4.1. Consumer Markets

4.1.1. Buyer characteristics

4.2.2. institutional market.

4.2.3. Reseller market.

4.2.4. Market of public institutions.

1.Introduction to Marketing

The word marketing comes from the English word "market" - the market, i.e. The word marketing refers to market activities.

And since we live in market economy, then we are constantly confronted with marketing activities, often using them. As buyers, we must know the methods of marketing and advertising, so as not to fall for the "bait" of dodgers and buy goods that are beneficial to us. As future producers of goods and services - be able to use it for profit or other purposes. There are many definitions of this concept of "marketing". The most commonly used definition refers to manufacturing firms, the so-called. narrow definition of marketing.

Marketing is a complex system for organizing the production and marketing of products at the firm level, focused on maximizing the satisfaction of the demand of specific consumers and obtaining high and long-term profits on this basis.

Marketing as a science appeared in the early twentieth century, has been intensively developed since the 60s. Marketing was a reaction of manufacturers to increasing competition in the sale of products, to scientific and technological revolution, which caused an assortment explosion, rapid renewal and obsolescence of products, and frequent changes in demand for products.

The widespread use of marketing (its methods are used by 85% of US firms, the share of expenses for it in the world is 50% of the price of goods, income - hundreds of billions of dollars a year) is explained by the fact that with the help of marketing, market problems can be solved in the most rational way, making the most of own and market opportunities.

Marketing has absorbed the achievements of world economic practice, as well as the achievements of economics and management sciences, computer science, psychology and others.

To better understand the concept of "marketing", consider what questions it solves.

1.1 Content of marketing activities

Marketing activities should provide:

the receipt of reliable, timely and reliable information about the market, the structure and dynamics of specific demand, the tastes and preferences of buyers, i.e. about the external conditions of the company;

initiation of the creation of a product or a set of products (range) that more fully meets the requirements of the market than competitive products;

impact on the consumer, on demand, on the market, creating the maximum possible control over the scope of sales. This is the company's price policy and service and advertising and trading methods, etc.

The main thing in marketing is its target orientation and complexity, i.e. merging into a single "technological process" of all individual components of marketing activities. The purpose of enterprise marketing is to ensure sustainable profitability in a given period of time (5-7 years). Hence the forecasting of the entire marketing situation for the future.

1.2 Basic functions of marketing

As follows from the above, marketing has many functions in the enterprise. Below are the most important ones.

1. Marketing research (market).

2. Purchases for the company (work with suppliers).

3.New product development.

4.Product quality control.

5.Pricing.

6.Product distribution (by regions, stores...).

7. Advertising and promotion of goods (sales promotion).

8. Public relations ("public relations").

9. Sales.

10. Sales management.

These functions are grouped for brevity into four 9. At the same time, they say that marketing is responsible for the four "P" in English spelling:

- product (product),

- price (price),

-promotion or place (place),

- distribution (promotion).

These four functions are also called basic tools, marketing tools, marketing mix or "market mix".

The most important function of marketing, arising from the above, is the development of a strategic plan for the company, then a marketing plan - the basis for creating all other plans of the enterprise (financial, production, etc.).

What strategic decisions should marketers recommend to the company's management, for example, when updating products? These are suggestions

on the feasibility of developing, mastering and issuing ODA. products,

on the feasibility of conducting R&D independently or purchasing technologies,

about the volume of products produced,

on the feasibility of reconstructing the enterprise or building a branch of the company,

on the selection of suppliers, the development of agreements with them,

on making optimal decisions on personnel policy to ensure production and product development,

making the best marketing decisions.

Thus, marketing relies on multivariate economic calculations.

Marketing methods, and this is a study of demand, competition, one's capabilities and the development of an activity plan based on them, is used in all areas of human activity: in politics, recreation, scientific research, commerce, production, etc. Therefore, more than 2000 variants are currently used to determine this complex phenomenon. The main thing in any definition is the orientation of activities to the consumer. Recent times the wording is getting shorter and more general. According to F. Kotler 9, marketing is an activity aimed at meeting needs and requirements through exchange. Let's analyze the terms included in the above definition.

