Marketing Mix: Product

Question 1

Product

Answer 1

Product is anything that can be offered in a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want.

Question 2

Service

Answer 2

Service is a product that consists of activities, benefits, or satisfaction and that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything.

Question 2

Consumer products

Answer 2

Consumer products are products and services bought by final consumers for personal consumption.
* Convenience products
* Shopping products
* Specialty products
* Unsought products

Question 3

Convenience products

Answer 3

Convenience products are consumer products and services that the customer usually buys frequently, immediately, and with a minimum comparison and buying effort.

Question 4

Shopping products

Answer 4

Shopping products are less frequently purchased consumer products and
services that the customer compares carefully on suitability, quality, price, and style. (Furniture, Cars, Household appliances)

Question 5

Specialty products

Answer 5

Specialty products are consumer products and services with unique characteristics or brand identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchase effort (medical services, Designer clothes, High-end electronics)

Question 6

Unsought products

Answer 6

Unsought products are consumer products that the consumer does not know about or knows about but does not normally think of buying. (Life insurance, Funeral services, Blood donations)

Question 7

Industrial products

Answer 7

Industrial products are those products purchased for further processing or for use in conducting a business.
Materials and parts: raw materials and manufactured materials and parts.
Capital items: industrial products that aid in the buyer’s production or operations.
Supplies and services: operating supplies, repair and maintenance items, and
business services.

Question 8

Organization marketing

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Person marketing

Answer 9

Person marketing consists of activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change the attitudes or behavior of target consumers toward
particular people.

Question 10

Place marketing

Answer 10

Place marketing consists of activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change attitudes and behavior toward particular places.

Question 11

Social marketing

Answer 11

Social marketing uses commercial marketing concepts to influence individuals’ behavior to improve their well-being and that of society.

Question 12

Purpose-driven marketing

Answer 12

Purpose-driven content marketing is a way for a business or brand to bond with a target audience based on their shared needs and interests – including interest in supporting a worthy cause. But while most organizations recognize the importance of, ‘giving back,’ they aren’t always accustomed to creating content around their efforts in a way that will both engage their audience and drive them to participate.

Question 13

Product and Service Decisions

Answer 13

Individual Product Decisions * Product attributes
* Branding
* Packaging
* Labeling and logos
* Product support service
Product Line Decisions
* Product line length
(Line stretching, Line filling)
Product Mix Decisions
* Product mix width, lenght, depth, consistency

Question 14

Product quality

Answer 14

Product quality refers to the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied customer needs.
* Total quality management
* Return-on-quality / profit!!!
* Quality level
* Performance quality
* Conformance quality

Question 15

Product Features, style, design

Answer 15

Competitive tool for differentiating a product from competitors’ products. Assessed based on the value to the customer versus its cost to the company

• Style describes the appearance of the product.
• Design contributes to a product’s usefulness as well as to its looks.

Question 16

Brand, logos, labels

Answer 16

Brand is the name, term, sign, or design or a combination of these, that identifies the maker or seller of a product or service.

Logos and labels – ranges from simple tag to complex graphics – are part of the packaging. Can support the brand positioning and add personality to a brand.

Labels identify the product or brand, describe attributes, and provide promotion.
Expected /required / regulated information e.g.:
* Unit pricing (stating the price per unit of standard measure)
* Open dating (stating the expected shelf life of the product)
* Nutritional labeling (stating the nutritional values in the product

Question 17

Product line

Answer 17

Product line is a group of products that are closely related because they function in a similar manner, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through the same types of outlets, or fall within given price ranges.

Question 18

Product line length

Answer 18

Product line length is the number of items in the product line.

• Line stretching - a company
  lengthens its product line beyond its current range − downward, upward, or both ways.
• Line filling -adding more items within the present range of the line

Question 19

Product Mix Decisions

Answer 19

• Product mix width is the number of different product lines the company carries.
• Product mix length is the total number of items the company carries within its product lines.
• Product mix depth is the number of versions offered of each product in the line.
• Consistency is how closely the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, or distribution channels

Question 20

4 ways for company to increase its business

Answer 20

1.It can add new product lines, widening its product mix.
2.It can lengthen its existing product lines.
3.It can add more versions of each product, deepening its product mix.
4.It can pursue more product line consistency.

Question 21

Product Life-Cycle Strategies

Answer 21

Product development, Introduction Stage, Growth Stage, Maturity Stage, Decline Stage

Question 22

Introduction Stage

Answer 22

• Slow sales growth
• Little, no or negative profit
• High distribution and promotion expenses

Strategies:
* Consumers must be informed about the
product
* Encourage product trials
* Ensure the availability of the product
* Timing of market entry - the advantage of pioneers

Question 23

Growth stage

Answer 23

Characteristics:
* Sales increase
* New competitors enter the market
* Profits increase
* Economies of scale
* Consumer education
* Lowering prices to
attract more buyers

Strategies:
* Improving product quality
* Adding new product features and models
* Entering new market segments and new distribution channels
* Shifting some advertising from awareness to building product conviction and purchase
* Lowering prices at the right time to attract more
buyers

Question 24

Maturity Stage

Answer 24

• Slowdown in sales
• Many suppliers
• Substitute products
• Overcapacity leads to competition
• Increased promotion and R&D to support sales and profits

Modification Strategies
* Modify the market
* Modify the product
* Modify the marketing mix

Question 25

Decline Stage

Answer 25

• Sales may plunge to zero
• Many hidden costs

Strategies
* Maintain the product
* Harvest the product: progressively reduce product and business costs while maintaining turnover
* Product liquidation (sale), withdrawal (= drop the product)

Question 26

4 Service Characteristics

Answer 26

Intangibility: services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled before purchase.

Inseparability: services cannot be separated from their providers.

Variability: quality of services depends on who provides them and when, where, and how.

Perishability: services cannot be stored for later sale or use

Question 27

Services 7P

Answer 27

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion
• People
• Physical evidence
• Process

Question 28

The product acceptance process

Answer 28

The product acceptance process refers to the conceptual steps that take the customer from the moment they become aware of the innovation to its final acceptance

Question 29

New product
adoption process

Answer 29

Classification of consumers according to the time it takes to adopt novelties:
* Innovators
* Early adopters
* Early mainstream
* Late mainstream
* Lagging adopters