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 don’t understand advertising is focused on demand. Just because we have an available ad doesn’t mean we have to sell it.”

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

This means online business people must take the time to understand the consumer. They need to develop an understanding of the consumer’s thinking, motivation, and needs. Just because you develop a website and slap up some product graphics and have a checkout process using paypal does not mean you’ll be selling and rolling in money.

Is there a demand for your product or service? If there is how does your product or service fulfill that demand? If there is not a demand can one be created through advertising and marketing? For some products or services you’ll not be able to create demand and people won’t buy simply because you provide a supply.

So what’s the practical application of focusing on demand instead of supply?

1. Take the time to research your demographics
2. Consider streamlining your websites to include interactive elements that help develop
an understanding of what your visitor desires.
3. You may need to develop a different marketing campaign based on whether there is
a strong demand or weak demand for what you are offering.
4. Demand can be created via a long term process of education/awareness, then branding,
then interest, then trial, then demand.
5. In a demand mindset you’ll need to be more strategic, combining a campaign of both
rational information 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 market and idealized customer profile then search them out to ascertain what their demand level is for your product or service. This will help you develop your marketing strategy. Be prepared for a long-term commitment.