Need is the feeling of lack of something. For example, food, heat, transport

Need - a need that has taken a certain form in accordance with the cultural level and personality of a person (hamburger, Coca-Cola, boat, bicycle, motorcycle

Needs are limited by our capabilities. Someone may want to have a personal Boeing-747, but not many have the opportunity for this. Therefore, demand is a solvent need.

Exchange is one of the four ways to get what you want. The rest are self-sufficiency (fishing, hunting, self-building, home-made, ...), weaning (taking away, theft, robbery) and begging. In order to exchange, one must have something valuable for the other, the ability to deliver it and be free to decide on the exchange. A commercial exchange is a transaction.

The market is the totality of existing and potential buyers. Thus, marketing is working with the market for the sake of exchange in order to satisfy human needs.

There are two types of markets.

The seller's market - it is dominated by the seller, and the buyer has to be active. It exists when there is a shortage of goods or a monopoly on goods.

The buyer's market - it is dominated by the buyer, and the seller is active. It exists with an abundance of goods and competition of sellers.

To increase the efficiency of exchanges, these processes must be managed. At the same time, the term "Marketing Management" is used - this is the analysis, planning, implementation and control over the implementation of activities designed to conduct beneficial exchanges to achieve the goals.

Marketing managers are sales managers, advertising managers, sales promotion managers, marketing researchers, product managers, pricing specialists, .. .

Large firms with independent business units (SHP) have a central marketing service and marketing departments in the SHP dealing with a particular product or group of products. The departments have sectors: market research, development of marketing programs, sales, advertising, service. The central marketing service coordinates the activities of all departments and develops the goals and strategies of the entire company, taking into account the position and prospects of departments 4.

1.3 Market concepts of enterprises

To achieve the desired levels of sales of products in the markets, firms adhere to certain concepts of marketing management9. There are five of them.

1. The concept of improving production (production concept): "The product is well bought at its low price and availability to the consumer." Conclusion: we need to focus on production (reduce costs and thus the price) and distribution (chain of stores...). This concept is used when the standard of living of buyers is low. It is designed to compete on price with other manufacturers. It was popular in the West until the mid-20s of our century.

For example, the Ford company at that time produced the cheapest Ford-T car (price - $820).

2. The concept of product improvement (product concept): "The product is popular with its high technical properties". Conclusion: we need to improve the product. This concept corresponds to an increase in the standard of living of the population, already dissatisfied only with the low price of the goods. Historically, it replaced the concept of production improvement in the 30s in the USA and Western Europe. Of course, an excellent product is a condition necessary for its successful sale, but not sufficient. Alas, it happens that a great product (but expensive) does not meet the needs of the market.

3. The concept of intensifying commercial efforts (sales concept): "The goods will be bought if the company makes efforts in the field of sales and its promotion." The slogan of this concept is: "The product is not bought, it is sold!". This concept is used when supply greatly exceeds demand and the buyer has not understood their needs. Either the product belongs to the group of passive demand (pharmacy, life insurance, pension fund). The disadvantage of this concept is that the rigid imposition of the product often repels the buyer. This concept has been widely used since the 1950s.

4. Marketing concept: "Sales success is achieved by the most complete satisfaction of the needs and requirements of customers." The slogans of this concept are: "Produce what the customer needs, not what you can produce!" and "Love the customer, not the product!". The concept has been popular since the 60s due to increased competition, the emergence of wide technological capabilities for the production of various goods, and an increase in living standards. Only with a high standard of living, the buyer will choose a more expensive, but also more suitable product. Common causes use of the marketing concept by firms are: reduction in sales, market share, falling profits.

5. The concept of socially ethical marketing builds on the concept of marketing, but adds: "While enhancing the well-being of the consumer and society as a whole." This refers to the preservation of the environment (the fight against ozone holes with the help of a ban on the use of freon in aerosols). When using this concept, it is necessary to link three factors: the interests of the firm, the interests of consumers and society as a whole.

