What is PRODUCT ?

A Product can referred as – “ Set of tangible offering made available to the consumer to
satisfy his/her needs.

Features 
1. Tangible Attributes
It means that it may be touched, seen and its physical presence felt, like, cycle, book,
pencil, table etc.
2. Intangible Attributes
The product may be intangible in the form of service, such as banking, insurance or
repairing services.
3. Exchange value
The third characteristics of a product are that it must have exchange value.
Every product, whether tangible or intangible, should have an exchange value and
should be capable of being exchanged between the buyer and seller for a mutually
agreed consideration.
4. Utility Benefits
It should have a utility like a bundle of potential utility or benefits.
Characteristics of Product
~ Set of Tangible & Intangible attributes.
~ Includes color, price, packaging and branding .
~ Designed and presented to satisfy some specific
consumer needs .
~ Main aim is to provide maximum consumer
satisfaction .
~ Consumer satisfaction from product may be real or
psychological in nature.
~ Each brand in marketing is a separate product .
3 Levels of Product
 A FEATURE A BENEFIT IS
IS WHAT WHAT
SOMETHING SOMETHING
IS DOES
Product strategy helps in deciding the basic elements of a
product such as its marketing mix and its design. At the same time, it
also helps in targeting the product to the right segment, product line
 stretching etc.

Elements of a product strategy

1) What are you selling?

2) Who are you selling to ?

3) What value do you provide your customer ?

4) How will you price your product ?

5) How will you distribute your product ?

Design - What exactly do you want to sell to potential customers? What will you
design to make it stand out from other companies? For example, attractive product
design draws more customers towards your product.
Features - What features will you add to increase the benefits offered to your target
market? How does your product differ from the others? "Marketing is not about
providing products or services, it is essentially about providing changing benefits to
the changing needs and demands of the customer"[5] Product features differentiate
amongst competitors.
Quality - A product's quality should be consistent to make sure that the product
meets the expectations of their target market. Thus, strengthening the firm's
reputation.
Branding - Brands have the power of instant sales and they convey the message of
confidence, quality and reliability to their target market. It is also used a tool for
companies to differentiate itself from their competitors. [6]
Target Market - Identify whom you're selling to. Who to aim your product at? How
will customers view your product in the marketplace? "The organisation's marketing
task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and to achieve
the desired results more effectively and efficiently than competitors, in a way that
preserves or enhances the consumer's or society's well-being." [7]
Positioning - How does the company plan to position its product in the market?
Different factors will need to be considered when you position your product in the
marketplace as it will impact on consumer's perceptions about your product and
brand. For example, how you will price the product and the quality of it. [8]
Importance of Product Strategy

1 It helps decide the exact steps to be taken in any event to make

the product a success.

2 It prepares the company for response by competitors or towards

changing market conditions.

3 It helps the company decide the target market and in 

market penetration.

4 A product vision is formed there by setting the product on an

independent path with a time to time intervention allowing the
company to focus on multiple products in a short time.
PRODUCT MIX

Product Mix is defined as the set of all products and items that a
particular seller offers for sale.
A product Mix consists of various product lines.

For example, Samsung offers mobiles, T.V’s, A.C’s, washing

machines, etc. Here mobiles is one product line, T.V is one
product line, etc. Samsung offers many different products which
are treated as different product lines, together called as product
mix of samsung.
The product mix has four dimensions: Breadth, Length, Depth,
and Consistency
 Breadth of a product mix 
The different kinds of product lines that firm carries. Simply, it shows the
number of items in the product line.
This dimension of the product mix represents the extent to which the
activities of the firm are diversified.
In the example below, there are 4 product lines that show the width of the
ITC.
 Length of a Product mix
It refers to the number of items in the product mix. In the example
below the length is 11. As in the foods line, the number of items is 3,
in cigarettes is 3 and so on.. On adding all the items, we get the
length of a product.
 
Depth of a product mix 
It refers to the variants of each product in the product line. For
example, in the example below, curry, pastes, biryanis, conserves,
etc. shows the depth of the foods product line.
 Consistency of a product mix
It shows the extent to which the product lines are closely related
to each other in terms of their end-use, distribution
requirements, production requirements, price ranges,
advertising media, etc.
In the above example, it is clear that ITC’s product lines are less
consistent as these perform different functions for the buyers.
Product Line
A product line is a group of related products all marketed under a
single brand name that is sold by the same company.

