Explain How Marketing Shapes Consumer Needs And Wants

Every individual has a different set of needs and wants. Needs refer to the essential and basic requirements of all humans in order to survive. These needs comprise of food, water, shelter and warmth. Wants, on the contrary, are all the unnecessary desires and wishes humans make to satisfy themselves. Marketing exists to identify and ultimately explain the decisions people make in order to satisfy their needs and wants. In addition, marketing is about understanding the behavior of people. Marketing is a management process that looks into the depth of consumer decision-making and the reasons behind their desired purchases through market research. Hence, making it a strong component of any business that may aim to create large sales and a profit.
Moreover, marketing can shape the needs and wants of consumers through various different methods such as advertisements and celebrity endorsements.
Advertising is a powerful marketing tool as well as a source of promotion. Through this method, marketers inform consumers about a certain existing product and then persuade the consumer that the product is something that would satisfy them. Advertising can come in many forms such as through the radio, newspaper, Internet or television commercials. (Ashe-Edmunds, S) In addition, marketers implement catchy phrases onto their advertisement that attract consumers and successfully persuade them to buy the product. Another tool used within advertising is the use of celebrity endorsement. For example, in the means of selling Pepsi or Coca-Cola, Pepsi advertises with pop star Beyoncé, whereas Coca-Cola advertises with pop star Taylor Swift. On a personal basis, sometimes when choosing between the two at a grocery store I would most often pick Coca-Cola’s can over a Pepsi because of my personal favorite, Taylor Swift. Thereby, through this example I provide good support on how marketing can definitely shape the needs and wants of
Most of the reflection is most generally done through market research and methods such as market segmentation. Marketing research comes into play significantly when speaking about the way marketers shape the needs and wants of consumers. Market research can come in two forms, primary or secondary research. Within both these forms, markers directly ask upon what consumer’s desire of. This usually occurs in the form of interviews, when marketers directly ask consumers what they desire for and then satisfy those needs. Moreover, this research is then taken into depth with market segmentation. Market segmentation refers to the manner in which companies divide themselves into different markets as upon consumer characteristics such as age, gender or lifestyle. (“Market Segmentation-Encyclopedia-Business Terms|Inc.com) With specific targeting upon the market consumers are easily convinced about a product. For example, new products in the market such as the iPhone 6, that recently came out in the market, is mostly segmented towards a younger and modern generation that have a more innovative and outward looking