Public opinion and the government play a huge role in the implementation of this expensive concept. It, seeing the dangerous consequences of modern production and consumption, can force both producers and buyers to adopt appropriate methods.

The practice of marketing as an exchange goes back 6,000 years. And people have different attitudes towards it. Many are dissatisfied: “It imposes an unnecessary product, an eternal race for material values, creates a “consumer society” out of a normal society, as if this is the goal of mankind. Others say that marketing drives the development of civilization. Marketing Goals Historically, the following goals have been developed.

1. Achieving the highest possible consumption. This is an incentive for the development of production, civilization, jobs.

But, alas, the mass of goods is not happiness yet!

2. Achieving maximum customer satisfaction. But this is often associated with environmental pollution.

3. Providing the widest possible choice of goods and services. This leads to high social costs, complicates the choice.

4.Maximum improvement in the quality of life, i.e. a) the quality, quantity, assortment, availability and cost of goods, b) the quality of the physical environment, c) the quality of the cultural environment.

The last goal corresponds to the 90s of our century and shows how Western civilization is being humanized.

1.4 Marketing management process

Any company operates in a complex and changeable external environment. To survive, it tries to adapt to external changes and uses marketing as a comprehensive means of monitoring the market and adapting to changes in it.

The marketing (exchange) management process consists of:

1. Analysis of market opportunities and threats.

2. Selection of target markets.

3. Development of a marketing mix (marketing efforts, events).

4. Implementation of these events.

In presenting the marketing course, we will follow this structure.

The Market Opportunity Analysis consists of 9

1) marketing research and marketing information systems,

2) analysis of the marketing environment,

3) market analysis (individual consumers and enterprises).

Any company must be able to identify emerging market opportunities or threats. To do this, it collects and analyzes information about the markets.

2.Marketing research systems news and marketing information

Marketing research and marketing information systems are constantly operating systems(people, equipment, techniques) to collect, classify, analyze and evaluate timely information for use in planning, implementing and monitoring the implementation of marketing activities 5,7,9,10.

Most often, the required information is the state of affairs in the company, distribution channels, competitors, macro-environment factors (politics, economics ...) and others.

2.1 Information subsystems

Information subsystems consist of subsystems of internal reporting and collection of external information.

With the help of the internal reporting subsystem, they collect indicators of current sales, the amount of costs, the volume of inventories, cash flow, data on receivables and payables. In large firms, this is a computer subsystem. The specified information is entered into a computer databank in the divisions of the company that are directly related to it: in the accounting department, supply department, sales department, etc. Connecting computers in local network allows you to use these primary data to analyze the financial and economic activities of the company, for example, in the marketing department.

The subsystem for collecting external current information is usually little automated. Employees enter into computer databases information obtained from printed publications, conversations with customers, suppliers, distributors, and their employees. The firm encourages salespeople and other employees to pass on important information to the firm. Sends in "Phantom Customers" who monitor store staff from this point of view (do they ask for customer opinion, ... .). One learns about competitors by purchasing their product, attending their trade shows, reading reports, attending shareholder meetings, talking to past and current employees, and collecting their advertisements. Information about the market is obtained by buying information from specialized firms (about market shares, prices, sales volumes, etc.) or by ordering specific research from them.

2.2 Marketing research subsystem

Firms are often interested in various aspects of demand: "Who is their consumer? Age, education, income, lifestyle, their tastes and preferences, wishes, etc. The volume of demand for future products, ...". Such direct information requires research. Marketing research is the targeted or systematic acquisition of a range of data and their analysis.

There are 5 marketing researches:

standard and special

permanent and one-time

qualitative and quantitative

search, descriptive and explanatory.

Standard studies are interesting and can be bought by many companies. These include, for example, "panel" studies. These are ongoing observations of a group of individuals or companies that is a representative sample of a large market population. Members of the group regularly provide information to the researchers, for example, about their purchases (what do they buy, how much, at what price, what brands, how often, why, etc.?).

