Definition: According to Philip Kotler, “Marketing is that social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating offerings and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.”

Features: Following are the main features of marketing:

(i) Need and Want: Marketing is the process of fulfilling the needs and wants of the consumers. All the people have almost the same needs but their wants happen to be different, e.g., feeling hungry is a need but satisfying it by eating only sambhar and dosa is a want. A seller tries to find out the needs of the consumers and how those needs are to be satisfied.

(ii) Creating a Market Offering: It refers to provide complete information about the product and services e.g., providing information about the name of product and service, type, price, size, centre of availability, etc. A good market offer is always prepared keeping in mind the needs and priorities of the customers.

(iii) Customer Value: A buyer analyses the cost and the satisfaction that a product provides before buying it. When he find that the satisfaction, that it provides out weighs the cost factors, only then he buys it. The seller should manufacture the product keeping in view this tendency of the customer.

(iv) Exchange Mechanism: Literal meaning of marketing is exchanging things. Marketing has two sides — buyer and seller. Marketing becomes possible only by the medium of exchange between the two. For example, the seller gives goods and services and in exchange the buyer gives money or something equivalent to it. These days the distance between the place of production and the place of consumption has increased. To lessen this distance the help of many intermediaries like the agents, wholesalers, retailers, etc. is taken. All these reduce this distance through the medium of marketing. Therefore, it can be said that exchange is the essence of marketing.