NCERT 7th Class (CBSE) Social Science: Markets Around Us

Question: ‘Marketing is not about selling things alone’. Explain the statement.

Answer: Marketing is not about selling things alone. It involves many other activities such as identifying buyers, finding out their preferences, persuading them to buy goods, negotiating the terms of sale, mode of delivery and terms of payment, and after sale services.

Question: What is the importance of markets?

Answer: Importance of markets:

1. Marketing establishes a link between producers and consumers through traders.
2. Traders buy finished goods from the producers and sell them to the consumers.
3. They also take care of two important barriers of trade, namely, the distance between the place of production and the place of consumption, and the time lag between production and consumption.
4. Marketing is not about selling things alone. It involves many other activities such as identifying buyers, finding out their preferences, persuading them to buy goods, negotiating the terms of sale, mode of delivery and terms of payment, and after sale services.

Question: What are the benefits of marketing?

Answer: Benefits of marketing are:

1. Marketing helps in improving people’s standard of living by offering a wide variety of goods and services.
2. It treats the customer as “king”, that is, as the most important person.
3. It lets the producers concentrate on production activities.
4. It generates employment in the production and distribution sectors.
5. it explores the export market for goods.
6. It helps in developing economic resources of the country.
7. It attempts to satisfy customers’ needs by designing products as per the demands of the market.
8. It generates revenue in the process of buying and selling and brings in profits.
9. It makes large-scale production of goods possible, which is very cost-effective.

Question: Explain any one type of distribution channel.

Answer: There are many ways of distribution in the marketing process. These channels of distribution can be grouped into two broad categories – direct channels and indirect channels.

Direct Channels – When the producers sell their goods directly to the consumers, it is an example of the direct channel.

1. No middleman is present between the producer and consumer. There can be two type of direct channels-through travelling salespersons and through retail shops or showrooms.
2. The salespersons tell the customers about the special features of the product and how to use it.
3. The producers themselves may also set up retail shops or showrooms in different localities and sell goods directly to consumers.
4. Some examples are Bata shoes, Maruti Automobiles, McDonald’s, Raymonds and so on.

Indirect Channels – When the producers sell their goods to consumers through middlemen, it is an indirect channel. There are four types of indirect channels:

1. Retailers – Those who are engaged in retail trade are called retailers. The producers supply goods directly to retailers who in turn sell them to consumers. No wholesaler is involved.
2. Wholesalers – The producers supply goods in bulk to the wholesalers who in turn directly sell these goods in small quantities to the ultimate consumers. No retailer is involved.
3. Wholesalers and retailers – The producers supply goods in bulk to the wholesalers who sell goods in small quantities to the retailers. The retailer then sells these goods to the consumers.
4. Agent, Wholesalers and Retailers – The producers supply goods in bulk to the agent. The agent in turn sells the goods to the wholesalers. The wholesalers then sell the goods to the retailers. The retailers sell the goods to the consumers.