Marketing Logistics and Consumerism

Abstract

Consumerism today, like trades unionism some century ago, is a pre‐dominantly middle class concern. It provides an avenue for the articulate who are dis‐satisfied with the economic balance of power in our society and/or its emphasis on materialism, to walk along. That it should have become so is a matter for deep concern to marketing professionals since it was supposedly their philosophy and belief that they were in communion with customers and their role in a business was to ensure that it was meeting those customers needs and wants. We must surely share with Peter Drucker the judgement that “consumerism is the shame on the total marketing concept”. That consumers should need to formalise their viewpoint by the development of such an institutional process as consumerism has become, is an indictment of what marketing claimed to be in the business.

Citation

Wills, G. (1976), "Marketing Logistics and Consumerism", International Journal of Physical Distribution, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 5-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb014383