Product. Classification of products. Brand and branding. Product lines and product mix. Product life cycle

Kolobova Alena

PRODUCT

I. 1) A product is defined by marketers as anything capable of satisfying a need or want (including services such as bank loan, a haircut, a meal in a restaurant, or a skiing holiday). Thus services, activities, people, places, organizations and ideas, as well as physical objects offered for the sale by retailers, can be considered as products. Product is a bundle of perceived tangible or intangible attributes, that has a potential to satisfy presents and potential customer wants and is received in exchange for money.

2) Nowadays there are several categories of kinds of goods. The first one includes essentials and non-essentials goods.

Essentials – goods that are vitally important; absolutely necessary or needed, that is commodities for living: food, shelter, clothing, medical expenses.

Non-essentials – commodities and services which provide some particular personal satisfaction, like toys for children, visits to the cinema, books, etc.

Then come perishables and non-perishables goods.

Perishables – goods which cannot be stored for any length of time without going bad. Most foodstuffs are in the perishable category. Such goods are offered for sale as quickly as possible.

Non-perishables – goods which do not deteriorate easily, like cars, steel, coal, etc.

And the last category is consumer durables.

Consumer dureables – long-lived goods bought for final consumption. Their services are expected to be enjoyed over a period longer than that (normally a year) used in national income accounting. They include private cars, boats, domestic items; spending on services such as entertainment.

Classification of products

On the basis of  buyer’s behavior there are two categories of products: consumer products and industrial products. Consumer products are bought to satisfy personal or house-hold wants. There are four classes of consumer product according to this classification:

1)  Convenience products – are low priced items or services that consumers buy frequently with minimum of shopping effort. There are three subclasses:

·  Staple products-these products are bought regularly and routinely. Examples of staple products include bread, milk and bus or subway transportation.

·  Impulse products. Purchases of impulse products are completely unplanned. Exposure to triggers the want. Before going shopping you could prepare a list of staple products you would buy, but not the impulse products. Lollipops, for example, are big impulse item.

·  Emergency products – are result from urgent and compelling needs. For example, umbrella when a heavy rain starts.

2)  Shopping products – are goods or services that consumers will purchase only after making price and quality comparisons. These products can be homogeneous and heterogeneous.

·  Consumers consider homogeneous products to be alike. A person who thinks all top-of-line 17 cubic-food refrigerators are very similar will limit the shopping effort to making price comparisons. Thus retailers tend to engage in price competition.

·  Consumers consider heterogeneous shopping products to be different, or ponstandartized. They shop for the best quality-price.

3)  Specialty products are goods or services for which the buyer has a strong conviction as to brand, style or type. Rolls-Royce automobiles for example.

4)  Unsought products – goods or services that potential buyers do not know exist or do not want to think about buying.

·  Regularly unsought products – are existing products that consumers do not want to think about buying, although they may eventually purchase them, life insurance for example, or cancer checkup.

·  New unsought products – products that are totally new and unfamiliar to consumers. This products need to be promoted.

Industrial products are subdivided into two groups:

1. Entering products – raw materials, components, parts. They do not become part of the product, they are used to produce.

2. Support products –They don’t become part of the product. They are used to produce (equipment, installations, accessory equipment, supplies).

             On the basis of generated profits: