Product (business)

For other uses, see Product.

In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need. However it is much more than just a physical object. It is the complete bundle of benefits or satisfactions that buyers perceive they will obtain if they purchase the product. It is the sum of all physical, psychological, symbolic, and service attributes.

A product is similar to goods. In accounting, goods are physical objects that are available in the marketplace. This differentiates them from a service, which is a non-material product. The term goods is used primarily by those that wish to abstract from the details of a given product. As such it is useful in accounting and economic models. The term product is used primarily by those that wish to examine the details and richness of a specific market offering. As such it is useful to marketers, managers, and quality control specialists.

A "man" can also be an "experience", which like a service is intangible. However an experience is unique to the receiving individual, based upon their history. Example: amusement parks offer cotton candy (product), acceptance of credit cards (service), and audience participation at the dolphin show (experience). My value of the dolphin show is different from yours, and to the extent I value it more, will trade more for it (money).

The word "product" is also used as a pejorative term to describe teenagers who have homogenized themselves in the sense they have become indistinguishable due to their clothing, possessions, and brands they choose to display (at least at first glance).

Three aspects

There are three aspects to any product or service:

1. Core Benefit
   • In-use benefits
   • Psychological benefits (e.g., self-image enhancement, hope, status, self worth)
   • Problem reduction benefits (e.g., safety, convenience)
2. Tangible Product or Service
   • Product attributes and features

Classifying products

Product management involves developing strategies and tactics that will increase product demand (referred to as primary demand) over the product's life cycle. One useful technique in understanding a product is the Aspinwall Classification System. It classifies and rates products based on five variables:

1. Replacement rate (how frequently is the product repurchased?)
2. Gross margin (how much profit is obtained from each product?)
3. Buyer goal adjustment (how flexible are the buyers' purchasing habits with regard to this product?)
4. Duration of product satisfaction (how long will the product produce benefits for the user?)
5. Duration of buyer search behaviour (how long will they shop for the product?)

Types of products

There are several types of products:

• comparison with other goods
• Specialty goods: extensive comparisons with other goods and a lengthy information search
• Unsought goods: e.g., cemetery plots, insurance
• Perishable goods: goods that will deteriorate quickly even without use
• Durable goods: goods that survive multiple use occasions, often further subdivided into `white goods'

(refrigerators and cookers, for example) and `brown goods' (such as furniture, as well as electrical/electronic devices)[[1]]

• Non-durable/consumption/consumable goods: goods that are used up in one occasion
• Capital goods: installations, equipment, and buildings
• Parts and materials: goods that go into a finished product
• Supplies and services: goods that facilitate production
• Commodities: undifferentiated goods (e.g., wheat, gold, sugar)
• By-products: a product that results from the manufacture of another product

See also

• Product management
• Brand management
• Whole product

Finding related topics

• List of accounting topics
• List of business ethics, political economy, and philosophy of business topics
• List of business law topics
• List of economics topics
• List of finance topics
• List of human resource management topics
• List of information technology management topics
• List of management topics
• List of marketing topics
• List of production topics