The word market is used in a number of ways. There is a stock market and an automobile market,a retail market for furniture and a wholesale market for furniture. One person may be going to the market:another may plan to market a product. What,then is a market? A market may be defined as a place where buyers and sellers meet, goods or services are offered for sale. and transfers of ownership occur. A market may also be defined as the demand made by a certain group of potential buyers for a good or service. For instance,there is a farm market for petroleum products. The terms market and demand are often used interchangeably; they may also be used jointly as market demand. These definitions are not sufficiently precise to be useful to us here. For business purposes we define a market as people or organizations with wants (needs) to satisfy,money to spend, and the willingness to spend it. Thus in the market demand for any given product or service, there are three factors to consider-people or organizations with wants(needs), their purchasing power,and their buying behavior. We shall employ the dictionary definition of needs:the lack of anything that is required, desired,or useful. We do not limit needs to the narrow physiological requirements of food, clothing and shelter essential for survival. In our discussion the words needs and wants are used synonymously and interchangeably. In a strict interpretation,however,needs would refer to such basic physiological requirements as food,clothing,and shelter, while wants would be non-basic preferences. However,in our affluent society,little is to be gained by trying to differentiate between the two. Many of us would see as needs some items that are far beyond food, clothing, and shelter.
单选题
Markets can be classified according to what is sold on a market and how goods are sold.