(Read in 3 minutes)

Marketing 1.0, also known as the product-oriented marketing era, was the first stage of modern marketing. It began in the middle of the 20th century from the 1950s to the early 1980s, it was called the product-oriented era. At that time, the thinking mode of the early stage of the traditional economy was adopted, which was characterized by mass production and mass sales.

The marketing thinking at that time was to sell things through advertising. During this period of time, all marketing theorists and practitioners are pursuing standard thinking – 4P theory. The four Ps of marketing—product, price, place, and promotion—were the main focus during this era.

The 4P theory is fully in line with the market demand in the era of mass production: To sell a product, an enterprise must first figure out what features and functions the product has, and which specific customer groups the product functions meet.

Marketing 1.0 was characterized by a product-centric approach. Firms focused on creating new products and differentiating them from their competitors. They also tried to control as many of the distribution channels as possible. The promotion was mainly focused on advertising and creating a strong brand identity.

This thought process might be called “product positioning.” When the product positioning is clear, the other three P (price, channel, promotion) can naturally be deduced one by one. The first is how much the product that fits the positioning is going to sell, which is the price strategy. The second is which channels the product should be sold on.

For example, if the product is a fast-moving commodity, it should be sold in large supermarkets such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart; if it is a home appliance product, it should be sold in large home appliances chain stores such as Gome and Suning.

If the channel is right, sales will not be a problem. If the channel is wrong or cannot enter the main channel, the sales of the product will be basically hopeless. Therefore, another important thought has emerged in this era – “channel is king”. The idea that channels are king also makes various channels “unreasonable monsters”.

The person in charge of one of the largest home appliance sales channels in China at that time said this sentence: To squeeze the manufacturers to the maximum, the product price should be low, and the entry fee should be high. Manufacturers who do not accept it should invite him to enter the market! This is the era when channels are king. With a store, companies can live a good life. These products only need channels, and channels have their own source of traffic.

In addition to striving to enter the best stores, manufacturers also need to carry out promotional activities to attract consumers’ attention in the channels and strive for a better position in the stores to beat similar competing products.

For example, your product is home appliances, which are sold in Gome; when consumers come to Gome, they will see Haier, Midea, TCL, and other brands of home appliances; at this time, you need to provide some promotional activities to attract customers. This concept continues to this day, and most companies are still using this idea to operate the market.

The main goal of marketing 1.0 was to create value for the customer. Firms believed that if they could provide a better product than their competitors, they would be successful. This resulted in a lot of innovation and creativity in the product space.

However, there were also a number of drawbacks to the product-oriented approach. First, it was very difficult to differentiate products in a saturated market. Second, firms had a lot of power over the distribution channels, which led to high prices and limited choices for consumers. Finally, the focus on advertising led to a lot of marketing gimmicks and false promises.

Marketing 1.0 began to decline in the late 1980s as firms started to realize the importance of the customer. The four Ps were no longer enough to satisfy customers, and firms needed to focus on creating value for them. This led to the development of marketing 2.0, also known as the customer-oriented marketing era. Otherwise, the 4 Ps theory of market is not just for the old day, it’s from the old day and continues to apply throughout the marketing all stages while still well known to all marketers today.