Re‐evaluating the marketing concept

Abstract

In marketing literature often it is argued that the marketer should pay attention to the customers’ needs and wants in order to achieve and maintain successful business relationships. This fundamental approach is often referred to as the “marketing concept” and is one of the most important and famous concepts ever developed in marketing literature. The article describes a proposed generic deficiency in the usage of the marketing concept in marketing literature. It is also proposed that there is a necessity to extend the marketing concept towards the perspective of a holistic marketing channel context. Therefore, it is argued that the point of departure, in any marketing process of theory building, modeling, and development of conceptual frameworks in marketing, must be from the customer’s perspective and eventually from the ultimate consumer’s perspective.