Chapter 7: Product Management Flashcards
What is the task of a marketing manager
It is to combine the marketing mix (product, place, promotion, price) in order to create value for customers and generate profit for the business
What is a product
A product is defined as anything a consumer receives in exchange for (usually) money
Give examples of a product
- Tangible products, such as cars
- Intangible products, such as services - banking and healthcare
What can products be classified as
> Consumer products - are finished products that are used by consumers and are not bought for any other subsequent commercial purposes (for example shoes, clothes, food)
> Business products - are typically not finished products are used to manufacture other products or a resold (for example car parts, computer components)
🔎 What can consumer products be classified into (pg 211)
- Convenience products - bought with the least amount of effort/resources. Convenience products can further be subdivided into staple, impulse, & emergency products.
- Shopping products - products bought after some research, usually have higher value than convenience products. Shopping products can further be subdivided into homogeneous & heterogeneous shopping products (for example electronic products, shoes, jackets, typically requiring more time and effort)
- Speciality products - bought with much more amount of effort/resources, they are unique and differentiated products. (car, ring, rolex watch)
- Unsought products - a product that consumers are either unaware of or have little interest in buying them (new innovative products, life insurance)
🔎 What is a product line
A product line is a series of related products (offered by a company under the same brand, serving different customer needs or preferences)
What is the product mix
Is the combination of product lines and individual product offerings that an organisation offers to its customers.
In developing a product mix, 3 important decisions are made
- Product mix width - the number of product lines offered
- Appropriate product mix length - the number of different products the organisation will market
- Product mix depth - is the variation in each product line the organisation will market
What are the categories of new products (pg 224)
- new to the world products
- new product lines
- line extensions
- improvements and revisions of existing products
- repositioned products
- lower priced products
What are reasons that new products are developed
> Consumers needs and wants change overtime
> Existing technology may become obsolete
> Reach the end of the product life cycle, although it may take longer for some products
> Competitors may develop new or similar products
> Existing product may be experiencing problems
> To perceive specific objective of the business such as growth profitability and increasing market share
The new development process consists of what 5 stages (pg 227)
Stage 1: idea generation - coming up with ideas for new products, emanate from customers, employees, suppliers, competitors
Stage 2: idea screening - looking at all the ideas and picking up the ones that seem good or feasible
Stage 3: business analysis - viability of the product further analysed through a number of criteria, consumer demand, sales potential, cost of production
Stage 4: concept development and testing - feasible ideas are developed into a product for testing
Stage 5: commercialisation - product and marketing of the product
What is a brand
A brand is a name, term, logo, symbol or any other feature that identifies one marketers product as distinct from other products
🔎 What is branding
Branding entails crafting a unique name and image for a product in the consumers mind by means of advertising.
Value of brand for shoppers include:
> the brand can signal quality (reduces performance risk)
> brands helps shoppers to identify their preferred product
> brands decrease the effort in making a purchase decision
Value of brand for marketers include:
> the brand differentiates the product from competitors
> if the brand is strong organisation can sell at a premium price
> organisation can add additional product lines under the same brand (brand extensions)
> long established brands enjoy customer loyalty
