Product Definaitions is an important part of the marketing mix. On a daily basis, we purchase a number of items to meet our needs like food items, books clothes, and makeup items, consult the medical professional for treatment, and visit banks for financial services. When we are purchasing an item from the market in fact we are not purchasing the item, we are purchasing the features or attributes associated with that item to satisfy our needs. Therefore the product definations plays an important role in its promotion.

Product definitions are anything like items which has a physical appearance or service that has no physical appearance. It is utilizing to fulfill the needs or wants of a person. Therefore it may be tangible or intangible that satisfies the needs or wants of the human is termed a product.

Product Definations With Examples [2024]

According to William Stanton, “Product is complex of tangible and intangible attributes, including packaging, color, price, prestige, and services, that satisfy needs and wants of people.” The definitions of the product by different authors are as

• Alderson: “A product is a bundle of utilities consisting of various features and accompanying services.”
• Schwartz: “A product is something a firm market 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.”

Rustam S. Davar: “A product may be regarded from the marketing viewpoint as a bundle of benefits which are being offered to consumers.

Thus, we can say a product is both what a seller has to sell and what the buyer has to buy. Buyer will buy a product that can offer him expected satisfaction.

Dr. Philip Kotler says that “Product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need, including physical goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas”.

Product classification on various bases. On the basis of usage, products are dividing

1-consumer product

2-Industrial products.

Consumer products are further divided on the basis of Durability and shopping habits. Similarly, Industrial products are further divided on the basis of product and service as mentioned in the diagram as follows

Features Of Product Definations

I.CONSUMER PRODUCTS :

Ultimate final consumer purchase these products for personal consumption and are satisfying their needs and desires. Durable products are making more efforts and seeking more information for the section of such kinds of products because these products are costly, less frequently purchased, and long-lasting. Like automobiles refrigerators, Air-conditions, etc.These products require more selling efforts to sales because their cost is relatively higher the non-durable products.

Nondurable products = Their life span is less than 2 years. These products are frequently using and require less information, experience, or research for their purchase. Heavy advertising, large sales volume, low margin, and frequent retail outlets required e.g. soap, washing powder, matchbox, stationery products, etc.

1. BASED ON SHOPPING EFFORTS :
2. Convenience Goods

These products require less effort and planning to purchase and are relatively cheaper. Customers usually prefer their perceived brand but also shift to substitute in case of non-availability of their preferred brand like bread, newspaper, soft drink chewing gum, etc. These products are purchasing frequently. Sales volume is high as these products are selling through a large number of retail outlets. Such kinds of products need Less promotion and high advertising.  These products also have low margins because of their sales volume.

From the marketer’s perspective, the low price of convenience products means that the profit per unit sold is very low. In order to make high profits marketers must sell in large volume. Consequently, marketers attempt to distribute these products in mass through as many retail outlets as possible. Most of the products are branded.

2 . Shopping Goods

Consumer goods in which buying decisions are taking detailed considerations of price, quality, suitability, and value for products. Goodworth brand products are usually preferred to purchase. As these products are high in price, therefore consumers do more research and plan before going to purchase these products. Retailers are playing a very important role in their purchase

Example – Laptop, Jewellery, Furniture, Shoes, Television.

3. Specialty Products

Specialty products have one or more special characteristics, and significant groups of buyers are willing to purchase these products. Therefore Customers are willing to make considerable efforts and ready to make higher payments to purchase them and not accept substitutes. e.g. Artwork, Antiques, etc. These products are available in some specific outlets. It requires Aggressive promotion

4. Unsought Goods

In such kinds of products, the consumers are unaware or not actively interested to pursue to purchasing them. As a result, consumers have no active interest in buying such kind of products because the product will be new to them as well and they may be unaware of the benefits the product will offer them. Take examples of products like insurance, accident insurance, prepaid funeral plans, etc. For such kinds of products, marketers use Aggressive personal selling and advertising campaigns for their promotion. Industrial products are mainly using for further production.

According to Philip Kotler, “Industrial products are products bought by individuals and organizations for further processing or for use in conducting a business”.

Product Definations:

CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS :

1. Number of Buyers-Limited.
Example: Limited numbers of Sugar mills are purchasing sugar cane from the farmers in huge quantities, but a large number of people are buying sugar, which is a consumer product.

