According to Philip Kotler, a product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use of consumption, it includes physical objects, service, personalities, place, organisation and ideas.
Jay Diamond and Gerald Pintel states that the total product, in addition to the physical, product, includes guarantees, installation, instructions for use, packaging, branding and the availability of service. The total product is what the customer buys, and frequently the fringe characteristics such as guarantees and servicing are as important as the physical product itself.
William J. Stanton defined the term 'product' as a set of tangible and intangible attributes including packaging, colour, price, manufacturer's prestige, retailer's prestige and manufacturer's and retailer's services which buyer may accept as offering, satisfaction of wants or needs.
As defined by Jerome McCarthy, a product is more than just a physical product with its related functional and aesthetic features. It includes accessories, installation, instructions on use, the package, perhaps a brand name, which fulfils some psychological needs and the assurance that service facilities will be available to meet the customer's needs after the purchase.
According to W. Alderson, a product is a bundle of utilities consisting of various product features and accompanying services.
Schwartz defined a product as something a firm markets that will satisfy a personal want or fill a business or commercial need; and includes, all the peripheral factors that may contribute to consumer's satisfaction.
There are several ways of classifying products:
1) On the basis of the user status, products may be classified as consumer goods and industrial goods.
2) On the basis of the extent of durability, products may be classified as durable goods and non-durable goods.
3) On the basis of tangibility, products may be classified as tangible goods and nontangible These non-tangible goods are referred to as services.
These classifications are necessary for a marketer, as different types of products require different marketing strategies. The following four major types, and analyse their characteristics and marketing strategies:
1) Consumer goods
2) Industrial goods
3) Durable and Non-durable goods
4) Services.
Consumer Goods
Consumer goods are those products which are bought by the households or ultimate consumers for personal non-business use. Consumers use the product in the form in which the product is being offered i.e., no further processing is done. For example, a tooth brush, a comb, a wrist watch or a moped are all meant for personal use of households and are, thus, classified as consumer goods. Consumer goods may be classified into three types as: 1) convenience goods, 2) shopping goods, and 3) speciality goods.
Industrial Goods
Industrial goods are those goods which are meant to be bought by the buyers as inputs in production of other products or for rendering some service. The product may, thus, undergo further commercial processing. Industrial products are meant for non-personal and commercial use. Industrial goods include items like machinery, raw materials, components, etc. It may be worthwhile clarifying a point that the same product may sometimes be classified as a consumer product and as an industrial product depending upon the end-use. Take the case of coconut oil. When it is used by a person as hair oil or cooking oil, it would be treated as a consumer product. However, when coconut oil is used in the manufacture of a toilet soap, it is as an industrial product. Similar, take the case of car tyres. When it is used by car owner, it becomes consumer product. The same tyre when used by a car manufacturing company, it becomes an industrial product. Thus, many products can be treated as industrial goods as well as consumer goods. However, the industrial buyer is cost conscious and is concerned about the quality and standard of the product being offered to him. An industrial buyer is not impulsive and is rational in buying effort. Therefore industrial goods are to be sold in a different way from consumer goods.
Durable Goods and Non-durable Goods
Tangible products with a long life and lasting many years of active service to owner are termed as durable goods. Television, fan, refrigerator, pressure cooker, etc., may be cited as examples of durable goods. A durable product would require a lot of personal selling, and pre-sales and post-sales service. Such products provide a higher margin to seller but require an assured after-sales guarantee. Therefore, in case of refrigerators, the number of years of guarantee (particularly for the compressor) is an important consideration when a consumer makes his final selection.
If a customer purchases a cyclostyling machine or duplicating machine, it is necessary for the salesman to 'follow through' and visit the customer to see how is it installed and used. This product is mostly operated by ‘peons’ who may not know how to use it. This results in poor duplication and copies which look unattractive. The consumer gets the impression that the fault lies with the machine. So, while marketing such a product, it is important to guide the actual uses of the machine.
Products which are consumed in one go or last a few uses and get depleted on consumption are termed as non-durable goods. Soap, tooth paste, cigarette, soft drink, etc. are some examples of non-durable goods. Soft drink is consumed at once on one occasion within a matter of minutes. Soap obviously takes a little longer. However, in both these cases, the goods are consumed very fast. The advantage of these goods is that they are purchased very often and therefore, there are many repeat purchases once the customer is satisfied with one product. Therefore, one must ensure quality and appropriateness of price. These are the products that have to be advertised heavily, with a view to inducing people to try them out, and thus, build up brand preference and brand loyalty. In view of the fact that such products are consumed fast and require frequent purchases, they need to be made available in a large number of sales points.
Services
Services are specially mentioned here because it is generally thought that marketing is related to products alone. It should be remembered that marketing ideas and practices are equally applicable to services with slight adaptations in certain decisional areas. Services in content are different from products. Services are the separately identifiable, essentially intangible activities which provide want satisfaction and which are not necessarily tied to the sale of a product or another service. For example, courts offer a service. So are hospitals, the fire department, the police and the post office offer a service. These are not products in the normal sense and yet it is very important for each of these institutions to have an appropriate image. The police are often criticised; the fire departments are generally praised; the post offices are criticised for delays; the hospitals are perhaps criticised for negligence and exorbitant rates and so on. It is obvious that controlling the quality of service is important for building up its image.
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