Special studies are of interest only to one company - the customer (the image of the company and its product, the requirements and tastes of its customers, etc.).

Continuous research is the collection of data with a certain regularity using a continuous questionnaire. They allow you to identify the dynamics of demand, tastes, habits, opportunities, and others.

One-time research varies from client to client, from topic to topic. They have to be re-planned for each order.

Qualitative research describes and interprets phenomena; on their basis, hypotheses are put forward to explain these phenomena. These include free-form interviews (without a questionnaire), discussions.

Quantitative research aims to obtain and analyze reliable statistical data. They allow you to test your hypotheses.

Exploratory research is carried out to develop preliminary hypotheses, to determine the direction of deeper research. They are carried out with the help of qualitative analysis at the initial stage of work.

Descriptive research aims only at collecting and recording data (for example, statistical).

Explanatory studies make it possible to identify the relationship between various factors influencing the phenomenon, to analyze hypotheses.

Marketing research can be ordered from a special firm or carried out on your own. In large firms, marketing research subsystems are organized for this. They employ: planners, statisticians, sociologists, psychologists, modeling specialists. Common research topics include market size, market shares, sales analysis, business trends, competitors' products, new product demand forecasting, long-term forecasting, market pricing policy, competitor advertising, government regulations, environmental impacts, social policy issues.

Not infrequently, to summarize the results of research on various topics, to develop optimal management decisions, a special subsystem for analyzing marketing information is singled out.

It includes a set of data analysis methods. In small firms, this is the logic of employees. In large - computer analysis. In this case, a data bank and a model bank are used.

The data bank uses statistical methods of information processing. Helps marketers answer the questions: "What influences sales and to what extent? What will happen if the price rises by ... percent, and advertising costs by ... percent?"

The model bank relies on economic and mathematical models to select optimal solutions and complements statistical analysis.

2.3 Market research process

The process of marketing research consists of several stages 5,7,9,13.

- Identification of the problem and formulation of the purpose of research. An example of a common problem is the question: "Why does the company's product sell poorly?" Hence the goal: "To study the requirements for the goods of buyers, their wishes and possibilities!".

-Identification of the need for information.

-Desk research.

-Field studies.

-Analysis of the collected information.

- Issuance of a report on the conducted research.

After the problem is formulated, the information necessary to solve it is determined. It turns out whether there is secondary (already collected for other purposes) information suitable for solving the problem, or, in view of its insufficiency, primary data (new ones that will have to be collected) are needed.

2.3.1 Desk research

The study of secondary information is usually carried out at the table in offices and is therefore called desk research. Internal secondary information includes materials stored in the archives of the company: financial documents, reports of sales and advertising agents, marketing research reports from previous years, promotional materials, and others. External secondary information includes periodicals (newspapers, magazines), special editions (specialized magazines, reviews, newsletters, etc.), government statistics, advertising, company reports, services of information companies and agencies, and other sources.

After collecting secondary information, a decision is made on the need and expediency of collecting primary (the most expensive) information, or conducting field research.

Primary information is information collected specifically to solve a specific problem. Consider the pros and cons of secondary and primary information.

secondary information.

Pros: cheap, quickly collected, objective (because it is collected from many independent sources), some data cannot be obtained in any other way (for example, state statistics), allows for a preliminary analysis of information.

Cons: may not be suitable for the purposes of this study, may be outdated, data collection methods may not be known, and therefore arouse suspicion; the results can be distorted by competitors, be controversial, it is available to competitors.

Primary information.

Pros: collected in accordance with the objectives of this study, the data is the most recent, collection methods are controlled, the results are not available to competitors; no conflicting data; if there is no secondary information on some issues (most often issues related to your company), then primary information is the only source.

Cons - it takes a long time to collect (up to 6 months), expensive, research can be local in nature (i.e. information reflects the situation only at the place of its collection, and does not reflect the situation as a whole).

