2026 Syllabus Objectives
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
3.1.1 The Role of Marketing
- Explain what it means to identify customer needs
- Explain what it means to satisfy customer needs
- Explain how businesses maintain customer loyalty
- Describe how businesses build customer relationships
3.1.2 Market Changes
- Explain why customer spending patterns may change
- Explain the importance of changing customer needs
- Explain why some markets have become more competitive
- Describe how businesses can respond to changing spending patterns and increased competition
3.1.3 Niche Marketing and Mass Marketing
- Describe the benefits and limitations of both approaches
3.1.4 Market Segmentation
- Explain how markets can be segmented (e.g. age, income, location, gender)
- Describe the potential benefits of segmentation to a business
- Recommend and justify an appropriate method of segmentation in a given situation
What is Marketing?
Marketing is the process a business uses to find out what its customers want — and then make sure those customers get it. Think of marketing as a bridge between a business and its customers. It is not just about advertising; it covers everything from discovering what people want, to setting the right price, to making sure products are available in the right place.
Most medium and large businesses have a marketing department made up of several teams:
- Sales team — responsible for actually selling the products to customers
- Market research section — finds out what customers need, how the market is changing, and what competitors are doing
- Promotion section — plans and organises advertising campaigns
- Distribution — makes sure products are transported and delivered to the right places
Identifying Customer Needs
Before a business can sell anything successfully, it must first find out exactly what its customers want. This is called identifying customer needs.
To identify customer needs, a business needs to find out:
- What types and quality of goods or services customers want to buy
- How much money customers are willing to pay (the price they expect)
- What kind of promotions or advertising might convince them to buy — and keep buying
- Where and how customers prefer to buy (for example, in a shop, online, or through an app)
- What after-sales services customers expect (for example, warranties, customer support, or return policies)