Products and Service Decisions

Now that we’ve answeredthe “What is a product?”question, we dig into the specific decisions that companies must makewhen designing and marketingproducts and services.

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3 Levels of Decisions

Individual Product

DecisionsProduct

Line Decisions

Product Mix Decisions

INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT DECISIONS

Product

Attributes

Branding

Packaging

Labeling

Product

Support

Services

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1. Product and Service Attributes

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Product quality• The characteristics of a product or servicethat bear on its ability to satisfy stated orimplied customer needs.

Total Quality Management• Is an approach in which all of the company’s people are

involved in constantly improving the quality of products, services, and business processes.

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Product Features • Features are a competitive tool for differentiating the

company’s product from competitors’ products.

Product Style and Design• Style simply describes the appearance of a product.

• Design is more than skin deep—it goes to the very heartof a product; it contributes to a product’s usefulness as well as to its looks.

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2. Branding

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Brand• A name, term, sign, symbol, design, or acombination of these, that identifies theproducts or services of one seller or groupof sellers and differentiates them fromthose of competitors.

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3. Packaging

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Packaging• The activities of designing and

producing the container or wrapper for a product

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4. Labeling

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Label• It identifies the product or brand. The label also

describe several things about the product—who made it, where it was made, when it was made, its contents, how it is to be used, and how to use it safely.

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5. Product Support Services

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Product Line Decisions

Product line• 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.

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A company can expand its product line in two ways: by line filling or line stretching.

• Product line filling- involves adding more items within the present range of the line.

• Product line stretching - occurs when a company lengthens its product line beyond its current range.

Unilever products

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Product Mix Decisions

Product mix (or product portfolio)• The set of all product lines and items that a

particular seller offers for sale.

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A company’s product mix has four important dimensions: width, length, depth, and consistency.

• Product mix width- refers to the number of different product lines the company carries.

• Product mix length-refers to the total number of items a company carries within its product lines.

• Product mix depth- refers to the number of versions offered for each product in the line.

• Consistency of the product mix- refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or some other way.

Soap Shampoo Cream Toothpaste

PERSONAL CARE FOOD & DRINKS

Tea Ice cream

Lux

Dove

Lifebuoy

Clear

Dove

Lifebuoy

Close up

Pepsodent

Cornetto

Magnum

Lipton

Supreme

Ponds

Dove

Fair & Lovely

Product Mix

Depth

Product Line - 1

Product Mix Width

Product Line - 2

Product Line Length Product Line Length

Product Mix Length

Consistency

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Slide by: Patricia De Vera