How would you explain food marketing to someone who is unfamiliar with this subject?
Food marketing basically comes after farm marketing. It involves all activities of all areas of food products and services from producers to customers. Our food industry is mainly shaped by three players.
- Food producers: The rural farmers are playing this role as food producers. They produce whatever they can. Besides, the food marketing firms collect information from the market about who are their customers, what their need, want, and demand are, their preferences, income, and their behavior and expanding patterns. After collecting this information from the market, they provide or give their suggestion to the farmers to produce it.
- Food marketing firms: The food marketing firms are playing as a middleman. Because they collect raw materials from farmers and produce many food products for consumers. For example, they collect potatoes from farmers and produce various types of chips, French fries, etc. Their production is mainly based on consumer preferences. The food marketing firms are smart and knowledgeable. They are well known in the market and they can reach more customers. As they’re able to reach more customers, they can gain more profit.
- Food consumers: They are the final user of the food products. So, The food is basically made for them. They are always shifting their preferences. Wherever they see new products, they shift towards them.
The food marketing system is a complex and expensive network of a channel. Because many channel members s involve with these systems. They are always ready to bring the company product to the final consumers. Food marketing firms cannot eliminate these functions of a middleman. But the firm can eliminate the middleman. In that case, the company has to perform this function alone. The firms need to go for production, taking initiative for marketing activities that facilitate the production. Then the firms go for distribution of their product to the customers. Our food industry also has three sectors.
- The input sector – provides machinery, fertilizer, seeds, and other farm supplies.
- The farm sector- provide raw materials for producing food products like crops, grains, potato, corn, vegetables, etc.
- The product maker sector- different types of food product producers are working for it.
Thus, the food production process is viewed as a sequential ad value-adding process. Its origin is in purchasing and farm supply resources and ends with the meal on the table.
