Evaluating the marketing components of the dates market The city of Unayzah in the Qassim region Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract: Date palm is the most important agricultural crop in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is the third largest in the world in terms of annual production, which amounted to 1.95158 tons for the year 2013 AD (General Authority for Statistics 2015, p. 422).

The increase in production had a clear impact on the state’s interest in the necessity of organizing dates markets in which commercial transactions are subject to laws and regulations that regulate its operations and protect the product and the consumer.

This research aims to study the date market in Unaizah in terms of its characteristics, and to evaluate the production and spatial relationships of a market, in addition to assessing the marketing components of the market in terms of directions of transport and storage paths and problems faced by traders in this market.

The results of the study have shown that trading in the market is through two types of wholesalers, wholesalers and retailers, and that most of these traders (26%) own stores outside the market, and that the majority of transportation is by small transport cars (71%), and that one of the most prominent The marketing problems experienced by merchants, the low selling price at certain times (23%) and the absence of a marketing company (19%), while the rest of the problems come in later ranks. The results of evaluating the marketing components showed that poor transportation comes at the top of the marketing ingredients that affect the merchants, This is followed by the extent to which the demand is compatible with the supply, poor storage and lack of employment, while the extent of receiving government or private support comes in the last ranks

The results of this study have shown that by establishing the date market in Unaizah, many goals could be achieved, but the market still needs to introduce a system of production and marketing within an information database to raise the marketing efficiency and develop its services in addition to adopting modern systems, whether in storage or putting sun visors in order to maintain the quality Dates, in addition to finding an operating company to invest in stores inside the market.