Products. Consumer products (Convenience, Shopping, Specialty and Unsought products)

14Products

 product is something that is produced or manufactured and sold (often in large quantities). New products are introduced or launched onto the market. If a defect is found in a product after it is launched it may be withdrawn from the market.

Two broad categories of products are consumer products and industrial products. Consumer products are bought to satisfy personal wants. Industrial products are bought to use in producing other consumer or industrial products.

One basis for classifying consumer products is buyer behavior,. The four classes of consumer products are:

1Convenience products are low-priced items or services that consumers buy frequently with minimum of shopping effort (bread, soap, salt). The three subclasses:

Staple products. These products are bought regularly and routinely (bread, milk, bus transportation).

Impulse products. Purchases of impulse products are completely unplanned (lollipops).

Emergency products. Purchases of emergency products result from urgent and compelling needs. Special one hour cleaning and pressing clothing

2.Shopping products are goods or services that consumer will purchase only after making price and quality comparisons, These products can be: homogeneous (price comparison is more important) and heterogeneous (price-quantity combination when buying it)

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

4Unsought products are goods or services that potential buyers do not know exist or do not want to think about buying. There are 2 types of unsought products – regularly unsought products (, life insurance, l) and new unsought products (totally new and unfamiliar to consumers).

Industrial products are classified according to the uses to which they are put. Raw materials, component parts, and component materials become part of the product they are used to produce. They are entering products. Installations, accessory equipment, suppliers, and business services are support products. They don`t become part of the product they are used to produce.

If we speak about products we should also tell about the classification which is based on the profit generated by the product.

Money spinner – is a product or business generating a lot of profit.

 A cash cow is a profitable product with high-market share in a law growth market.

Generic product don’t have any brends? Just solt? Shuger

Loss leader is a product sold unprofitably in order to attract customers who will be persuaded to buy profitable ones.

The next classification is based on products prices. Upmarket products – that are expensive. Mid-priced products are described as mid-market. Law-priced products may be referred to as down-market.

Finally the classification based on products appearance. White goods are things such as washing machines and refrigerators, brown goods such as TV sets and Hi-Fi equipment.

product line is a group of closely related products, which usually have the same function and are sold to the same customer groups through the same outlets. Product mix is the set of all the product lines and items offered by a company.

Making products companies can deal Line-stretching means lengthening a company`s product line, in order to reach new customers, to enter growing or more profitable market segments, to react to competitors` initiatives, and so on. Line-filling means adding further items in that part of a product range which a line already covers, in order to compete in competitors` niches,. Speaking about line-filling, we can say about adding more items within the current range of a product line can lead to cannibalization.

An organization has 3 basic sources of new products: innovation, modification of existing products, and acquisition of products from other firmsThe new-product development and design process involves seven stages:Idea generation-Product selection – Preliminary design –Final design – evaluate Facilities exist and new facilities required - Process selection –Capacity planning, production planning –

Product life cycle is devided into staes The standard life cycle includes introduction, growth, maturity and decline stages.

The introduction stage, following a product’s lunch, generally involves slow growth. Only a few innovative people will buy it. There are probably no profits at this stage because of the heavy advertising, distribution and sales promotions expenses involved in introducing a product onto the market.

During the growth period, ‘sales rise quickly, producing profits.

Most products available at any given time are in the maturity stage of the life cycle. This stage may last many years, and contain many ups and down due to the use of a succession of marketing strategies and tactics.

A product enters the decline period when it begins to be replaced by new ones, due to advances in technology, or to changes in fashions and tastes.

A basic decision in marketing products is branding, in which an organization uses name, phrase, design, symbols, to identify its products and distinguish them from those of competitors. A brand name is any word, “device” (design, sound, shape or color),. A trade name is a commercial, legal name under which a company does business. A trademark identifies that a firm has legally registered its brand name

There are some simple rules to pick a good brand name. The name should suggest the product benefits, , and positive, fit the company or product image, have no legal restrictions, be simple and emotional.

In deciding to bran a product, companies have several possible strategies.

Manufacturer branding., the producer using a multiproduct or multibrand approach. Multiproduct branding is when company uses one name for all its products.

Private branding. when it manufactories products but sells them under the brand name of a wholesaler or retailer.

Mixed branding is a compromise between manufacturer and private branding, where a firm markets products under its own name and that of a seller,.

Generic branding, which is a no-brand product such as dog food,. There is no identification other than a description of the contents.