Levels of product

- Products need to be thought about on three levels including Core Product, actual product and augmented product.

- Core product is the most basic level of product, it consists of the problem solving benefits or core benefits that consumers seeks when the buy the product.

- Actual product is the second level of product, it is a product’s parts, quality level, features, design, brand name, packaging and other attributes that combine to deliver core product benefits.

- The third level of product is augmented product. Augmented product is additional consumer services and benefits built around the core and actual products.

6.3/ PRODUCT DECISIONS

Marketers make product decisions at three levels: individual product decisions, product line decisions and product mix decisions. 

        6.3.1/ Individual product decisions

Individual product decisions are decisions relating to the development and marketing of individual products, namely product attributes, branding, packaging, labelling and product-support services.

·         Product attributes

- Using product attributes means in developing a product means defining the benefits that the product will offer. These attributes are quality, features, style and design.

o   Product quality

- Quality has a direct impact on product performance; it is one of the criteria that contributes to customer value and satisfaction. 

- Quality has two dimensions: quality level and quality consistency.

 o   Product features

- Features are a tool for a company to differentiate its products from products of competitors..

- When developing a product based on features, each feature should be consider on the basis of customer value versus its company cost.

o   Product style and design

- Distinctive product style and design is another way to add customer value.

- In the intensified competition, design is becoming a powerful tool for companies to differentiate and position their products.

·         Branding

- Brand is viewed as an important part of a product and branding can add value to a product. A brand can provide a guarantee of reliability and quality.

·         Packaging

- Packaging is the activities of designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product.

- The package may include the product’s primary container (the bottle that contain perfumes ); a secondary package that is thrown away when the product is about

to be used (the box that contains the bottle of perfume); and the shipping package

necessary to store, identify and ship the product (a big box carrying six or dozen of bottles  of perfume). Labelling, printed information appearing on or with the package, is also part of packaging.

- Increased competition has led to the fact that packages now have to perform many tasks – from attracting customers to describing the product and making the sale.

·         Labelling

- Labels may range from simple tags attached to products to complex graphics that are part of the package.

 - In recent years, labels are required to state unit pricing (the price per unit of

standard measure),  nutritional labelling (the nutritional values in the product) and the time period that the products have to be used.

·         Product-support services

- Product-support services are services that augment actual products.

- In determining supporting services, a company should consider two things: the value of various services to customers and the costs of providing these services.

          6.3.2/ Product-line decisions

- 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 outlet, or fall within given price ranges.

- The major product line decision involves product line length, which means the number of items in the product line.

-  The line is too short if the manager can increase profits by adding items; the line is too long if the manager can increase profits by dropping items.

- Over time, product line managers tend to add new products to the lines, there are two ways that a company can use to increase the length of its product line: by stretching its line or by filling its line

·         Product line stretching

- Product line stretching is increasing the product line by lengthening it beyond its current range.

·         Product line-filling decisions

- Product line filling is increasing the product line by adding more items within the present range of the line.

   6.3.3/ Product-mix decisions

- Some companies may offer not one but several lines of products which form a product mix or product assortment.

- Product mix (product assortment) is the set of allproduct lines and items thata particular seller offers forsale to buyers.

- Each product line may consist of sublines.

- A product mix has four dimensions: Width, length, depth and consistency.

   + The width of a product mix refers to the number of product lines a firm offers.

   + The length of a product mix refers to the total number of items a company carries within its product lines.

   + The depth refers to variations or the number of versions in each product that the firm markets in its mix.

  + The consistencyof the product mix refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels or

some other way.

- A firm can increase its business in some ways:

+ Adding new product lines to widen its product mix.

+ Lengthening its existing product lines

+ Adding more product versions of each product to deepen its product mix.

+ Purchasing product lines from other companies or acquiring entire companies through mergers or acquisitions.