1. Define product. What are the levels of product?

Product: Product is anything that can be offered in a market for attention, acquisition, use, or
consumption that might satisfy a need or want. Product includes more than just tangible objects
such as cars, computers or cell phones.

The levels of product are given below:

Product planners need to think about products and services on three levels. Each level adds more
customer value. The most basic level is:
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 or services that
consumers seek. A woman buying lipstick buys more than lip color.
Actual product: product planners must turn the core benefit into an actual product. They need to
develop product and service features, design, a quality level, a brand name, and packaging. For
example, blackberry is an actual product. Its name, parts, styling, features, packaging and other
attributes have all been combined carefully to deliver the core customer value of staying
connected.
Augmented product: finally, product planners must build an augmented product around the
core benefit and actual product by offering additional customer service and benefits. Its main
concept is, its dealer might give buyers a warranty on parts and workmanship, instructions on
how to use the device, quick repair services when needs and toll-free telephone number and web
site to use if they have problems pr questions.

2. Classification of product and services.

Products and services fall into two broad classes based on the types of consumers that use then
consumer products and industrial products.
Consumer products: consumer products are products and services bought by final consumers
for personal consumption. Consumer products include convenience products, shopping products,
specially products and unsought products. These are given below:
1. Convenience products: Convenience products are consumer products and services that
the customer usually buys frequently, immediately, and with a minimum comparison and
buying effort. Example Newspapers, Candy, Fast food. Such types of products are
usually low priced and marketers place then in many locations to make them readily
available when customers need them.
2. Shopping products: Shopping products are consumer products and services that the
customer compares carefully on suitability, quality, price, and style. When buying
shopping products and services, consumers spend much time and effort in gathering
information and making comparisons. Example Furniture, Cars, Appliances etc.
3. Specially products: 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. Example Medical services, Designer clothes, High-end
electronics etc.
4. Unsought products: Unsought products are consumer products that the consumer does
not know about or knows about but does not normally think of buying. Most major new
innovations are unsought until the consumer becomes aware of them through advertising.
Example Life insurance, Funeral services, Blood donations etc.

Industrial products: Industrial products are products purchased for further processing or for use
in conducting a business. This product Classified by the purpose for which the product is
purchased. They are: Materials and parts, Capital, Raw materials.
1. Capital items are industrial products that aid in the buyer’s production or operations
including installations and accessory equipment.
2. Materials and parts include raw materials and manufactured materials and parts usually
sold directly to industrial users.
3. Supplies and services include operating supplies, repair and maintenance items, and
business services.

Discuss the product line and product mix decision.

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.
A company can expand its product line in two ways. Line stretching and product line filling.

Product line stretching occurs when accompany lengthens its product line beyond its current
range. The company can stretch its line downward, upward or both ways.

Product line filling is a business strategy that involves increasing the number of products in an
existing product line to take advantage of marketplace gaps and reduce competition. Many
businesses use line filling to round out an already well established product line and to help
increase the market success of new related products.
Product mix decisions
An organization with several product lines has a product mix. Product mix consists of all the
products and items that a particular seller offers for sale. A company’s product mix has four
important dimensions: width, length, depth and consistency.

Width refers to the number of different product lines the company carries. Sony markets a wide
range of consumer and industrial products around the world.

Length refers to the total number of items the company carries within its product lines. Sony-
camera, camcorder line, photo printers, memory media.

Depth refers to the number of versions offered of each product in the line. Sony makes and
markets any kind of TV you had ever want to buy-tube, flat panel, rear projection, front
projection, HD etc.

Consistency refers to how closely relate the various product lines are in end use, production
requirements, distribution channels or some other way. Within the major business, Sony’s
product lines are fairly consistent in that they perform similar functions for buyers and go
through the same distribution channel.

Define product line. How can a company expand its product line length?
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.
A company can expand its product line in two ways. Line stretching and product line filling.

Product line stretching occurs when accompany lengthens its product line beyond its current
range. The company can stretch its line downward, upward or both ways.

Product line filling is a business strategy that involves increasing the number of products in an
existing product line to take advantage of marketplace gaps and reduce competition. Many
businesses use line filling to round out an already well established product line and to help
increase the market success of new related products.

How you can you build a strong brands?/ Describe the four choices in
developing brand./ Discuss branding strategy –the decisions companies make
in building & managing their brands.

Brand represents the consumer’s perceptions and feelings about a product and its performance.
It is the company’s promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits, services, logo and
experiences consistently to the buyers.
Branding poses challenging decisions to the marketer. The major brand strategy decisions
involve brand positioning, brand name selection, brand sponsorship and brand development.

Brand positioning: marketers need to position their brands clearly in target customer’s minds.
At the lowest level, they can position the brand on product attribute. A brand can be better
positioned by associating its name with a desirable benefit. The strongest brands go beyond
attribute or benefit positioning. They are positioned on strong beliefs and values. These brands
pack an emotional wallop.

