ECOLOGICAL MARKETING IN THE FUNCTION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The modern marketing concept uses all the existing and finds new potentials in order for companies to communicate as successfully as possible and respond to market demands. At the end of the 20th century, humanity's concern for the preservation of the environment influenced the growing demand for environmentally friendly products and services. With the emergence of a new market segment, environmentally conscious consumers, there was a need to develop ecological marketing. The commitment of a company for ecological business involves the adoption of a new concept of ecological development of effective and efficient marketing mix in order to address local, regional and global environmental issues. Therefore, ecological marketing must incorporate environmental care into its study in a standard marketing mix of variable sizes. Through classical instruments of marketing mix i.e., product, price, distribution and promotion of ecological marketing aims to identify, anticipate, meet the needs of consumers and society in a profitable and sustainable manner. Sustainable development is a process allowing development to take place without degrading or depleting the resources on which it is based. This is, in general, possible either by managing resources in such a way that they can self-renew to the extent that they are used, or by greater representation and use of resources where the regeneration period is short. With such an approach, resources can serve future, to the same extent, as present generations. The demand for organic products has influenced the development of organic production, because in addition to the economic and ethical dimension, it also contains an ecological dimension. Marketing of organic products means placing on the market of certified organic food products, in order to meet the needs of consumers, make a profit and preserve the environment. The model of marketing organic products has theoretical and practical significance from the aspect of strict control and certification from production and procurement of inputs, organic production, purchase and sale, processing, commercialization of products and distribution channels to consumers or customers. The paper starts with the assumption that the ecological marketing is in the function of sustainable development. Each ecological product occupies a special position, i.e., a place in the minds of consumers in relation to competitors, which is the result of their ranking based on attributes or dimensions important to consumers. The methods used in this paper are based on secondary or existing sources of information (books, monographs, research projects and studies, articles, papers, web information and other available bibliographic sources). The aim of the research is to see what ecological marketing is, and then what combination of marketing instruments is necessary in the function of sustainable development. The subject of research is ecological marketing in the function of sustainable development.