MARKET STRUCTURE A market can be de

MARKET STRUCTURE
A market can be defined as any form of contact between buyers and sellers for the purpose of buying and selling goods and services. Markets always have two sides: the demand side, composed of buyers, and the supply side, made up of sellers. Markets can be local, national or even international. A market typically has four elements:
1. Buyers - people wishing to acquire goods and services.
2. Sellers - people wishing to sell goods and services.
3. The goods and services, which are going to be exchanged.
4. A means of payment - that includes cash, cheque, cred­it, standing order and hire purchase.
The demand for a product is the amount of a good that people are willing to buy over a given time period at a partic­ular price. For most goods and services the amount that consumers wish to buy (the quantity demanded) will increase as price falls.
The desired demand is the information showing the amount of the product that consumers are willing to buy at different prices - not what they actually do buy. The demand for a product is not only influenced by price. An individual may be influenced by factors such as personal tastes, the size of income, advertising, the cost and availability of credit. The total market demand will be affected by the size and age distribution of the population and government policy.
The quantity of goods and services that producers offer at each price is called supply. While demand is concerned with the buying side of the market, supply is concerned with 1he firm’s or producer’s side of the market. Unlike demand, the quantity supplied of a good will increase as price rises.The supply of a product is not only influenced by price. Supply will be affected by anything that helps or hinders production or alters the costs of production.