Understanding Market
“Marketing takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes time to master.”
— Philip Kotler
In the traditional sense, the term 'market' refers to the place where buyers and sellers gather to enter into transactions involving the exchange of goods and services. It is in this sense that this term is being used in day to day language, even today. The other ways in which this term is being used is in the context of a product market (cotton market, gold or share market), geographic market (national and international market), type of buyers (consumer market and industrial market) and the quantity of goods transacted (retail market and wholesale market). But in modern marketing sense, the term market has a broader meaning. It refers to a set of actual and potential buyers of a product or service. For example, when a fashion designer designs a new dress and offers it for exchange, all the people who are willing to buy and offer some value for it can be stated to be the market for that dress. Similarly, market for fans or bicycles or electric bulbs or shampoos refers to all the actual and potential buyers for these products
As per Philip Kotler “Marketing”:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes time to master
Option (1) Not financial science, it’s about trading, buying and selling. It’s about creating a product or service so good that people will pay for it — Incorrect. This is Anita Roddick’s line about business, not Kotler’s line about marketing.
Option (2) Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as ‘talking’. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job — Incorrect. This is a line about selling. It is not the quote printed in the passage.
Option (3) Described to mean ‘merchandising’ or designing a product — Incorrect. This is not a quote at all. Merchandising and product design are only some of the activities of marketing.
Option (4) Takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes time to master — Correct. The passage opens with Philip Kotler’s words: “Marketing takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes time to master.” The idea of marketing is easy to learn, but doing it well takes long practice.
Note: The passage is taken from the NCERT chapter ‘Marketing’: its section ‘Understanding Market’, with the Philip Kotler quote from the start of the chapter. It has been reproduced by NTA in the exam.
NCERT (2026-27 Edition): ““Business is not financial science, it’s about trading, buying and selling. It’s about creating a product or service so good that people will pay for it.” — Anta Roddick |