CH8 Products Services and Brands OBJECTIVE 1 WHAT IS A PRODUCT Product anything that can be offered to a market for attention acquisition use or consumption that might satisfy a need or a want Products include services events persons place organizations ideas and mixtures of these Services an activity benefit or satisfaction offered for sale that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything Banking hotel airline retail wireless communication and home repair services Products Services and Experiences Products are a key element in the overall market offering basis on which the company builds profitable customer relationships Pure tangible good pure services and combinations To differentiate offers companies are now creating and managing customer experiences i Consumers are buying the benefits a product will give them Levels of Product and Services 1 Core customer value a What is the customer really buying 2 Actual product Design a Product and service feature b c Quality level d Brand name e Packaging 3 Augmented product a Offering additional consumer services and benefits Consumers see products as complex bundles of benefits 1 Identify the core customer value that customers seek from the product 2 Design the actual product 3 Find ways to augment it to create this customer value and most satisfying brand experience Product and Service Classifications Consumer Products View Table 8 1 Consumer products a product or service bought by final customers for personal consumption 1 Convenience products a consumer product that customers usually buy frequently immediately and with minimal comparison and buying effort o Low priced o Many locations 1 2 Shopping products a consumer product that the customer in the process of selecting and purchasing usually compares on such attributes as suitability quality price and style o Less frequently purchased o Spend time gathering information and making comparisons 3 Specialty products a consumer product that with unique characteristics or brand identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchase effort o Willing to travel great differences to buy o Examples 4 Unsought products a consumer product that the customer either does not know about or knows about but does not normally consider buying o Require a lot of advertising personal selling and other marketing efforts Industrial Products Industrial products a product bought by individuals and organizations for further processing or for use in conducting business The difference between a consumer product and an industrial product is based on the purpose for which the product is purchased Example 2 Capital items industrial products that aid in the buyers production or operations 1 Materials and parts a Raw Materials b Manufactured Materials and Parts Installations a b Accessory Equipment 3 Supplies and services a Supplies b Services Organizations Persons Places and Ideas 1 Organization marketing activities undertaken to create maintain or change the attitude and behavior of target consumers towards an organization a Corporate image marketing business firms that sponsor public relations campaigns to market themselves and polish their images 2 Person marketing activities undertaken to create maintain or change the attitude and behavior of target consumers toward particular people 3 Place marketing activities undertaken to create maintain or change the attitude and behavior of target consumers toward particular places 4 Marketing of ideas a Marketing of social issues i Social marketing the use of commercial marketing concepts and tools in programs designed to influence individuals behavior to improve their well being and that of society 2 OBJECTIVE 2 PRODUCT AND SERVICE DECISIONS Individual Product and Service Decisions Product and Service Attributes 1 Product Quality The characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied customer needs a Closely linked to customer value and satisfaction it affects performance b TQM an approach in which all of the companies people are involved in constantly improving the quality of products services and business processes c Return on quality approach viewing quality as an investment and holding quality efforts accountable for bottom line results d Two dimensions of product quality level and consistency 1 Performance quality the products ability to perform its i Quality level functions ii Quality consistency 1 Conformance quality freedom from defects and consistency in delivering a targeted level of performance 2 Product Features a A company can create higher level models by adding more features b Should assess value to customers vs cost to company 3 Product Style and Design a Style the appearance of a product not necessarily perform better b Design contributes to a products usefulness as well as its looks i Designers should think about how customers will use and benefit from a specific product Branding Brand a name term sign symbol or design or a combination of these that identifies the products or services of one seller or group of sellers and differentiates them from those of competitors Packaging Packaging involves designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product Labeling At the very least the label identifies product or brand It may describe things about the product Promote the brand Product Support Services Important for overall brand experience 3 Product Line Decisions Product line a group of products that are closely related because they function in a smaller manner are sold to the same customer groups are marketed through the same types of outlets 1 Product line length the number or items in a product line a Product line filling adding more items within the present range of a line b Product line stretching when a company lengthens its product line beyond its current range Product Mix Decisions Product mix product portfolio decisions the set of product lines and items that a particular seller offers for sale A company s product mix has four important dimensions 1 Width the number of different product lines the company carries 2 Length total number of items a company carries within its product line 3 Depth the number of versions offered for each product line 4 Consistency how closely related the various product lines are in end use production requirements distribution channels or some other way OBJECTIVE 3 SERVICES MARKETING Governments
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