Business Studies: The 6 types of markets

Apart from the super ones…

If you’ve come this far in your Business Studies studies, you probably already know that a market, in general terms, is the group of people and/or organisations that potentially have the money and desire to buy a given product. But if you want to get more specific, here are some different types of markets.

Resource Market

This is the stuff of primary production and raw materials: think farmers, miners, woodcutters (welllllll, more like logging companies). But also anyone who works for an hourly wage – they’re selling their labour. The resource market is where these raw materials are produced and sold.

Industrial Market

Here we have the businesspeople who buy stuff and use it to make other stuff. One obvious example is bakers buying flour to make bread, but it also includes things like artists buying paint or knitters buying wool to make scarves. Essentially you’re selling stuff from one business to another.

Intermediate Market

Now we’re getting closer to the supermarkets we said we weren’t going to cover in our opening line. What liars. Anyway, these are the organisations or people who buy finished products, then sell them on for a profit. Department stores are another example, and so are those people who import homewares from Bali to sell on the Gold Coast.

Consumer Market

Us (mostly)! These are the people who buy things because they’re going to eat, drink, play Mario Party on or otherwise use those products. The next two entries here are how the Consumer Market breaks down more specifically (after this quick ad break).

Mass Market

Basically the target market here is everyone – or at least nobody specific. You might not personally like Vegemite, say, but the Vegemite people aren’t trying to talior their delicious yeasty spread to particular shoppers. For them, ideally everyone would grab a jar as they sail through the condiments aisle.

Niche Market

In this case, the people potentially buying whatever it is we’re talking about have specific needs, likes or lifestyles. You’re not going to try to sell an eight-hour boardgame to everyone, but some people will be right into that. Another example that’s probably better is gluten-free bread. Oh! Or vegan chicken.