The correct answer is option 2- Selling Concept.
Selling Concept uses selling and promotional efforts as means to achieve its main focus of selling existing products.
Selling concept assume that the customers would not buy, or not buy enough, unless they are adequately convinced and motivated to do so. Therefore, firms must undertake aggressive selling and promotional efforts to make customers buy their products. The use of promotional techniques such as advertising, personal selling and sales promotion were considered essential for selling of products. Thus, the focus of business firms shifted to pushing the sale of products through aggressive selling techniques with a view to persuade, lure or coax the buyers to buy the products. Making sale through any means became important. It was assumed that buyers can be manipulated but what was forgotten was that in the long run what matters most is the customer satisfaction, rather than anything else.
OTHER OPTIONS
- The Production Concept: During the earlier days of industrial revolution, the demand for industrial goods started picking up but the number of producers were limited. As a result, the demand exceeded the supply. Selling was no problem. Anybody who could produce the goods was able to sell. The focus of business activities was, therefore, on production of goods. It was believed that profits could be maximised by producing at large scale, thereby reducing the average cost of production. It was also assumed that consumers would favour those products which were widely available at an affordable price. Thus, availability and affordability of the product were considered to be the key to the success of a firm. Therefore, greater emphasis was placed on improving the production and distribution efficiency of the firms.
- The Product Concept : There was emphasis on production capacity during the earlier days and as a result the position of supply increased over period of time. Mere availability and low price of the product could not ensure increased sale and as such the survival and growth of the firm. Thus, with the increase in the supply of the products, customers started looking for products which were superior in quality, performance and features. Therefore, the emphasis of the firms shifted from quantity of production to quality of products. The focus of business activity changed to bringing continuous improvement in the quality, incorporating new features etc. Thus, product improvement became the key to profit maximisation of a firm, under the concept of product orientation.
- Marketing concept- Marketing orientation implies that focus on satisfaction of customer’s needs is the key to the success of any organisation in the market. It assumes that in the long run an organisation can achieve its objective of maximisation of profit by identifying the needs of its present and prospective buyers and satisfying them in an effective way.
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