4 - Products, Services and Brands Flashcards
core customer value
what the customer is really buying
eg. people who buy wireless devices are buying ‘freedom’ and on the go connectivity
types of products
consumer products - bought by final consumer for personal consumption
industrial products - bought for further processing or for use in conducting business
(both products and services)
types of consumer products (4)
convenience - buy frequently w/ minimum comparison (newspaper, cookies…)
shopping - less frequent, customer compares carefully (cars, houses…)
specialty - unique characteristics/brands for which a buyer is willing to make a special purchase effort (electronics, designer items…)
unsought - consumers don’t want to think much about (life insurance, funeral services…)
product & service decisions (5)
product attributes branding packaging labelling support services
top quality management (TQM)
all company’s people are involved in consistently improving the quality
return on quality approach
viewing quality as an investment
- holding quality efforts accountable for bottom line decisions
product quality
characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy stated/implied customer needs
two dimensions:
- level
- consistency
conformance quality
consistency of quality
- freedom from defects
product line
group of products that are closely related because:
- function in similar manner
- sold to the same customer group
- marketed through same channels
- fall within given price ranges
ways to expand product line length
product line filling - adding more items w/in present range
- eg: iPhone 6 and 6S
product line stretching - reaching more types of clients beyond current range
- iPhone X (more exclusive)
product mix
all the product lines and items available to sell
differences b/w the product mix length, depth and width
product mix length - total number of items in its product lines
product mix depth - n of versions offered of each product in the line
product mix width - number of different product lines
types of service industries (3)
government (courts, hospitals, schools…)
private non-profit organizations (museums, charities, churches…)
business organizations (airlines, hotels, entertainment…)
nature and characteristics of a service
intangible
inseparable (from providers)
perishable (cannot be stored for later use)
variable (quality depends on who provides them, when, where and how)
additional marketing strategies for service firms (3)
service-profit chain
internal marketing
interactive marketing
