es anyone who is trying to forecast the demand for a product is to work out what is meant by the term 'market'. A market is the set of all actual and potential buyers of a product. An industry, on the other hand, consists of all sellers of a product. A potential market is the set of consumers who have some sort of interest in the product. The term 'market' will have different meanings for an economist and the marketer. Marketers usually define a market as all the possible buyers of a product, but if you are planning the launch of a new product you may not necessarily wish to target 'all' the potential buyers. Many potential buyers do not in fact purchase the product for many years after the product is launched. Defining the market is one of the first steps you will undertake in marketing a product. In your assignment, for instance, you must first decide how you wish to define your market. A market can be defined narrowly, or broadly. For example, the market for Coca-Cola can be defined broadly as the beverage market, or narrowly as the cola market. There is no single way to define the market. By defining the market broadly, you give yourself a larger group of actual and potential buyers of your product. However, you also have a larger number of competitors to contend with. And vice versa for defining a market narrowly. Hence, you need to take into account your company's resources as well as strategies when making the decision on how to define the market for your product. Forecasting demand Forecasting the demand for a product or service is not a simple task. If the product is to be launched into an established market it is necessary to consider how the already established competitors might react. Another factor that always provides difficulties for the launch of a new product is that markets are rarely stable. Consumer preferences change. Technological advances and economic variables may intervene. The most difficult markets in which to...
