7.1 What Is a Product?

Question 1

Definition of Product

Answer 1

Product:

Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.

Question 2

Definition of Service

Answer 2

Service:

An activity, benefit, or satisfaction offered for sale that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything.

Question 3

What are products a key element in?

Answer 3

Products are a key element in the overall market offering.

Marketing mix planning begins with building an offering that brings value to target customers.

This offering becomes the basis on which the company builds profitable customer relationships.

Question 4

What are pure tangible goods? Some examples?

Answer 4

At one extreme, the market offer may consist of a pure tangible good, such as soap, toothpaste, or salt; no services accompany the product.

Question 5

What are pure services? Examples?

Answer 5

Pure services, for which the market offer consists primarily of a service. Examples include a doctor’s exam and financial services.

Question 6

Other then simply making products and delivering services, how are companies differentiating their offerings?

Answer 6

To differentiate their offers, beyond simply making products and delivering services, they are creating and managing customer experiences with their brands or companies.

Question 7

What are the three levels of product?

Answer 7

Core customer vaules
Actual product
Augumented product

Question 8

What is the core customer value level of product?

Answer 8

The most basic level is the core customer value, which addresses the question:

What is the buyer really buying?

When designing products, marketers must first define the core, problem-solving benefits, services, or experiences that consumers seek.

Question 9

Figure 7.1 Three Levels of Product

Answer 9

Question 10

What is the Actual Product of Product level?

Answer 10

At the second level, product planners must turn the core benefit into an actual product. They need to develop product and service features, a design, a quality level, a brand name, and packaging.

Question 11

What is the augumented product level?

Answer 11

Finally, product planners must build an augmented product around the core benefit and actual product by offering additional consumer services and benefits.

Thus, when consumers buy a Harley, Harley-Davidson and its dealers also give buyers a warranty on parts and workmanship, quick repair services when needed, a showroom full of accessories, and web and mobile sites to use if they have problems or questions.

Question 12

Summery of Product level.

Answer 12

Consumers see products as complex bundles of benefits that satisfy their needs.

When developing products, marketers first must identify the core customer value that consumers seek from the product.

They must then design the actual product and find ways to augment it to create customer value and a full and satisfying brand experience.

Question 13

Products and services fall into two broad classes based on the types of consumers who use them.

What are they?

Answer 13

Consumer products and Industrial products.

Broadly defined, products also include other marketable entities such as experiences, organizations, persons, places, and ideas.

Question 14

Definition of Consumer product

Answer 14

Consumer product:

A product bought by final consumers for personal consumption.

Question 15

Marketers usually classify these products and services further based on how consumers go about buying them. Consumer products include…

Answer 15

• Convenience products
• Shopping products
• Specialty products
• Unsought products

Question 16

Table 7.1 Marketing Considerations for Consumer Products (Part 1)

Answer 16

Question 17

Table 7.1 Marketing Considerations for Consumer Products (Part 2)

Answer 17

Question 18

Table 7.1 Marketing Considerations for Consumer Products (Part 3)

Answer 18

Question 19

Definition of Convenience Product

Answer 19

Convenience product:

A consumer product that customers usually buy frequently, immediately, and with minimal comparison and buying effort.

Examples include laundry detergent, candy, magazines, and fast food.

Convenience products are usually low priced, and marketers place them in many locations to make them readily available when customers need or want them.

Question 20

Definition of a Shopping product

Answer 20

Shopping product:

A consumer product that the customer, in the process of selecting and purchasing, usually compares on such attributes as suitability, quality, price, and style.

Examples include furniture, clothing, major appliances, and hotel services.

Shopping product marketers usually distribute their products through fewer outlets but provide deeper sales support to help customers in their comparison efforts.

Question 21

Definition of Specialty product

Answer 21

Specialty product:

A consumer product with unique characteristics or brand identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchase effort.

Examples include specific brands of cars, high-priced photography equipment, designer clothes, gourmet foods, and the services of medical or legal specialists.

Buyers normally do not compare specialty products. They invest only the time needed to reach dealers carrying the wanted brands.

Question 22

Definition of Unsought product

Answer 22

Unsought product:

A consumer product that the consumer either does not know about or knows about but does not normally consider buying.

