6.1 - Nature of Markets

A market can be defined as all the current buyers of a product and/or service, in addition to the opportunities to develop potential buyers for the market.

It does not depend on the location or base of such buyers.

The market for goods and services is the total value or volume of products and services which provide a high level of satisfaction for a specific customer need.

Individual products and services in their own way can not be classified as markets. However, it's a collection of products and services which can satisfy a particular need.

The needs are those of the customer. Therefore in trying to meet the needs of a customer who's interested in a specific market, there must be a combination of goods and services which together can optimally meet the client need.

Broad categorisations are not relevant to a business trying to correctly identify a customer need. The tendency could be to replace the industry with the market. However, an industry is too large and therefore cannot help a business to identify specific customer needs. Hence, there's the need for specificity and smaller collection of products that can satisfy the needs of the client.