Difference between Product Orientation and Market Orientation

Prioritizing a marketing plan is a necessary component of running a company. Any number of marketing strategies can be used by a company, but the one chosen must align with the company's goals and be feasible given the company's structure and resources.

Business owners and managers might seek advice from business strategists when deciding between a market focus, product focus, production focus, or sales focus. This should only be done once a thorough understanding of the components of each marketing strategy and the likely responses of the target audience has been attained. The two concepts share a lot of similarities, but there are also some important differences.

What is Product Orientation?

When a company focuses on a single product, it can devote all of its resources to making that product as effective and efficient as possible. Companies invest much in research and development to create products that sell themselves.

The company also thinks that if the product is of high enough quality, consumers will buy it. However, it does not prioritize user needs. Following are some of the most important instruments used for this purpose −

• Product research

• Product testing

• Product Focus

Following are some of the many benefits of utilizing this strategy −

• Eliminating the need to conduct expensive market research to ascertain customer tastes saves money.

• It lets a company put out nothing but the best product possible by focusing all of its resources on it.

• When a business focuses on making only one thing, it may streamline its operations and make that one thing more efficient.

Disadvantages include the following −

• If a competitor selling a similar product pays greater attention to what consumers want, the former might not make it.

• An important factor in a company's demise might be the introduction of products that quickly become outdated due to technological advancements or changes in the marketplace.

• A business that pursues this approach will miss out on several chances to profit from shifting consumer tastes.

Businesses that have successfully used this technique include the Ford Motor Company and the Gillette Company.

What is Market Orientation?

The satisfaction of its customers is highly valued inside the company's culture. The reaction is based on what the customers want because the firm makes it a point to ensure that its values, norms, and behaviour, as well as the established procedures, structures, and controls inside the organization, are in agreement with their needs.

Focusing on these market factors is essential −

• Consumer wants and needs

• Building and maintaining customer relationships

• Documenting data for further analysis and use in further study

• creating a bridge between customer needs and the company's offerings

These include the following tools that are employed in this endeavor −

• The market research

• Prototypes in the Market

• The customer comes first.

Following are some of the many benefits of utilizing this method −

• Fosters brand loyalty through focusing on meeting the needs of customers.

• Ideas that are impossible to implement that are proposed by customers might serve as the foundation of a plan for the long-term growth of a company.

• The production process is adaptable since it is based on the preferences and requirements of the client.

On the other hand, it has several drawbacks, such as the following −

• Because of customer surveys and focus groups, it has quite high prices.

• There is an ongoing change inside the organization, which might be disruptive.

• It entails a great deal of uncertainty regarding the future.

Differences − Product Orientation and Market Orientation

The following table highlights how Product Orientation is different from Market Orientation −

Characteristics	Product Orientation	Market Orientation
Definition	When a business adopts a product-oriented marketing strategy, it focuses on a single product with the intention of maximizing the product's quality and performance.	A company's market orientation is its culture, which values meeting customer needs above everything else.
Focus	As the name implies, "product orientation" is wholly focused on the quality of the product.	With a customer-centric focus, or "market orientation," businesses aim to meet the needs of their target demographic.
Organizational goal	The primary goal of a business with a product orientation is to provide high-quality items that will appeal to consumers.	An organization's primary goal while using the market orientation strategy is to fully understand customer needs, provide optimal solutions to those needs, and ensure complete customer satisfaction.
Tools used	Many methods, including as research, testing, and concentration on the product themselves, are employed in the course of product orientation.	Tools used in market orientation include research and testing in target markets as well as a concentration on customers' needs.
Advantages	The product orientation approach offers several advantages, such as saving money that would have been spent on researching customers' tastes, streamlining the manufacturing procedure, and allowing the organization to focus just on one product.	One benefit of adopting a customer-centric business model is the increase in brand loyalty that results from satisfied customers. Using consumers' absurd ideas as part of a long-term strategy for business growth has other benefits, such as more production flexibility and the potential of implementing a novel corporate development approach.
Disadvantages	The product orientation strategy has many potential drawbacks, such as the company's eventual demise in cases where a competitor with the same product focuses on consumer needs, the possibility that products will become absolute as a result of changes in technology and other factors in the market, and the possibility that this will result in many missed market opportunities.	Significant costs connected with market research, continuous internal change that may be disruptive, and uncertainty about the future are all possible downsides of the market orientation approach.

Conclusion

When a business adopts a product-oriented marketing strategy, all of its resources are directed at making that one product the best it can be. Market orientation, on the other hand, describes an organization's way of thinking and behaving when it comes to satisfying customers' demands and preferences. It's important to have a firm grasp of all of the available marketing options before settling on one. Although most businesses are moving in the direction of a market-focused strategy, a hybrid of the two is necessary.