Discuss the Sales Oriented and Product Oriented stage of marketing.

Sales-Oriented Stage (1930–1950):

• After the Great Depression, supply exceeded demand and selling became a problem.
• The motto became 'get rid of what you have.'
• Producers used aggressive selling and promotional efforts to dispose of goods.
• The focus was on increasing sales, not consumer satisfaction.
• Hard selling was the main characteristic of this stage.
• Salesmanship became central, and sometimes unscrupulous practices were used.
• This philosophy is still used for insurance, charity fund raising and other unsought products.

Product-Oriented Stage (1950–1960):

• Marketers believed that customers would buy a product if its quality was good.
• Therefore, the focus shifted from promotion to product improvement.
• Firms made efforts to improve product features and performance.
• However, overemphasis on product quality led to overlooking other aspects influencing consumer satisfaction.
• This led to the problem of marketing myopia — short-sightedness in marketing thinking, where firms became so focused on the product that they ignored the underlying customer need.