2.3.2 Field research.

Recall that the collection of primary information is called field research. There are three methods for obtaining primary information:

surveillance,

experiment,

interview.

Observation method used in exploratory research. The researcher observes customers, the situation, competitors, studies their behavior. At the same time, he does not come into contact with people, does not affect them, i.e. its influence on their behavior is absent. The disadvantage of this method is the inability to confidently explain the reasons for this or that behavior of people. However, the method of observation allows one to choose the direction of further in-depth research, and makes it possible to develop a working hypothesis for the behavior of the observed.

Examples of using the observation method are observing the behavior of customers in a store (using translucent mirrors, television cameras) and their reactions to the organization of trade, the rationality of the layout, the availability of goods for their evaluation, observing the reaction of passers-by to window dressing, and others.

Experiments- used to identify a causal relationship between various factors. For example, the impact of different packaging options on the sales volume of a product. At the same time, it is important that only one factor changes in the experiment, and not several at once.

Interview used for descriptive research. It lies between observation and experiment. It is conducted to obtain information about people's preferences, the degree of their satisfaction with the product, the degree of their awareness of the product and for other purposes. Surveys are conducted by phone, by mail and in the process of personal interviews. Questionnaires are the means of surveys.

Personal interviews provide the most reliable information (the interviewer can identify unscrupulous respondents by a system of questions and, by the reaction to them, to a greater extent). The percentage of refusals to interview when using this method is the lowest (in Western Europe -70%, in Russia 50-60%). However, personal interviews are the most expensive way of obtaining information; in addition, the interviewer's answers may be influenced here.

Mail surveys are a cheap method. There is no interviewer influence here. Using the addresses of probable buyers of your product (such information is provided, for example, in the Russian Federation by the company "Book-mail"), you can get the opinion of the target group of customers. However, due to the impossibility of clarifying the questions, the questionnaire should contain a small number of absolutely clear questions. The percentage of refusals in this method is high - 85-90%, although this drawback can be overcome by sending out a large number of questionnaires.

Telephone interviews are an inexpensive way to get information quickly. The disadvantage is a limited number of questions (a long interview cannot be counted on because of the busyness of people and the ease of interrupting the interview), their ultimate clarity, a higher percentage of refusals than with an oral interview.

For exploratory research, personal oral interviews without a given structure of questions and group discussions are used. In these free interviews, an experienced agent asks questions that steer the conversation in the right direction, without trying to influence the statements of the interviewees.

For descriptive and explanatory research, interviews with a given structure are used, i.e. All questions are pre-set in the questionnaire. Such questionnaires make it possible to conduct surveys at a high speed, with a low qualification of the interviewer, make it easy to compare the answers of different people, and, accordingly, quickly process the data.

Questions can be open (without suggested answers) or closed (with suggested answers). Questionnaires with open questions are used for exploratory research. It is difficult to process them statistically.

Questions in the questionnaires are asked direct (about personal opinion, the choice of the respondent) and indirect, allowing the respondent to "hide" behind the opinion of many people and not risk expressing his personal opinion. For example: "Why do you think employees treat the head of marketing badly?" This is an indirect question. And here is an example of a direct question on the same topic: "Why do you treat the head of your department badly?" Indirect questions are more often open questions.

The length of the questionnaire is determined by the method of interviewing. The longest personal interview questionnaire should not exceed three pages. Typically, the survey starts with general and overly difficult questions, and ends with demographic and sensitive questions ("How much is your income?").

The types of questionnaires are determined by the methods of evaluating responses, but we will not consider this special issue.

2.3.3 Analysis of information

The data obtained in the course of the study are first checked: are all the questionnaires returned, are all filled out correctly, etc. They are then processed using computer statistical applications.

2.3.4 Research report

In Western Europe, there is a code that lists the mandatory items in market research reports:

name of researcher and customer,

purpose of the study,

characteristics of the studied population group,

sampling method and type of sampling,

method of developing questionnaires,

the period during which the interviews were conducted,

Appendix.

