MARKETAn actual or nominal place where forces of demand and supply

operate, and where buyers and sellers interact (directly or through intermediaries) to trade goods, services, or contracts or

instruments, for money or barter.Markets include mechanisms or means for (1) determining price of the traded item, (2) communicating the price information, (3) facilitating deals and transactions, and (4) effecting distribution.

The market for a particular item is made up of existing and potential customers who need it and have the ability and

willingness to pay for it.

TARGET MARKET?MASS MARKET?NICHE MARKET?

LUXURY MARKET?EXPORT MARKET?HOME MARKET?TEST MARKET?OPEN MARKET?

FINANCIAL MARKET?

TARGET MARKET

• A particular market segment at which a marketing campaign is focused. A specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services. Your target customers are those who are most likely to buy from you.

MASS MARKET

• Un-segmented market in which products with mass appeal products (aspirin, orange juice, soft drinks, paperback romances, etc.) are offered to every customer through mass retailers or independent stores, and promoted through mass media.

NICHE MARKET

• Concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but specific and well defined segment of the population. Niches do not 'exist' but are 'created' by identifying needs, wants, and requirements that are being addressed poorly or not at all by other firms, and developing and delivering goods or services to satisfy them. As a strategy, niche marketing is aimed at being a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond. Also called micromarketing.

LUXURY MARKET

• Market of Products which are not necessary but which tend to make life more pleasant for the consumer. In contrast with necessity goods, luxury goods are typically more costly and are often bought by individuals that have a higher disposable income or greater accumulated wealth than the average.

EXPORT MARKET

• A foreign country to which goods and services from a particular country are sold

HOME MARKET

• Country, state, or city where a firm has its headquarters.

• The country you live in or where a company is based, seen as a place where goods or services can be sold.

(Domestic market)

TEST MARKET

• Geographic areas selected for a limited-scale introduction of a new product and/or a marketing plan. A test market serves as a field-laboratory which simulates some or all factors associated with a full scale or national launch of the product. It generally includes at least on city that is a hub of commercial and media activity in that area and is surrounded by, and well connected to, several suburbs. Multiple test market locations allow evaluation of different pricing schemes, advertising media, promotional techniques, and other components of a marketing strategy. See also test marketing.

OPEN MARKET

• Where price of goods and services is governed by the forces of demand and supply, and not by manipulation by cartels or government policies.

• Where buyers and sellers can make the deals they wish to make without any interference, except by the forces of demand and supply. A stockmarket comes closest to this ideal.

FINANCIAL MARKET

• Markets for sale and purchase of stocks (shares), bonds, bills of exchange, commodities, futures and options, foreign currency, etc., which work as exchanges for capital and credit.

See also capital market and money market.