Gurus On Marketing

ONE
The fundamentals of marketing
The evolution of marketing
Marketing has gone through various schools of thought. In the beginning
marketing was primarily concerned with producing products
to satisfy consumer wants. It was very much influenced by Economics
discipline in that it focused its attention on economic exchanges
to satisfy consumer wants. According to Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of
Nations’ (1776), ‘Consumption is the sole end and purpose of production….’
This was referred to as ‘the commodity school of thought’.
During the commodity school of thought era, goods were classified
as ‘convenience goods’, ‘emergency goods’, ‘shopping lines’. This classification
and subsequent fine-tuning and additions (introduction of
preference goods) went on from 1912 through 1980s. In 1986 Murphy
and Enis 1 introduced the following categories of products:
• Convenience products
• Preference products
• Shopping products
• Speciality products
ONE THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 11