc.
• Buyer: A buyer is one who is directly involved in the process of purchase of goods and services. He/she is one who selects the goods, makes payment and takes the delivery.
• Consumer: One who actually uses the product or service. For example, you bought a shirt and gifted it to your friend who uses it. Here your friend is the consumer and you are a buyer. However, a consumer can also be the buyer.
• Customer: A customer usually refers to the person who takes the buying decision. For example, in a family, father decides on the brand of the toothpaste to be used by his children. Here, the children are the consumers and the father is the customer. A customer can also be the consumer. Similarly, the buyer may be different from the customer or one can be the customer as well as the buyer.
• Virtual Market: With advancement of technology, the buyer and sellers can, now a days, interact with each other by using Internet. This is called virtual market.
