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Principles of Marketing - Philip Kotler

Summary

Product - the first and most important element of the marketing mix. Trade policy requires the adoption of consistent decisions relating to individual product units, product range and product mix.

Each individual commodity unit, offered to consumers, may be viewed in terms of three levels. Goods on a plan - it is the main service that really gets the buyer. Product performance in the real - is offered for sale goods with a certain set of properties, due to their design, the level of quality, brand name and packaging. Goods with reinforcements - a commodity in real performance, along with the accompanying services such as warranty, installation, or installation, preventative maintenance, and free shipping.

There are several methods of classification of goods. For example, products can be classified according to the degree of durability inherent to them (non-durable goods, durable goods, and services). Consumer goods are usually classified based on the buying habits of consumers (consumer goods, pre-selection of products, goods and commodities much in demand passive demand). Manufactured products are classified according to their degree of participation in the production process (materials and parts, capital goods, supplies and services).

The company needs to develop commodity-branding, the provisions of which it will be guided in relation to the marketing units, which is part of its product range. She must decide whether it is necessary at all to resort to the use of trademarks, whether to use the names of the manufacturer or private label, what qualities you need to lay in the branded product, whether to have a collective brand name for a product family or individual brand name, whether to expand the boundaries of brand names, extending it to new products, whether it is advisable to offer more branded products compete with each other.

Material goods require decisions on their packaging, which is to ensure the protection of the goods, cost savings, ease of use of the product and its promotion. In addition, the material goods require labeling that identifies the goods, possibly indicating his grade, describes the properties and helps stimulate its sales. US law requires the presence of sellers on the labels of the goods offered for sale a certain minimum of information designed to inform and protect consumers.

The company should develop a range of services that consumers want to have, and that would be an effective tool in the fight against competitors. The firm has to decide what kind of the most important services should be offered, what should be the quality of each of the services offered and the forms in which these services will be offered. Activities for the provision of services can be coordinated complex department of customer service, which works with complaints and comments, engaged in lending issues, logistics, maintenance, and information intended for distribution to customers.

Most firms produce more than one of some goods, and produce some product portfolio. The product range - a group of products that are similar in function, the nature of consumer needs, to meet which they buy, or the nature of their distribution channels. Each product range requires its own marketing strategy. The problem of increasing product range requires a decision as to whether it should be build up, down or in both directions. assortment saturation problem requires the adoption of a decision on whether to add new products to its existing framework. It requires decisions and the question of what kind of products should represent the entire range in the sales promotion activities.

Under the commodity nomenclature refers to a set of product groups of goods and trade items offered by a particular buyer by the seller. Commodity nomenclature can be described in terms of its breadth, richness, depth and harmony. These four parameters that characterize the commodity nomenclature, are tools in the process of development by its product policy.