What is a Product?

- A product is anything offered for sale by a firm to buyers to satisfy their physical, social,
symbolic, and psychological wants and needs.

To maintain the interest of buyers, the physical products are most often provided with benefits like:
quality;
reputation of the manufacturer;
packaging:
credit;
information about the product:
warranty;
after sales service; and
deliver

Classification of Products
 Consumer goods
 Industrial goods

Consumer goods- are those intended for final consumption by consumers. They may be classified
according to;
 THE RATE OF CONSUMPTION AND TANGIBILITY
Durable goods- are tangible goods which normally survive many uses.
Nondurable goods- are tangible products which are consumed in one or a few uses.
Services- are intangible goods like activities, benefits, or satisfactions which are offered
for sale.

 The consumer's shopping habits

Convenience goods- are those which are purchased with a minimum of effort. Many of
them are readily available in many retail outlets.
Shopping goods- are those that are bought only after an effort to compare with other
goods is made.
Specialty goods- are those that the consumers seek to buy and they are not willing or
they are not able to accept substitutes.
Unsought goods- are those that are not yet wanted by or are still unknown to the
consumer. Because of the said reasons, consumers use no effort to seek them.
 There are two types of unsought goods
(1) The new unsought goods, and
(2) The regularly unsought goods.

 The new unsought goods- are really new ideas or products that the consumer still have to know
to be motivated to buy
 Regular unsought goods- are those that stay unsought but not unbought forever
Industrial Goods
-are those used in the production of other goods. They are categorized as follows;

1. Installations
2. Accessory equipment
3. Raw materials
4. Component parts and materials
5. Supplies
6. Services

Installations- This term refers to industrial products with long life, are generally expensive, and they
form part of the major capital equipment of an industrial firm.

Accessory Equipment- These are industrial goods that am used as aids in the production process. They
have a shorter usable life than installations.

Raw Materials- These are unprocessed goods that will become part of another product. Raw materials
are of two types
 Farm products- are those grown by farmers.
 Natural products- are those which occur by nature.

Component Parts and Materials- These are processed industrial goods that will still be used and
become an actual part of the finished product.

Supplies- These are items that are used as aids in the operating process but do not become part of the
finished product.

Services- These are expense items that assist in the operations

The Product as a More Useful Variables

The product is one of the variables in the marketing mix and it can be unique so it will be more
attractive to buyers.

In product differentiation, the following tools are considered:

- Branding - packaging
- Quality - location
- Image - promotion
-Product features -innovation
- Packaging - Different service levels
Branding
-One of the job of the marketer is to make sure that the product he is selling will provide real
satisfaction to the buyers.
Brand
-a name, term, sign, symbol or a combination of these elements that helps identify the goods or
services of one seller or a group of seller.
-it can either be
(1) Legally registered or
(2) Not legally registered.

TRADEMARK- Legally registered brands are provided with legal protection.

Brands, whether legally registered or not, consist of two distinct parts:

 Brand Name- consist of words, letters or numbers than can be vocalized.
 Brand Mark- consists of symbols, design or lettering and which cannot be vocalized.

Licensing as an Alternative- a licensing agreement in which a firm who owns or controls a brand allows
another company to use it in exchange for royalties or payments.

Branding Strategies:
 Manufacturer branding- a branding strategy in which the brand name for a product is
designated by the manufacturer. It has two alternative approach:
 Multiproduct approach- referred to as blanket or family branding strategy, uses the
same brand name to cover a group of products.
 Multi brand approach- requires the firm to provide each product with a distinctive
name.
 Reseller branding- private labeling or private branding, refers to the branding strategy of a firm
which manufacturers products but sell them under the brand name of a reseller.
 Mixed branding- use of manufacturer and reseller brands in a product.
 Generic branding- which lists no product name and only the description of contents. Example:
rice, salt, charcoal.

PACKAGING
-refers to all activities involved in designing and producing the container or wrapper for a
product. The container or wrapper is the package. The package may include up to three levels of
material briefly described as follows

1. The primary package- which is the product's immediate container.

2. The secondary package- which protects the primary package.
3. The shipping package- which contains the secondary package or packages. It provides ease of storage,
identification, and shipping
Reasons for Packaging
There are several reasons for packaging products. Among them are:

1. It provides protection to products before and after they are in the possession of the intended
users.
2. It provides convenience to the user.
3. It provides safety.
4. It provides economy to both the seller and the user.
5. It allows sellers to effectively promote the product.

LABELING
The part of the product which provides information about the product and the manufacturer is
called label.

Types of Labels
The brand label- This label identifies the product or brand.
The descriptive label- This label provides information about the product.
The grade label- This label identifies the products judged with a letter, number, or word like “grade A”,
“grade 3”, or “premium grade”.
The promotional label- This label provides attractive graphics to help promote the product.

Product Warranty

Product warranty- One of the product components that attracts customers to patronize a product is th
warranty, which is a statement explaining what seller promises about the product.

Variation Of Warranty
 Express Warranties - are written statements of a manufacturer liabilities for product
deficiencies. Express warranty may be:
 Limited-coverage warranty- is a manufacturer’s statement indicating the bound of
coverage and noncoverage of any deficiency found in the product.
 Full warranty- is a statement of liability of manufacturer that has no limits of
noncoverage.
 Implied Warranties - those that assign responsibility for product deficiencies to a manufacturer
even if the item was sold by a retailer.
Product Life Cycle
-Product, like human beings, have a life cycle which is referred to as the Product Cycle.

THE PLC consist of 4 distinct stages:

The Introduction Stage - in this stage the product is introduce to the public.
1. Slow growth of sales
2. Heavy promotional expenditures in relation to sales
3. Relatively high prices for the products
4. Limited product offering like limited variation in sizes, and color

The Growth Stage - in the PLC follows a successful introduction stage.

1. Sales start climbing rapidly
2. The ratio of promotional expenditures to sales decreases.
3. Prices tend to remain high except when demand stimulation is required and entry of
competitors is discouraged.
4. New forms of the product appear

The Maturity Stage - when the growth in sales slows down, the maturity stage begins to take
over.
1. Sales settle down
2. Price reductions are used as a tool of competition
3. Competition is intensified; and the market becomes saturated.

The Decline Stage - begins with a permanent drop in sales.

1. A pruning of product models and variations to eliminate those not producing profit;
2. Promotional expenses are reduced
3. Plans for phasing out the product is made.