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The difference between need, want and demand

Need, want and demand are key success factors of marketing, because the main concept of marketing is to provide (need, want) according to demand.

NEED

Need is a term that used for describing those requirements that exist naturally, for example: we need foods, water, safety, clothing, home, etc. Needs can be classified to different categories:

  • Physical Needs: basic requirements of life (foods, air, home, safety)
  • Social Needs: basic requirements of human beings (family, friends) for different of relation-ships.
  • Individual needs: education, knowledge, expression, creativity, ego-needs (self-esteem)

We all have needs. These are the basic necessities of life, like food and shelter. It's impossible to function without these things. Needs are different from wants, which are items we want but don't need. We may want certain clothes or a second TV but it isn't vital for our survival. It's also different from demand - this is when there's a need for something where the supply doesn't meet the demand.

WANT

Wants are indirect requirements that we like to get them, wants can be conditional and un-conditional, for example: we want to buy a computer if price is cheap; there are infinite wants of human beings. Wants can be created by providing different products that affecting individuals thinking.

Wants of human beings are related to human intelligence that chooses what their mind decides according to their preferences and behavior.

DEMAND

Demands can be used for paying money for (Needs and Wants). This term if very important in business because finally, demands of products and services are the final decisions that taken to consideration for business activities. Usually, demand is a monetary term that transfers requests from buyer to seller; this process is a core of each business that marketing playing a big role in it.

Demand for certain products can be driven by marketing campaigns, by an economic downturn that makes people more reliant on their phone, or by some other external situation. If there's a higher demand than the supply, this drives up prices and sometimes leads to a shortage of goods. When shortages happen, they're often reported on in the news with headlines like "Water Crisis."

I am not familiar with Gatorade and Nike; I never used them, however, I used iPod and got satisfied with my wants with it.

According to definition of (Gatorade) From Wikipedia (n.d.): “Gatorade is a brand of sports-themed food and beverage products, it can be used during sport activities or normally, it provides energy”. It’s a kind of want that not liked by everyone (or required by everyone) so that it can be classified under wants. It can also be needs if considered as general drink.

Nike Shoes: its need that required by everyone, however, choosing Nike Company for shoes is want, because of different behavior of individuals.

Nike products also generally are needs, but can also be wants because different products in the industry.

iPod: is want, iPod is not one of the basic requirements of life, it’s a kind of want that we might use it among different products.

References:

  • Philip Kotler (2002) Marketing Management, Millenium Edition [Online]. Available from: http://dl.ueb.vnu.edu.vn/bitstream/1247/2250/1/Marketing_Management_-_Millenium_Edition.pdf (Accessed: 05 November 2011)
  • Umesh Chaudhary (2010) Concept of Needs, Wants, Demand in Marketing [Online].  Available from: http://mostbeautifulplacesandcultures.blogspot.com/2010/02/concept-of-needs-wants-demand-in.html (Accessed: 05 November 2011)
  • Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (n.d.) Gatorade [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatorade (Accessed: 05 November 2011)
  • Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (n.d.) Nike, Inc. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc. (Accessed: 05 November 2011)

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