What is the difference between need, demand and want?

There are five steps in every marketing process. Out of those five, four are concerned with understanding customer needs and wants. Understanding those will lead to developing customer focused marketing strategy that will create a profitable relationship with customers which is a key to the success of the business. In this strategy, understanding needs, wants and demands of customers is critical. 

Human needs, wants and demands are closely related. Humans are the product of a bundle of desires and our wants are infinite. Some of those wants are natural and are the result of our feeling of deprivation. In this case we call them needs. This deprivation can be physical, such as the need for food and water, social, in the need for a sense of belonging to a society and personal in the need to self-expression. Those needs are part of the human makeup and cannot be artificially created.

Wants change with time, place and the individual. It is determined by someone’s culture and personality and therefore wants are not always the same.  It is not critical to human’s life but rather complementary. If a want is always satisfied, it becomes a need. When financially we are able to satisfy our wants, those wants become demands.

Regarding the three products we are discussing here, a person suffering from dehydration will need a drink to hydrate, but will want Gatorade. This want is influenced by the constant advertisement of Gatorade whether on TV, radios or in schools and universities. In this situation, the approach will be: I need a drink, but I want Gatorade.

In the case of Nike, a person will need sports shoes but will want Nike. The company markets itself as more than just good athletic gear. It promotes itself as a way of life and as a “Just Do It” culture. This marketing strategy drives customers toward wanting a Nike not any other brand of sports shoes. For people that can afford it, this will become a demand since it gives the sense of importance and raises the status of the person in their environment.

iPod is becoming a need for new generation. Young people are hungry for self-expression and an iPod gives them just that.

Demand = Need + Want + Desire

Need = Internal Stimuli. For Example: Thirst/Hunger

Want = It is the solution of the need created. For Example: Thirst - Water & Hunger - Foods

Desire = It comes when you have ability to buy the product. (For Example: Cold Drink and Burger for Thirst and Hunger respectively).

Best Wishes,

Salman Zahid

I need what is crucial to survival or maintaining a specific biological need. Could be blood transfusion or 

Demand is what I need to sustain a desire, maintain or endorse social status, or something that is related to social, career, personal, or psychological want but in general terms. 

Want is something that we demand but don't need in reality and it is directly related to our personality or character traits. I want Gucci shoes because it makes me feel good, or I want to impress someone etc.

These are the three key concepts of marketing, and they are differentiated as follows. Needs are the basic human requirements; people need food, air, water, clothing, and shelter to survive and also have strong needs for creation (through raising family), education, and entertainment. These needs become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might satisfy the need, though these wants in themselves are not essential for living. Someone will need food but may want a hamburger, fries and a soft drink, but someone else will also need food in just the same manner but will also want a mango, rice, lentils and beans. Wants are therefore shaped by one's society and surroundings. The third concept, demands, are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay. Many people want a luxury car or a weekend break in the Caribbean, but only a few people are willing and able to buy one. In business terms, companies must measure not only how many people want their product but also how many would actually be willing and able to buy it. In marketing there are five kinds of needs: Stated, real, unstated, delight and secret. Marketers have played on the secret needs in recent years as this is the sort which makes the customer be seen as savvy and a great consumer, and have adopted all sorts of tricks to skew demand, since there has been more disposable income in the modern age and shopping has become a prime leisure activity. In some ways there is a chain here; more education means more awareness of the wants and more money to spend on a demand, so in a good and just society there is a large number of people who push for the demand of a certain product, and this has given rise to very successful companies who must make brand awareness and corporate social responsibility key facets of their engagement with the public, otherwise known as ‘the customer’.

We all have needs, when met we have wants - when the wants are not met we make demands

Need is a necessity. Want is a feeling of desire for something that is not essential. Demand is the requirement of something in the market, either due to it's need, want or both need and want.

need , describe basic human requirements (food,water,clothing,....etc)

want  , when needs directed to specific objects it become wants(I need food but wants a burger)

Demand  , are wants for a specific brand backed with the ability to buy(every one wants BMW

                    but how  many can buy)

Being thirsty

Need= water

Want= Cool drink

Demand=  Coca cola or Pepsi or a normal drink with promo offer

Needs are basic human requirements. People need air, food, water, clothing, and shelter to survive. People also have strong needs for recreation, education, and entertainment. These needs become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might satisfy the needs. A consumer in the United States needs food but may want a hamburger. French fries and soft drinks. A person in Mauritius needs food but may want a mango, rice, lentils, and beans. Wants are shaped by our society.

Demand is wants for specific product backed by an ability to pay. Many people wants a Mercedes; only a few are willing and able to buy one. Companies must measure not only how many people want their product, but also how many would actually be willing and able to buy it.

These distinctions shed light on the frequent criticism that “market create needs” or marketers get people to buy things they do not want. Marketers do not create needs: needs preexist marketers. Marketers, along with other societal factors, social factors, influence wants. Marketer might promote the idea that a Mercedes would satisfy a person’s need for social status. They do not, however, create the need for social status.

Need is defined as an object or necessity for survival such as food, shelter and life saving medicines or water. Want is a desire for things above and beyond what is needed. Demand is a forceful request for either a needed or wanted item.

Needs -Human needs are the basic requirements and include food clothing and shelter. 

Wants – Wants are a step ahead of needs and are largely dependent on the needs of humans themselves. If you are hungry then you need is food. But I am sure you want to fulfill your hunger by your favorite food item, lets say Pizza.

Demands – You might want a BMW or a Mercedes for a car. You might want to go for a cruise. But can you actually buy a BMW or go on a cruise? You can provided you have the ability to buy a BMW or go on a cruise. Thus a step ahead of wants is demands. When an individual wants something which is premium, but he also has the ability to buy it, then these wants are converted to demands. The basic difference between wants and demands is desire. A customer may desire something but he may not be able to fulfill his desire.

Example of demands – Cruises, BMW’s,5 star hotels etc.