In passing on the products from the manufacturer or the producer to the consumer, whatever various activities are required to be undertaken, are known by the name of marketing functions. In other words, it might also be said that for the collection, distribution and standardization functions, whatever has to be done specially, is known as the 'marketing functions'. Among the marketing functions mainly the storage, finance management, sales and purchases, transport, risk-bearing, standardization, etc. are included. The marketing functions are performed by the producers, middlemen and the consumers.
In connection with the marketing functions, various scholars have given different views. In this connection, the views given by Clark and Clark regarding the classification of marketing functions have been accepted as the most befitting, as are being mentioned hereunder.
Classification of Marketing Functions
(1) Exchange Functions. The transfer of ownership, of any product, is known as the exchange function. It is essential for marketing. The transfer of ownership is affected mainly by purchase and sale. It is being described as hereunder:
(a) Sale. We may call 'sale' as the foundation of all the marketing functions. If there is no sale of any product, the production of the same becomes useless. Without sale, the production could not be kept continued for a longer time in any condition. It is the most important function of marketing. The function of sale could be performed in any form directly or indirectly.
In the process of marketing, the task of ‘sale’ is the toughest. The tastes and interests of the consumers and the knowledge of fashions have to be acquired. Their purchasing power too has to be known. The new customers have to be searched out. The varieties or kinds of substitutes and their prices have to be known. How the demand be created, how should the contacts and terms with the customers be developed, how they should be tackled, all these problems have to be solved.
(b) Purchase and Collection. Purchase is supplementary to the, marketing and sales activities. Some of the traders, in order to sell the products, first of all arrange for their purchases. The producers, for the production of the goods for sale, buy the raw materials, machinery, etc. The traders and the manufacturers, within their purchase policy, decide that in what quantities, on what price, at what time and from whom, the goods are purchased. The success of the trader and the manufacturer depends upon their purchase policy.
The task of collection is also like the purchase activity. Since the commodities are produced separately at different places, it has to be determined as to how much and at what place, be the goods received so that the costs of transport could be minimized.
(2) Functions of Physical Supply. Among the functions of the material supplies, the products are sent to the consumer-centers from the place where they are manufactured. This work is performed through the transport and storage activities. The description of both these functions is being given further:
(a) Transport. In the industrial progress and the expansion of market, good transport facilities are very essential. For efficiently marketing and distributing the goods and services, the availability of good transport facilities is very much needed. Only on the basis of transport facilities, the products could be easily sent to the consumption-centers. Only by means of the transport facilities available, could the raw materials be sent to the factories and the produce of finished goods to the consumption centers. By means of developed transport facilities, it could become possible to lead to large scale production. In the present era, due to the so much advancement in the means of transport, the sphere of market has extended to the international level. The commodity is taken to the places where it has demand by means of transport system, from the places where it has hitherto no demand. Among the means of transport, the railway transport occupies the most dominant position.
(b) Storage. Within the storage function, the commodities are kept preserved safely from the moment these are produced, till the time when these will be consumed. Some of the products are produced in specific seasons. But for their whole-year-round use these have to be kept preserved and made available at the needed occasions. Only by storage, the rare or seasonal things could be kept preserved for a very long period. Now-a-days, so many facilities of storage have become available that even the perishables could be preserved for a fairly long period. Many a times, the producers don't get the desired or expected price of their goods, in the market. Hence they store their products. For storage, various kinds of godowns are required in which the cold storages are very popular.
(3) Supplementary Functions. For facilitating the marketing work, some work has to be particularly undertaken which is known as the supplementary function. The supplementary functions are being described as hereunder
(a) Finance Management. Due to a gap between the production and sale, the finance is needed. Again, for extending the credit facilities to wholesellers, retailers and the consumers, the finance is needed. Usually for purchasing the goods and for storing them, too the money is required. Often, t1ke total activities of marketing depend upon the finance. Various types of capital is needed for different activities. Without finance, the marketing activities could not be smoothly run. The capital is needed to be spent in the advertisements, etc. When we export the goods from a country to another, for that too, the capital is needed. Usually the producer or the manufacturer arranges for the finance.
(b) Risk-Bearing. Like the other commercial activities, in the marketing too there is the risk element. The risk might be of various kinds, e.g. the risks pertaining to the fire, hailstorms, flood, transport, accident, price fluctuations, frequent changes in the fashions, etc. Risk has also to be borne in various activities pertaining to the market. By getting insured against the specific risks, it might be reduced. Much help is available through the insurance in bearing the risks.
(c) Market Information. From the marketing information, it might be known as to what kind of things are in demand among the consumers and what are the places where there is the demand of things. By collecting various information pertaining to the marketing, the trader draws his own marketing policy and also resorts to frequent changes in it.
For the producers' and businessmen's success the market research is very essential. After gathering various reports from the markets, it becomes necessary to draw out suitable information from them. Within the market research, many a times, the businessman himself resorts to collect the facts and figures and many a times, by governments and various institutions, the information is made available through the published figures. If the trader doesn't possess any sort of information relating to the markets, he may have to face various adverse consequences.
(d) Standardization. On the basis of the quality, size, kind and color of the product, their standards are laid down. If anything has been granted standardization, it easily gets the confidence of masses. The goods that are standardized are, easily and without being checked, purchased by the customers. The standardized goods lead to uniformity in their form and qualities. Within the activity of standardization, the specific standards of the product are established and thereafter on the basis of these standards, the products are evaluated.
In the opinion of Clark and Clark, The term 'standardization' is a common word in which the criteria or standards of the manufactured goods are laid down, those products are inspected so that it could be ascertained as to whether they are in conformity with the standards prescribed, and where there is the need, these products could be categorized in different groups in accordance with the prescribed criteria.
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