For instance: Amul offers a series of closely related products such

as milk, butter, ghee, dahi, yoghurt, ice cream, srikhand, Gulab
jamun, flavoured milk, chocolate, etc.
another example : Patanjali deals in different categories
of products which include shampoo, flour, toothpaste, etc.
Positioning
It refers to the place that a brand occupies in the minds of the customers
and how it is distinguished from the products of the competitors.
However, for other products like Butter and cheese, both high end and
low end customers are the target. In terms of positioning, Amul has top
of the mind positioning because it is the first brand which comes in mind
when talking of Ice cream, milk, cheese, butter or any other milk
based products.

Strategy
A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim .
6-Step Brand Positioning Strategy Process
There are 7 key steps to effectively clarify your positioning in the
marketplace:
1) Determine how your brand is currently positioning itself

2) Identify your direct competitors

3) Understand how each competitor is positioning their brand

4) Compare your positioning to your competitors to identify your

uniqueness

5) Develop a distinct and value-based positioning idea

6) Test the efficacy of your brand positioning statement

How to Create a Brand Positioning Statement
There are four essential elements of a best-in-class positioning
statement:
Target Customer: What is a concise summary of the attitudinal
and demographic description of the target group of customers
your brand is attempting to appeal to and attract?
Market Definition: What category is your brand competing in and
in what context does your brand have relevance to your
customers?
Brand Promise: What is the most compelling (emotional/rational)
benefit to your target customers that your brand can own relative
to your competition?
Reason to Believe: What is the most compelling evidence that
your brand delivers on its brand promise?
Examples of Taglines
Mercedes-Benz: Engineered like no other car in the world
BMW: The ultimate driving machine
Famous Footwear: The value shoe store for families
L’Oreal: Because you’re worth it.
Walmart: Always low prices. Always.
Nike: Just do it
Coca-Cola: The real thing
  Product Strategy over life Cycle

The product life cycle is an important concept in marketing. It

describes the stages a product goes through from when it
was first thought of until it finally is removed from the
market.
Not all products reach this final stage. Some continue to
grow and others rise and fall.
The main stages of the product life cycle are:
Introduction – launching the product into the market
Growth – when sales are increasing at their fastest rate
Maturity – sales are near their highest, but the rate of growth is
slowing down, e.g. new competitors in market or saturation
Decline – final stage of the cycle, when sales begin to fall
New Product Development Process
New product- A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy
need and
Wants.
A New product is any product which is perceived by the customer as being
new.

New product categories are

1) New to the world.
2) New to the product line.
3) Additions to the existing product line.
4) Improvements & revision of existing products .
5) Repositioning.
6) Cost reductions.
The process consist of following steps :
1st Idea Generation
Idea generation is continuous, systematic search for new product
opportunities.
Idea from using creativity generating techniques and generated through
firm’s Internal sources &external sources.

2nd Idea Screening

Filtering the ideas to pick out goods ones & dropping the poor ones. This is
the first idea reducing stage.the objective is eliminate unsound concepts.

3rd Concept Development & Testing

Here, the product idea is converted into product concept.
A product idea means possible product that company may offer to the
market.
A product concept is a detailed version of the idea stated in meaningful
consumer terms
Concept testing means presenting the product concept to target
consumers ,physically or symbolically, and getting their reaction.
4th Marketing strategy Development(copy m)
After concept testing , for concepts that qualify a preliminary marketing
strategy is created to introduce new product into market.
5th Business Analysis

This stage will decide whether from financial as well as marketing point of view
, the project is beneficial or not.

Estimate likely selling price based upon competition and customer feedback.

Estimate sales volume based upon size of market.

Estimate profitability and break-even point.

If above are match with the company objectives, then the new product
concept moves to product development .
6th Product Development ( copy m)

Up to now , the product has existed only as word description, a

drawing

The company will now determine whether the product idea can
translate into a technically and commercially feasible product.
7th Market Testing ( copy m hai)
Now the product is ready to be branded with a name , logo,
and packaging and go into a preliminary testing.

Marketing testing involves placing a product for sale in one or

more selected area and observing its actual performance under
the proposed marketing plan.

Methods for market testing:

1) sales wave research
2) Simulated test marketing.
3) Controlled testing marketing.
4) Test markets.

8th commercialisation ( copy m hai)

8th Commercialization
After successful market testing , new product comes to
commercialisation stage.
During this stage , production of new product on a commercial basis is
rapidly built up and implementing a total marketing plan.

For formally launching a new product , the following decisions to be

taken
1) When to launch (timing)
2) Where to launch(geographic strategy)
3) To whom (Target market prospects)
4) How to launch (introductory market strategy)
THANK YOU