Brand name selection: a good name can add greatly to a products success. However, finding the
best brand name is a difficult task. It begins with a careful review of the product and its benefits
the target market and marketing strategies. Desirable qualities for a brand name include the
following 1. It should suggest something about the products benefits and qualities. 2. It should be
easy to pronounce, recognize and remember. 3. The brand name should be distinctive. 4. It
should be extendable. 5. The name should translate easily into foreign languages. 6. It should be
capable of registration and legal protection.
Brand sponsorship: the product may be launched as a national brand or manufacturer brand. Or
the manufacturer may sell to resellers who give the product a private brand also called a store
brand or distributor brand. Although most manufacturers create their own brand names, others
market licensed brands. Finally two companies can join forces and co-brand a product.
Brand development: a company has four choices when it comes to developing brands. It can
introduce line extensions, brand extensions, multi brand, and new brand.

Line extensions: extending an existing brand name to new forms, colors, sizes, ingredients or
flavors of an existing product category.
Brand extensions: extending an existing brand name to new product categories.
Multi brand: companies often introduce additional brands in the same category. It offers a way
to establish different features and appeal to different buying motives. It also allows a company to
lock up more reseller shelf space.
New brand: a company might believe that the power of its existing brand name is waning and a
new brand name is needed. Or it may create a new brand mane when it enters a new product
category for which none of the company’s current brand names is appropriate.

Marketing strategies for service firm./ Discuss the service marketing mix
strategies/ Discuss the additional marketing considerations for services.

Marketing strategies for service firm are stated:

Service-profit chain: successful service companies focus their attention on both their customers
and their customers and their employees. They understand the service profit chain which links
service firm profits with employee and customer satisfaction. This chain consists of five links:
• Internal service quality: superior employee selection and training, a quality work
environment and strong support for those dealing with customers which results in…
• Satisfied and productive service employees: more satisfied, loyal and hardworking
employees, which results in…
• Greater service value: more effective and efficient customer value creation and service
delivery, which results in…
• Satisfied and loyal customers: satisfied customers who remain loyal, repeat purchase,
and refer other customers, which results in…
• Healthy service profits and growth: superior service firm performance.

Internal marketing: Internal marketing means that the service firm must orient and motivate its
customer contact employees and supporting service people to work as a team to provide
customer satisfaction. Internal marketing must precede external marketing. For example 4
seasons hires the right people, orients them carefully, instills in them a sense of pride, and
motivates them by recognizing and rewarding outstanding service deeds.

Interactive marketing: Interactive marketing means that service quality depends heavily on the
quality of the buyer-seller interaction during the service encounter. In product marketing, product
quality often depends little on how the product is obtained. But in services marketing, service
quality depends on both the service deliverer and the quality of the delivery. Service marketers,
therefore, have to master interactive marketing skills.
Define Brand. Why brand is important?
Brand: a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of these that identifies
the maker or seller of a product or service.

Importance
Consumers view a brand as an important part of a product and branding can add value to a
product. Customers attach meaning to brands and develop brand relationships. Branding helps
buyers in many ways. Brand names help consumers identify products that might benefit them.
Brands also say something about product quality and consistency buyers who always buy the
same brand know that they will get the same features, benefits, and quality each time they buy.
Branding also gives the seller several advantages. The brand name becomes the basis on which a
whole story can be built about product special qualities. The seller’s brand name and trademark
provide legal protection for unique product features that otherwise might be copied by
competitors. And branding helps the seller to segment markets. For example Toyota Motor
Corporation can offer the major Lexus, Toyota, and scion brands, each with numerous sub-
brands such as Camry, Prius, matrix, Yaris, tundra, land cruiser etc.

What is new product? Steps/stages/ process/ strategies of developing new

product (NPD).
New product:
New products is original products, product improvements, product modifications, and new
brands that the firm develops through its own research and development efforts and that product
is new in market and people see that for the first time in market.

Strategies of developing new product (NPD)

1. Idea generation is the systematic search for new-product ideas. Sources of new-product
ideas:
Internal: Internal sources refer to the company’s own formal research and development,
management and staff, and entrepreneurial programs.
External: External sources refer to sources outside the company such as customers,
competitors, distributors, suppliers, and outside design firms.
 2. Idea Screening: idea screening which helps spot good ideas and drop poor ones as soon
as possible. Product development costs rise greatly in later stages, so the company wants
to go ahead only with the product ideas that will turn into profitable products. Find the
answer of relative question 1. Is it real? 2. Can we win? 3. Is it worth doing?
3. Concept Development and Testing: take that idea which is the output of idea screening.
With the basis of that idea develop or create some tangible product only for testing.
Concept testing calls for testing new-product concepts with groups of target consumers to
find out if the concepts have strong consumer appeal.
4. Marketing Strategy Development: Marketing strategy development refers to the initial
marketing strategy for introducing the product to the market. Designing an initial

