1. Marketing Research:

• The first and foremost work in marketing is conducting a market research.
• Marketing research is a process of collecting information regarding scope of market, taste and preference of consumers, etc.
• A large company undergoes large scale production and has to bear high risk of success of the product or service. As a result, when the company wishes to produce some product it becomes necessary to gather knowledge regarding what a consumer wants in the product. Whether the consumer is ready to accept such a product and if yes then what price
• On the basis of such marketing research, information regarding demand, price, competition, etc. can be gathered.
• Methods to collect information include preparing questionnaire and getting it filled from people, observation, obtaining sales data from POS, etc.

2. Collection of product:

• In many cases products are manufactured at different places and they need to be collected centrally. This is known as collection of products.
• Similarly, even producers are scattered at several places. Also, some products are seasonally produced, some products are produced on a small scale and some products need further processing.
• In all these above scenarios, the products are to be collected at desired place for further processes.

3. Transformation of raw material into consumable products:

• Many products require further processing before selling them to general public.
• These unfinished products can be termed as raw material. The further processes on these raw materials make them consumable.
• While processing, care is taken that the final product meets the requirements of the consumers.
• For example, cereals and pulses are cleaned before packing for consumers. Similarly, raw fruits undergo specific ripening methods before sending them in fruit market.

4. Standardization and gradation:

• During the production, it is utmost important to standardize and grade the products.
• Standardization refers to a specific and nearly same colour, feel, size, quantity, etc. for every product or product lot.
• Gradation refers to grading the product on the basis of its quality and other characteristics. For example, fruits are graded as first quality fruit, second quality and so on.
• By grading the products into various categories, the producer can fix different prices for various grades and earn accordingly.
• Thus, products are standardized and graded side by side. Some products even require standardization by government agency.
• Product standardization and gradation helps in earning the faith and loyalty of consumers on the quality of the product.
• In India, AGMARK grades agricultural products whereas Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) grades industrial products.

5. Labeling the products:

• A label differentiates the product of one producer from that of other competitors.
• Through label a unique identity gets created for the product. Once the label becomes famous the consumer easily identifies the product through that label. For example, Parle-G biscuit has maintained the colour and pattern of its packet
  since decades and consumers can easily recognize it even while watching it from a distance.
• Labels also help to prevent cheating of consumers through fake products. It is also easy for the company to advertise the product if it retains the label properly.
• Labeling also ensures product quality.

Brand and branding:

• Often, producer gives a name to the product he produces. This name is called brand name or simply brand. Brand name is kept on label of product. (Note: For example, Parle-G is the brand name of glucose biscuits that Parle company produces.)
• Brand can be in the form of name, symbol, number, producers name or a design.

6. Price determination: To determine the price, the producer needs to estimate various costs involved in the production.

• Some of these costs/expenses include production cost, product packing, insurance, distribution, advertisement, taxes and duties, discounts, etc.
• After calculating all these costs, the producer adds his profit component and determines the final sales price.
• While determining the price, the producer also considers demand for the product and price of the competitor’s product.
• Price determination should be done before packing because it is mandatory to print the price of the product on the pack.

7. Packing the product:

• Packing can be considered as the garment for the product.
• Packing does two tasks, providing protection to the product as well as attracting consumers. Depending on the type of product, the producer also prints details regarding the use of the product on the product.
• A variety of materials such as paper, plastic jars, tinned boxes, glass jar, etc. are used to pack different products.

Advantages of packaging:

• Proper packing prevents the goods from getting damaged and makes them easier to transport.
• Packing helps to preserve product quality and its features.
• Consumers easily come to know the price of the product from the packing itself (For example: We can easily make out that a wafer or kurkure pack is worth Rs. 10 without looking at the price.).

8. Storage of products:

• Products once produced do not necessarily get sold immediately.
• Products are put into market when the demand arises. It is important to build a balance between demand and supply of goods which in turn will enable better sales.
• Since, production is done on the basis of future demand, there arise the need of storing it.
• It is utmost important that during the storage the quality of the product does not deteriorate.

9. Transport service:

• As per the demand, the products are transported to required places.
• Different modes of transport such as roadways, railways, waterways and airways are used to ensure constant supply of raw materials and to enable finished product to reach the consumer.

10. Take insurance of the product:

• Numerous risks are associated while storing transporting the product. These risks include theft, fire, decoit, loss due to riots, sinking of product in water, etc.
• So, producers and distributors often insure their goods against such risks.
• Modern producers and distributors take different types of insurance like fire insurance, property insurance, accident insurance, marine insurance, riot insurance, etc.

11. Financial arrangement:

• Each and every activity of marketing requires money or say working capital.
• To satisfy these requirements well planned financial management is required.
• The financial manager decides how much finance to raise and allocate to the various activities.
• For certain seasonal product, advertisements are required in particular season only and so financial arrangement can be done well in advance.

Marketing manager’s main duties under marketing process includes:

• Avail finance at the right time
• Organize advertisement campaigns
• Set-up distribution channels
• Branding the product in the market
• Conducting market research, etc.

12. Advertisement:

• The strategy to advertise the product depends on the demand of the product as well as availability of finance.
• How the product has to be marketed depends on the type of product, strategy of advertisement of competitors and the effectiveness of media in creating demand for the product.
• Advertisement contributes towards creating demand for product. This is the reason why after advertising, the demand for such products and services increase.
• In most cases, advertisement campaign at local level proves to be more effective.

13. Sales and distribution system:

• Today’s consumer has several options and so he is impatient. As a result, it is essential that products reach the consumers speedily and economically.
• Producers appoint distributors at various regions to achieve this task. Now, in most cases producers distribute goods via. a centralized agency for an entire district or even a state and reduces the burden of the multilevel distribution.
• The sales and distribution network is created according to the type of product.
• If demand for products is very high and continuous in nature, then all the methods are adopted simultaneously.
• In distributorship, it is necessary that the products reach the wholesalers and retailers on time. In some cases, producers also sell products at the place of production (For example: Sale of processed Jams and pickles.)

14. Selling:

• The process in which the product is handed over to the consumer in exchange of money is called selling.
• The middleman plays a very important role in selling function.
• More aggressive distributors having good marketing skills can generate more sales.
• Quite often, the producer directly sells the product to the consumer. This mode of selling is the most effective form of selling.

15. After sales services:

• Marketing does not end at selling.
• After selling, the marketing function has to also take care that the consumers remain happy and loyal.
• For this, it listens to the complaints from consumers, provides facility of replacement of defective product, service and repair.
• Certain products require giving demonstration at the residence of consumers. Such products include air conditioners, television, washing machine, refrigerators, etc. The company needs to employ people having technical knowledge to do this task.
• The company also needs to create after sales service network to carry on service, repair/replacement and listen to complaints of the consumers.