Most major new innovations are unsought until consumers become aware of them through marketing.

Classic examples of known but unsought products and services are life insurance, preplanned funeral services, and blood donations to the Red Cross.

By their very nature, unsought products require a lot of promoting, personal selling, and other marketing efforts.

Question 23

Definition of Industrial Product

Answer 23

Industrial product:

A product bought by individuals and organizations for further processing or for use in conducting a business.

Question 24

What is the distinction between a consumer product and an industrial product?

Answer 24

Thus, the distinction between a consumer product and an industrial product is based on the purpose for which the product is purchased.

If a consumer buys a lawn mower for use around home, the lawn mower is a consumer product. If the same consumer buys the same lawn mower for use in a landscaping business, the lawn mower is an industrial product.

Question 25

What are the three groups of industrial products and services?

Answer 25

The three groups of industrial products and services are:

• Materials and parts
• Capital items
• Supplies and services.

Question 26

What to materials and parts include?

Answer 26

Materials and parts include

Raw materials
Manufactured materials and parts.

Question 27

What do Raw materials consist of?

Answer 27

Raw materials consist of farm products (wheat, cotton, livestock, fruits, vegetables) and natural products (fish, lumber, crude petroleum, iron ore).

Question 28

What do manufactured materials and parts consist of?

Answer 28

Manufactured materials and parts consist of component materials (iron, yarn, cement, wires) and component parts (small motors, tires, castings).

Question 29

What marketing factors are more important to industrial products?

Answer 29

Most manufactured materials and parts are sold directly to industrial users. Price and service are the major marketing factors; branding and advertising tend to be less important.

Question 30

What are Capital Items?

Answer 30

Capital items are industrial products that aid in the buyer’s production or operations, including:

Installations
Accessory equipment.

Question 31

What do Installations consist of?

Answer 31

Installations consist of major purchases such as buildings (factories, offices) and fixed equipment (generators, drill presses, large computer systems, elevators).

Question 32

What is Accessory Equipment?

Answer 32

Accessory equipment includes portable factory equipment and tools (hand tools, lift trucks) and office equipment (computers, fax machines, desks).

These types of equipment have shorter lives than do installations and simply aid in the production process.

Question 33

The final group of industrial products are…

Answer 33

Supplies and Services

Question 34

What is a Brand?

Answer 34

A brand is a promise for consistancy.

Question 35

What do supplies include?

Answer 35

Supplies include operating supplies (lubricants, coal, paper, pencils) and repair and maintenance items (paint, nails, brooms).

Supplies are the convenience products of the industrial field because they are usually purchased with a minimum of effort or comparison.

Question 36

What do Business services include?

Answer 36

Business services include maintenance and repair services (window cleaning, computer repair) and business advisory services (legal, management consulting, advertising). Such services are usually supplied under contract.

Question 37

In addition to tangible products and services, marketers have broadened the concept of a product to include other market offerings such as…

Answer 37

Organizations
Persons
Places
Ideas

Question 38

What is Organization marketing?

Answer 38

Organization marketing consists of activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change the attitudes and behaviour of target consumers toward an organization.

Both profit and not-for-profit organizations practise organization marketing.

Question 39

What is Person marketing?

Answer 39

Person marketing consists of activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change attitudes or behaviour toward particular people.

People ranging from presidents, entertainers, and sports figures to professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and architects use person marketing to build their reputations.

And businesses, charities, and other organizations use well-known personalities to help sell their products or causes.

Question 40

What is Place Marketing?

Answer 40

Place marketing involves activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change attitudes or behaviour toward particular places.

Cities, regions, and even entire nations compete to attract tourists, new residents, conventions, and company offices and factories.

Question 41

What is Social Marketing?

Answer 41

Social marketing:

The use of traditional business marketing concepts and tools to encourage behaviours that will create individual and societal well-being.

Ideas can also be marketed. In one sense, all marketing is the marketing of an idea, whether it is the general idea of brushing your teeth or the specific idea that Crest toothpastes “improve the health of your smile.” Here, however, we narrow our focus to the marketing of social ideas.