Commercial Department and Market Research
Commercial Department
The commercial function includes all activities necessary to bring the company’s produced goods and services to consumers.
Planning and Control
This consists of outlining future actions at a specific time (planning) and then comparing the results of the activity with the forecasts made earlier to draw conclusions from this comparison.
Market Research
This study provides information that enables company management to set its policies and make decisions on secure grounds. Market research uses various information sources (internal and external) and data collection techniques (surveys, interviews, experimentation, observation) to determine consumer purchasing preferences.
Product Promotion and Advertising
Publicity makes the product known to the customer. Product promotion aims to increase sales during a specific period.
Sales
This involves organizing and directing sales relationships with distribution channels (brokers). It is the most important function of the sales department because, through sales, the company achieves revenue (turnover). All business activities generate expenses, and the company’s goal is to offset these expenses with the income obtained through sales.
The Market
Market refers to the set of activities for the sale of a product carried out by suppliers (sellers) and plaintiffs (buyers).
Types of Market
We can find different types of market rankings according to three factors: suppliers, applicants, and product.
Perfect Competition
- Uniformity of product: What the supplier sells is the same as what others sell.
- A large number of suppliers and demanders. Total knowledge of the market.
- Freedom of entry and exit from the market: Based on the expectations that the market offers.
Imperfect Competition
Imperfect competition occurs when any of the characteristics of perfect competition are not fulfilled.
- Monopoly: The opposite of perfect competition. There is only one seller and many buyers; the bidder has full power to determine the price and how much to produce.
- Oligopoly: There are few sellers and many buyers. Competition is very strong, and since there are few companies, the trade policy adopted by one influences the others.
- Monopolistic Competition: There are large numbers of buyers and sellers. The company tries to differentiate its product from others, giving it forms and features that make it more desirable, with the intention of identifying most of its market sales. It seeks a monopoly for a company’s product section within a competitive market.
Total Demand and Corporate Demand
Demand is the quantity of a product or service that buyers are willing to purchase in a given period.
Total global demand for a product refers to the total amount of purchases made in a period.
The amount of purchases of a product made from a particular company for a period is called the demand for business.
The potential demand is the maximum amount of sales that could be reached in a given period.
Market share = (company’s market / total market) x 100
Market Research
Consumer needs vary depending on societal changes, and it’s important to note that human needs are unlimited.
To achieve good results when manufacturing and selling a product, intuition is not enough; market research is necessary.
A market survey involves collecting, processing, and analyzing information on the overall environment, competition, and the consumer.
Phases of Market Research
- Defining the purpose of the investigation: We must be clear about what we want to know and where we want to go.
- Designing the research model:
- Internal company information: Information obtained from company reports, interviews with executives, managers, and distributors.
- Official statistics published: Information obtained from yearbooks, studies in a given sector, national or international data, etc.
- Research conducted outside the company: Information obtained from outside the company. This involves seeking information on competition, consumer preferences, etc.
- Data collection:
- Data 1: Unstructured information collected specifically for the study.
- Data 2: Structured and readily available information that has been collected previously for some other purpose.
- Classification and structuring of data: Classification using statistical procedures.
- Analysis and interpretation of data.
- Presentation of results: Preparing and submitting the final report, which reflects the conclusions of the study.