Connect marketing to customer needs
Explain how marketing identifies, satisfies and anticipates customer needs while building relationships and loyalty.
Section 3 · Marketing
Exam scope and assessment notes
Cambridge IGCSE (9–1) Business Studies 0986, 2026 syllabus, Version 2. This is the separate 9–1 legacy route; 0774 replaces it for first assessment June 2027. Candidates are not assessed on constructing income statements or statements of financial position, nor on price-elasticity or exchange-rate calculations. Simple cash-flow forecast construction is assessed. Written practice is self-checked, not an official Cambridge grade; timed-paper evidence and human subject-teacher review remain outstanding.
Before you begin
- No previous marketing study is assumed. Identify the customer group, the business objective and the evidence in each situation before choosing a response.
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
Which activity is part of marketing?
What you will learn
- Describe the role of marketing
- Explain customer relationships and loyalty
- Apply customer feedback to a business response
Marketing starts with customers
Marketing includes identifying customer needs, satisfying them, maintaining customer loyalty, building customer relationships and anticipating changes in what customers want.
These activities can inform product design, price, distribution and promotion. Promotion is only one part of marketing; advertising a product that does not meet customer needs may not create lasting demand.
Listen and respond over time
Businesses can use sales patterns, feedback, complaints and research to learn about customers. Maintaining a relationship may encourage repeat purchases, but loyalty depends on whether the offer remains suitable and customers have alternatives.
Anticipating a need is uncertain. A business can test a product idea or monitor changing preferences before committing substantial resources.
Pause and explain
Why might a business anticipate changes in customer needs?
Worked example
A café notices that customers increasingly ask for plant-based lunch options. Explain how this information can guide marketing.
Show the worked solution
- The questions are evidence of a possible customer need.
- The café can assess whether the interest is broad enough to support a menu change.
- It can test an option and collect feedback.
Answer The café can investigate demand for plant-based lunches, test a suitable menu option and use customer feedback to refine it. The request alone does not prove that every customer wants the change.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
A bookshop sees repeat customers asking for more local-language children's books. Explain two marketing actions it could take and evidence to check.
Give me a hint
Connect customer feedback to both an offer and a relationship action.
Compare my reasoning
- Assess demand by reviewing requests and sales evidence.
- Test a small range of relevant books.
- Invite feedback and track repeat purchases.
The shop could trial a small local-language children's range and ask customers for suggestions, then track sales and repeat visits. It should check whether interest is wide enough to justify ongoing stock.
Look for these in your work
- Need identified
- Suitable offer proposed
- Demand evidence and loyalty monitored
A gym offers a one-week discount but most customers do not renew. Explain why the promotion may have failed to build loyalty.
Give me a hint
Distinguish a short-term response from continuing customer value.
Compare my reasoning
- The discount can encourage a trial.
- Customers may not value the service enough to return at the regular price.
- The gym should investigate service needs and reasons for leaving.
The discount may have generated short-term trials but not addressed customers' continuing needs. The gym should collect feedback about facilities, schedule and service before changing its offer; a discount alone does not create loyalty.
Look for these in your work
- Promotion effect bounded
- Repeat behaviour distinguished
- Customer evidence suggested
A small clothing brand plans a new style because a competitor's social post is popular. Recommend a step before production and explain the uncertainty.
Give me a hint
Popularity on another brand's page is only indirect evidence about this business's customers.
Compare my reasoning
- Ask the target customers or test a sample design.
- Check price, size range and likely demand.
- Interest may not convert to purchases.
The brand could show sample designs to its own target customers or run a small pre-order test before production. The competitor's post is a clue, not proof that the same customers will buy this brand's offer at its price.
Look for these in your work
- Test proposed
- Target market used
- Evidence limit explained
Common mistakes
- Defining marketing as advertising only
- Treating one customer's request as proof of market demand
- Assuming loyalty is guaranteed by a promotion
What can you explain now?
Which activity is part of marketing?
Compare with the explanation
Identifying customer needs
The syllabus includes identifying customer needs.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
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Make it stick
Why is identifying customer needs broader than advertising a product?
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.