3. Marketing environment

The main concern of marketing is the success of the firm in the market, and the market is part of the external environment of the firm. External environment is constantly changing, as a result of this, new opportunities or threats are opening up for the company. Therefore, the company has to constantly analyze the external environment.

The marketing environment seriously affects the firm and can present major surprises and shocks: in the US, these were energy crises, the "end of the baby boom", the invasion of Japanese goods, the competition of the European community. And we have: the destruction of the planned economy, the supply and marketing system, competition, lack of budget funding.

The marketing environment is made up of micro and macro environments.

3.1 Marketing microenvironment

The marketing microenvironment consists of all the companies and authorities with which the firm has to interact closely. Factors of the microenvironment directly affect the work of the firm, and the firm to a certain extent affects the microenvironment. The microenvironment consists of:

the firm itself

its suppliers

intermediaries,

clientele,

competitors

organizations (audiences) in contact with it.

With whom do you have to contact the marketing service at the company? This is primarily the top management of the company. It determines the goals, strategy and current policy of the company. Then production. Only based on the possibilities of production, it is possible to develop a commodity and pricing policy, distribution and promotion of products. Further research and development sector. Commodity policy without it is impossible. Close ties between the marketing service and the logistics service are essential. At a certain stage in the development of the marketing concept, this service merges into the marketing one. The logistics service ensures the uninterrupted supply of production and affects the quality and price of products. And finally, the financial service and accounting. They provide the firm with loans and other cash flows, allowing it to develop, and also monitor income and expenses, not allowing marketers to break away from the sinful earth.

Elements of the microenvironment include suppliers. This includes suppliers of material resources (materials, components, goods), labor, fuel, and electricity. The mutual influence of the firm and suppliers is not in doubt.

The next participants in the microenvironment are intermediaries. These are companies that help the company in the promotion, marketing and distribution of goods. These include not only the named resellers, firms - specialists in the organization of commodity circulation, but also companies providing marketing services, financial institutions.

Resellers know the market better than manufacturers, know how to sell goods (where, when, sales procedures), have trading network. It is difficult and expensive for production workers to take on these functions. In addition, wholesalers immediately give money for goods, enabling the company to start a new production cycle. Resellers unite in powerful organizations, often dictating their own terms, which may not release the company into a profitable market.

Merchandising firms help build a stock of products and move them from the firm to customers; have warehouses and transport. Marketers have to deal with the selection of these intermediaries and transport links.

Marketing services firms are marketing research firms, advertising agencies, consulting firms.

Credit and financial institutions. These include banks, investment, insurance companies. They help finance and insure the company against risks.

Perhaps the main participants in the marketing microenvironment are customers. The largest division of customers into groups according to their behavior, requirements and capabilities is their division into markets. Markets are divided into:

consumer,

industrial (manufacturer's market),

reseller market (wholesalers and retail),

government market,

international market.

Competitors are an essential element of the microenvironment that often determines the behavior of the firm. There may be several levels 9.

As an example, consider the levels of competition of a firm selling a Rubin color TV set with a screen diagonal of 51 cm in a department store.

The first level of competitors are brands-competitors. This refers to brands of similar products from other companies, such as JVC, SONI, SHARP, ... with the same screen size color TVs.

The second level of competitors is product-species competitors. These are goods of the same type as the goods of the company in question. In our example, these are TVs with other screen sizes, black and white, portable, car, etc.

The third level of competitors is commodity-generic competitors. These are goods of the same class. In our example, these include radio electronics sold in the same trading section with televisions: radios, stereos, tape recorders, video recorders, etc.

The fourth level of competitors is desires-competitors. In our example, these are the products of other sections of the department store, then, the products of the nearest stores and the highest level of competitor-desires are various lines of business seeking to persuade the consumer to spend money on his goods and services. This is tourism and banks and a lot of manufacturers of goods.

Of course, the most intense competition unfolds between brands-competitors.