2. Channel Levels – Shorter: Direct selling or one-level channel.

3. Geographic Concentration: Highly Concentrated.

4. Derived Demand: The demand for industrial products comes from the demand for consumer products.

EXAMPLE – The demand for leather is coming from the demand for shoes and other leather products in the market.

5. Role of Technical Considerations- Greater significance in the purchase of industrial products as they are complex.

6. Reciprocal Buying – Some big companies from basic industries like oil, steel, rubber, and medicines resort to the practice of reciprocal buying. Reciprocal buying is simply the practice of giving preference to suppliers who are also customers.

7. Leasing Out rather than purchasing industrial products is the trend because of the heavy price of the products.

TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS :

1. Materials and parts: Raw materials are the basic materials that actually become part of the product and that enter the manufacturer’s product completely.
   They are provided from mines, forests, oceans, farms, and recycled solid wastes. It has two types:-a). Raw materials- Includes farm products like cotton, sugar cane, oil seed, and natural products like minerals (Iron ore, Crude petroleum ) .b). Manufactured materials and parts – Includes

• Component materials: grass, iron, plastic.
• Component Parts: Tyre Bulb, Steering, Battery.

2. Capital Items:

Capital items consist of goods that are using in the production of finished goods like office accessories and operating materials.

It has two types:
a). Accessory equipment
b). Installations

3. Supplies: 

Supplies facilitate production, however, they do not become part of the finished product.

EXAMPLES -Paper, pencils, oils, cleaning agents and paints.

4. Industrial Services:

Industrial services include maintenance and repair services such as machinery repair. It also provides business advisory services such as legal, management, consulting, advertising, and marketing research services.
Moreover, these services can be acquired internally as well as externally

Conclusions:

The product mix consists of the total number of products a company develops and sells. Within a product mix, there are four dimensions—, length, width, depth, and consistency. Here is a brief description of each dimension:

1.         Length: The length consists of the total number of products in the mix. For example, the product mix of a Company has more than 100 items in various product lines, such as fans, bulbs and tubes, heaters,  iron, Computers motorbikes, shooters, rich-show, processing machines, and many other ranges.
2.     Width: The width of a product mix refers to the total number of product lines a business has. For example, if a breakfast food company has a product line for hot cereal, cold cereal, and breakfast snacks, it would have a width of three because it has three product lines.
3. Depth: Depth is the number of variations within a product line. Variations consist of different sizes, flavors, colors, or other distinguishable characteristics. If the breakfast food company’s product line for hot cereal included strawberry, apple, banana, and cinnamon flavors, the depth of that particular product line would be four.
4. Consistency: The consistency of the product mix refers to how closely products relate to each other in terms of use, distribution channels, or type of consumer.  Moreover, The breakfast food company is likely going to have a higher consistency of product lines than a retail company that sells shoes, clothes, and home goods.

Product life cycle

A product is like a living organism. It is introduced in the market; it grows and when it loses its appeal, it also goes downward.

The product life cycle has four stages That is introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

The Marketers at each step of the life cycle use different marketing strategies relating to competition and promotion. distribution, pricing, and marketing research to get the maximum revenue and market share.

Now we are also going to discuss the four stage of the product lifecycle:

INTRODUCTION- After deep research at this stage the marketer introduces the product in the market, makes sure of the availability in shopping outlets, and is trying its best to make the availability of the product to the customers in the most convenient way. At this stage, the sales volume is very low.  The profit margin is also low. Heavy advertisement is equally important. Because it provides information on product differentiation. Besides this, the company is trying to present that the product is superior to its competitors and satisfy the customer’s want in a better way than others.  As a result slowly the demand and sales of the product are increasing.

GROWTH- At this stage sales are growing rapidly and profit is growing. The growth stage is critical to the product’s survival because the competitor’s reaction affects its growth and even life.  In fact, at this point, the aggressive marketing strategy is also equally important in building up brand loyalty.  Also, of many competitors in the market at this stage, therefore the price adjustment strategy can maintain the market share.

MATURITY- At this stage number of competitors in the market.  Besides this, the innovative efforts of the competitor the sale volume of the product is not increasing. Therefore, the price of the product should also be reduced to stay in the competition. Now,  marketing campaigns focus on product differentiation instead of awareness, pointing out your superior product features too. Hence, during this stage, production costs decrease and sales are steady.