The field of "marketing research" is much older than that of "market research". Although both involve consumers, "Marketing" research is concerned specifically about marketing processes, such as advertising effectiveness and salesforce effectiveness, while "market" research is concerned specifically with markets and distribution. Two explanations given for confusing "Market research" with "Marketing research" are the similarity of the terms and also that Market Research is a subset of Marketing Research. Further confusion exists because of major companies with expertise and practices in both areas.