And the last factor in the marketing microenvironment is the audience in contact with the firm. These include groups that have an interest in or influence the company's work. Among them are the desired audiences (sponsors, investors, powerful people, press) and unwanted (tax inspection, state fire control, sanitary and epidemiological stations, racketeering). So, the audiences in contact with the company include:

financial circles - banks, investment companies, stock exchange brokers, shareholders. The firm tries to win them over by publishing its reports and proving its financial strength;

mass media (press);

state institutions - tax service, state property committee, sanitary and epidemiological services, police department, mayor's office, state fire supervision;

civic action groups - green, consumer organizations;

local audiences - local residents, public organizations;

the general public - the image of the company is created for it (patriotic, charitable, philanthropic);

internal audiences - workers and employees, trade unions of the company.

3.2 Marketing Macro Environment

Macro-environment factors do not have an immediate impact on the work of the firm, but affect it. When the macro-environment changes, the buyer also changes, and hence the entire micro-environment.

The marketing macro environment is composed of six types of environments 3.9:

demographic;

economic;

political;

natural;

scientific and technical;

cultural.

3.2.1 Demographic environment

The growth rate of the world's population is now gigantic: 2% per year. Now we are 4.5 billion. From 1960 to 1996, the population doubled. This growth leads to the depletion of the Earth's resources, but also to the expansion of consumer markets. In Russia, the population is falling. At the beginning of 1997, it amounted to 148 million people. Although this increases the flow of immigrants from neighboring countries. The population of the Russian Federation is aging: one quarter are pensioners. Three quarters of the population lives in cities. Last years there was a slight outflow of the population from cities to villages due to growing unemployment in cities.

There are changes in the family. More and more women quit their jobs and become housewives. On the one hand, this is forced by unemployment, or meager wages in budgetary organizations, on the other, by the decrease and rise in the cost of preschool childcare facilities. Surprisingly, the number of families is growing. But this is not connected with the stability of marriage, but quite the contrary, with the fragmentation of complete families due to divorces into incomplete, single families.

When planning their activities, marketers study the demographic situation to find "their" buyer, find out its features, capabilities and needs, in order to best adapt the entire marketing mix to it. At the same time, the population density of the area of ​​interest, the gender and age composition, the number and size of families, the number of bachelors and singles, the level of education, culture, types of activity, the infrastructure of the region and similar issues are ascertained.

3.2.2 Economic environment

For marketers, the purchasing power of consumers is especially important. And it depends on the level of current incomes, prices in the region, inflation, and the amount of savings. Purchasing power is influenced by economic downturns and upswings, the unemployment rate. Therefore, when assessing the economic environment in which the company operates, the average level, dynamics and forecast levels of the listed parameters are determined.

In Russia, the economic environment varies greatly across regions and is changing rapidly. In general, there is an income crisis. Citizens work in several places, try to get a job in the private sector, work in retirement, reduce consumption, choose cheaper goods. Income distribution is dangerously unequal The 10% (richest) have 13 times the income of the poorest 10% (January 1999 18). World practice shows that even with a five-fold gap between the richest and the poorest, a social explosion is possible! In Western Europe, this gap is four.

3.2.3 Political environment

The political environment has a big impact on marketing decisions. This environment is made up of legal codes, government agencies and influential groups in the public.

Legal codes are laws, decrees, codes, orders and resolutions. Especially important for marketing are business law, laws on the protection of consumer rights, the environment, and taxes.

State institutions are direct conductors of the political line of the country's leadership, as well as their departmental goals.

Influential groups of the public include political parties, movements, associations. Their impact on the socio-economic structure of the state, and therefore on the work of all enterprises and the lives of citizens, was demonstrated by the presidential elections in Russia.

3.2.4 Natural environment

Since the mid-sixties, the world community has been concerned about the safety environment. Already now there is what was predicted then global warming, ozone holes, the disappearance of a mass of species of animals and plants, information on a global scale of forests, natural steppes, ocean pollution, air environment. The economy felt a shortage of forest resources, fish stocks, etc.