marketing strategy for a new product based on the product concept. Marketing strategy
statement includes:
I. Description of the target market
II. Value proposition
III. Sales and profit goals
5. Business analysis: once management has decided on its product concept and marketing
strategy, it can evaluate the business attractiveness of the proposal. Business analysis
involves a review of the sales, costs, and profit projections to find out whether they
satisfy the company’s objectives. If they do, the product can move to the product
development stage.
6. Product development: if the product concept passes the business test, it moves into
product development. Example R & D or engineering develops the product concept into a
physical product. The product development step, however, now calls for a large jump in
investment. it will show whether the product idea can be turned into a workable product.
7. Test marketing: Test marketing is the stage at which the product and marketing program
are introduced into more realistic marketing setting. Test marketing gives the marketer
experience with marketing the product before going to the great expense of full
introduction. it lets the company test the product and its entire marketing program-
targeting and positioning strategy, advertising, distribution, pricing, branding and
packaging and budget levels. Market can be test in three ways. They are 1. Standard test
markets 2. Controlled test markets 3. Simulated test markets.
8. Commercialization: test marketing gives management the information needed to make a
final decision about whether to lunch the new product. It the company goes ahead with
commercialization-introducing the new product into the market-it will face high costs.
The company launching a new product must first decide on introduction timing. Next, the
company must decide where to lunch the new product-in a single location, a region, the
national market or the international market.

What is Product Life Cycle (PLC)? Stages of product life cycle.

Product Life Cycle: the course of a products sales and profits over its lifetime. It involves five
distinct stages: product development, introduction, growth, maturity and decline

Stages of product life cycle are given below:

1. Product development: it begins when the company finds and develops a new product idea.
During product development, sales are zero and the company’s investment costs mount.

2. Introduction: it is a period of slow sales growth as the product is introduced in the market.
Profits are nonexistent in this stage because of the heavy expenses of product introduction.
3. Growth: a. Sales increase
b. New competitors enter the market
c. Price stability or decline to increase volume
d. Consumer education
e. Profits increase
f. Promotion and manufacturing costs gain economies of scale

4. Maturity: it is a period of slowdown in sales growth because the product has achieved
acceptance by most potential buyers. Profits level off or decline because of increased
marketing outlays to defend the product against competition.
a. Slowdown in sales
b. Many suppliers
c. Substitute products
d. Overcapacity leads to competition
e. Increased promotion and R&D to support sales and profits

5. Decline: it is the period when Sales fall off and profits drop.
a. Maintain the product
b. Harvest the product
c. Drop the product

Describe how marketing strategies change throughout the products life cycle.
Marketing strategies at introduction stage:
1. Marketer should make a heavy budget for creating product awareness.
2. The cost approach at the introduction stage is cost plus.
 3. As there is a risk involve in the introduction stage the marketer should use selective
distribution channel.
4. The marketer should initiate a consistent and competitive strategy to become a market
pioneer.
Growth stage
1. In the growth stage the number of customer increase as a result the marketer offer
product extensions, service warranty of a product.
2. The pricing strategy follows in this stage is market penetration strategy.
3. Growing number of customers enforce the marketer to distribute the goods through
intensive distribution channel.
4. Advertising objective is to convert the product customers from product awareness to
product differences.
5. In this stage sales promotion activities are reduce to take advantage of consumer demand.
Maturity stage
In this stage the number of seller increase and competition within the market also increase. The
marketer should be very much conscious and attentive to initiate marketing strategy. Usually in
this stage the marketer follow three strategies. They are:
1. Modifying the market
1.1. New users
1.2. New market segment
1.3. Usage rate
2. Modifying the product: modify the product such as changing characteristics such as
quality, features, style or packaging to attract new users and to inspire more usage. It can
improve the products styling and attractiveness.
3. Modifying the marketing mix: the company can try to improve sales by changing one or
more marketing mix elements. The company can offer new or improved services to
buyers. It can cut prices to attract new users and competitors customers.
Decline stage
Sales could be decline for technological advances, shifts in consumer testes, and increased
competition, change consumer interest, likings, income, preference, brand switching, accept new
product, style, durability etc.

Briefly discuss the marketing strategies adopted in the decline stage of

product life cycle.
The marketing strategies adopted in the decline stage lf product life cycle are given below:
1. Phase out weak items: phase out weak items means customers gradually dislike the
product than other companies product. Phase out those items and focus on other items to
strong them.
2. Cut price: when competitor arrives in the market with the same product then the existing
product is remaining unsold. So for the sale of product the marketer cut his product price.
It is an effective strategy for the marketer for selling their product.
3. Go selective: a company launches at a time many products in the market. When
competitor prevails in the market then the company should quit the product which is
dislike by the consumer and give more emphasize or focus on that product which is liked
by the consumers.
4. Reduce the level needed to retain hard core loyal: hard core loyal means some person
who is not going to purchase without specific brands product. When there are competitor
arise and arise of new product then the company should not quit its all the product.
Because there may be some hard core person for their product. So reduce the level of
product for serving those hard core consumers.
5. Reduce to minimal level: at a sudden if a company stops its production of product, so
the company may face a huge amount of loss. For avoiding such loss the company can
reduce the production of that product and can adopt new one for surviving in the market.