The prime aim of marketing is to see that the goods and services move from the producers to the ultimate consumers many marketing activities have to be performed to attain the said objective.
These marketing activities or functions are performed by marketing middlemen such as merchant middlemen (wholesalers and retailers) or agent middlemen (brokers and commission agents) within the broad framework of marketing mechanism involving three distinct processes.
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The three major marketing processes are:
1. Concentration
2. Equalisation
3. Dispersion.
1. Concentration:
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Concentration means bringing the goods at some important and convenient centres to make possible effective and economical distribution. Goods are collected from small producers at central points to enable the retailers to have adequate stocks of products of various qualities to meet the numerous requirements of their customers.
2. Equalisation:
The goods produced and concentrated in the markets have to be adjusted to meet the requirements of the people. Equalisation is the process by means of which the supply of goods is adjusted to the demand for them. The process of equalisation is performed through storage and transportation.
The need of equalisation arises on account of:
(a) There may be seasonal production but continuous consumption;
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(b) There may be continuous production but seasonal consumption;
(c) There may be difference in terms of quality requirements; and
(d) There may be difference in terms of quantity requirements.
3. Dispersion:
Dispersion means distribution of goods which are concentrated to the ultimate consumers. This process is performed through wholesalers, retailers, agents, etc. Dispersion completes the process of marketing and is a very important activity because the goods produced and concentrated have no value unless these are properly distributed to the centres of final consumption.