Supply and Demand and Marketing
Darrin F. Coe, MA
11/30/04

According to Dough McCormick, Chariman and CEO of iVillage, Inc, Technologists focus on supply but they dont understand advertising is focused on demand. Just because we have an available ad doesnt mean we have to sell it.

What in the world does that mean? It means not every item online is going to sell. Online retailers and marketers are not going to succeed just because they are online. Marketing is about information the demand of the consumer and meeting it or creating demand for a merchandise .

This means online business people must take the instant to understand the consumer. They absolutely need to develop an experience of the consumers thinking, motivation, and needs. Just because you develop a web page and slap up some item graphics and have a checkout process using paypal does not mean you will be selling and rolling in money.

Is there a demand for your item or accomadation ? If there is how does your merchandise or accomadation fulfill that demand? If there is not a demand may one be created through marketing and branding? For some products or services youll not be able to create demand and all the people wont buy simply because you provide a supply.

So whats the practical application of focusing on demand instead of supply?

1. Take the instant to research your demographics
2. Consider streamlining your web sites to include interactive elements that help develop
an understanding of what your visitor desires.
3. You can absolutely need to develop a different promoting campaign based on whether there is
a strong demand or weak demand for what you are offering.
4. Demand could be created via a long term process of education/awareness, then advertising,
then interest, then trial, then demand.
5. In a demand mindset youll absolutely need to be more strategic, combining a campaign of both
rational experience with desire oriented emotionalness

Remember, just because you supply it does not mean there is a demand for it. Take the time to study your idealized sell and idealized customer profile then search them out to ascertain what their demand level is for your merchandise or accomadation . This will help you develop your marketing strategy. Be prepared for a long-term commitment.