Types of markets and their characteristics

A variety of market structures will characterize an economy. Such market structures essentially refer to the degree of competition in a market.

There are other determinants of market structures such as the nature of the goods and products, the number of sellers, number of consumers, the nature of the product or service, economies of scale etc. We will discuss the four basic types of market structures in any economy.

One thing to remember is that not all these types of market structures actually exist. Some of them are just theoretical concepts. But they help us understand the principles behind the classification of market structures.

1) Perfect Competition

In a perfect competition market structure, there are a large number of buyers and sellers. All the sellers of the market are small sellers in competition with each other. There is no one big seller with any significant influence on the market. So all the firms in such a market are price takers.

There are certain assumptions when discussing the perfect competition. This is the reason a perfect competition market is pretty much a theoretical concept. These assumptions are as follows,

• The products on the market are homogeneous, i.e. they are completely identical
• All firms only have the motive of profit maximization
• There is free entry and exit from the market, i.e. there are no barriers
• And there is no concept of consumer preference

2) Monopolistic Competition

This is a more realistic scenario that actually occurs in the real world. In monopolistic competition, there are still a large number of buyers as well as sellers. But they all do not sell homogeneous products. The products are similar but all sellers sell slightly differentiated products.

Now the consumers have the preference of choosing one product over another. The sellers can also charge a marginally higher price since they may enjoy some market power. So the sellers become the price setters to a certain extent.

For example, the market for cereals is a monopolistic competition. The products are all similar but slightly differentiated in terms of taste and flavours. Another such example is toothpaste.

3) Oligopoly

In an oligopoly, there are only a few firms in the market. While there is no clarity about the number of firms, 3-5 dominant firms are considered the norm. So in the case of an oligopoly, the buyers are far greater than the sellers.

The firms in this case either compete with another to collaborate together, They use their market influence to set the prices and in turn maximize their profits. So the consumers become the price takers. In an oligopoly, there are various barriers to entry in the market, and new firms find it difficult to establish themselves.

4) Monopoly

In a monopoly type of market structure, there is only one seller, so a single firm will control the entire market. It can set any price it wishes since it has all the market power. Consumers do not have any alternative and must pay the price set by the seller.

Monopolies are extremely undesirable. Here the consumer loose all their power and market forces become irrelevant. However, a pure monopoly is very rare in reality.