Environmental protection requires additional costs for enterprises to clean up emissions, to create harmless goods and technologies. Costs also arise due to the rise in energy prices associated with the shortage of oil, the public's negative attitude towards nuclear and hydropower, and the search for alternative energy sources.

However, these difficulties, in turn, give rise to new markets: markets for energy-saving technologies, emission treatment products, harmless technologies and materials. Humanity's concern for the preservation of the environment becomes the strongest motive, the theme of advertising used in the competitive struggle.

3.2.5 Scientific and technical environment

The scientific and technical environment is the most dramatic force, because every technological innovation leads to creative destruction. Everything obsolete is replaced with new. As a result, not only workshops, enterprises, but also entire industries disappear and new ones appear. So the advent of transistors seriously undermined the electronic vacuum industry, and the use of microcircuits, in turn, caused significant changes in production. element base electronics.

In recent decades, there has been an acceleration of technological change. The time from the emergence of an idea to the introduction of innovation into production is reduced. This is due to the great forces involved in science. Now 90% of all scientists who have ever lived on Earth work in science. At the same time, 20% of all scientists in the world work in Russia, and half of Russian scientists (17% of the population of Moscow) work in Moscow. The allocations for research and development work (R&D) are increasing. On average, 2% of trade turnover is spent for these purposes in the world, and 5-10% in certain industries. Of all the R&D activities, small improvements to existing products are the most popular. Unfortunately, in the Russian Federation science funding has fallen from 2.5% of the domestic national product (GNP) in 1991 to 0.25% in 1996, and the number of scientists has halved.

Acceleration of technical changes for marketing means shortening the life of innovations, therefore, the cost of an innovative product must be recovered in a very short time, which leads to an increase in the cost of production. The task of marketing is also the adaptation of the latest discoveries to the needs of people, i.e. you have to decide how to make new ideas useful to consumers of goods. As a result, marketing professionals are increasingly included in research teams and product developers in order to promote the commercial success of technical innovations.

3.2.6 Cultural environment.

Consumers are part of society. And in society there are certain traditions, way of thinking, norms, values. They form the cultural environment of society. On its basis, certain "standards" of behavior, including consumer behavior, are formed.

Cultural values, beliefs, norms are divided into primary and secondary. Primary values ​​(the most important) are instilled by parents, school, laws, authorities. It is the need to work, to get married, to have children, to be honest, and so on. Primary values ​​are practically unchanged.

Secondary values ​​(less important) are often associated with fashion: clothes, hairstyles, shoes, attitudes towards health, figure, sports, and others. They change frequently and are easily influenced by advertising and propaganda. Their change gives rise to new goods, services, entire markets.

Marketing monitors people's attitude towards themselves and invites them to express themselves, for example, in goods ("My dream car!", "My dream vacation!"). Noticing social isolation and the desire to establish contacts in people's relationships, marketing offers clubs, rest houses, sports organizations or public surrogates: TV, VIDIO, computer games etc.

Seeing interest, craving for nature, offers organized tourism and goods related to it.

The national culture also includes elements that stand out for their characteristics - subcultures. These are religious cultures, and the cultures of small nations, individual regions, individual groups of youth ("punks"), and rural and urban cultures, etc. Often subcultures are separate segments of the market for certain goods, for example, religious literature, literature of small peoples are parts of the literature market.

So, constantly analyzing the state of the marketing environment, the company must remember that the main purpose of this work is to identify opportunities and threats for it. Along with the identified strengths and weaknesses of the company, the opportunities and threats of the environment allow for strategic planning.

The most significant element of the marketing environment for a corporation is the consumer. Therefore, let us consider in detail the features of the largest groups of consumers - markets.

4. Market analysis

Marketing decision making relies on market knowledge. As mentioned above, the market is a collection of existing and potential buyers of a particular product. According to different kinds of buyers and markets are different. Methods of marketing activities are different for different types of markets. Markets are divided into two main types: the consumer market and the enterprise market. Often the enterprise market, etc.............