What customer needs are

1. Customers judge a purchase against four needs, and identifying which of them your own customers care about most is where every marketing decision starts.
   1. Price: the price has to fit the customer's budget and feel fair for what they get, which is how Aldi wins shoppers on the weekly grocery bill.
   2. Quality: the product must work, last and do what was promised, which is what lets Dyson charge several times the price of a supermarket vacuum cleaner.
   3. Choice: customers want sizes, flavours or options that suit them, so Nando's offers a range of heat levels from lemon and herb to extra hot rather than one sauce.
   4. Convenience: the product must be easy to find, buy and use, which is why Greggs opens beside stations and Deliveroo brings the meal to the door.
2. Different customers rank those four differently, so a business works out whose needs it is trying to satisfy before it decides how to satisfy them.

Providing a product or service that customers will buy

1. A product only sells if it does something customers want, so the need has to be identified before the product is designed.
2. Warburtons sells wraps, thins and bagels alongside standard loaves because customers said they wanted bread that suited lunchboxes and quick meals.
3. A business that skips this step is guessing, and a product built on a guess can reach the shelf with no customers waiting for it.

Increasing sales

1. The closer a product matches what customers want, the more of them choose it instead of a rival's, so sales volume rises.
2. Satisfied customers also come back and recommend the business, so each need met well brings repeat custom rather than one sale.
3. Because the product already does what those customers wanted, the business can sell more of it without discounting, so the extra volume adds to revenue instead of being given away in price cuts.

Selecting the correct marketing mix

1. Knowing the customer tells the business how to set each part of its marketing, because all four parts have to point at the same group of people.
   1. Product: the features, quality and range are built around what those customers said they wanted.
   2. Price: the price is set at a level those customers are willing and able to pay.
   3. Promotion: the advertising goes where those customers will see it, which for Gymshark means fitness creators on social media rather than television.
   4. Place: the product is sold where those customers already shop, in store, online or both.

Avoiding costly mistakes

1. Developing a product costs money long before any of it is sold, covering design, machinery, stock, staff training and promotion.
2. If the business only discovers after launch that nobody wanted the product, that spending is wasted, the unsold stock ties up cash and withdrawing the line damages the brand with retailers.

Being competitive

1. Rivals are chasing the same customers, so the business that understands their needs best takes the sale.
2. Meeting a need that rivals ignore gives customers a reason to switch, which is how Monzo took current-account customers from the big banks by offering instant spending notifications and easy budgeting on a phone.
3. Needs also move, as they did when customers left DVDs for streaming and HMV lost the sales it had relied on, so staying competitive means checking needs continuously rather than once.