Answers on the Quetions about Marketing Products

ASSIGNMENT 8

1. Provide examples of the four types of consumer products and give an example of each. How does the marketing differ for each product type?

This classification of products is involved with goods and services that are majoring meant for personal consumption. It is noted that these products and services are further categorized further into four depending on the manner in which these consumers of the final products go about making their purchases.

Convenience Products

Consumers usually make purchases of these products on a regular basis and instantly without putting much effort of comparing them. Basically these products have low price tags and the price and quality is the least concern of the consumers. They include, soap, bread and a lighting bulb. Marketing of these products is done by placing them in many locations in order to make them available for the consumers.

Shopping Products

Contrary to convenience products, this category is said to be less frequently bought by the customers who have to make comparisons of their prices and quality. Before making any purchases, consumers have to develop a plan and go by the plan in order to buy the right products and services. Clothing, furniture, hotel services and appliances are some of the examples that fall under this group. For efficiency, ,marketers usually avail these products and services through fewer outlets while providing support that is sufficient to their customers in order to make them make enough comparison before making up their minds on which products and services best suit their needs.

Specialty Products

These kinds of products and services have high prices that are specifically bought by customers due to their high loyalty to the preferred brand. These consumers do not concentrate on comparing these products with others from other companies; they are insensitive to low prices. Rolex watches, fancy phones, services offered by legal specialists and luxurious cars are some of the examples listed in the special products. Marketers, in this case, target that seek a luxurious life by distributing few of the products in the retail shops because the customers that opt for this kind of products are few.

Unsought Products

The last type of consumer products is the unsought which is basically not in the interest of the consumer and rarely bought. This involves new innovations. Some examples that listed under this category include life insurance and blood donations. In this case, advertising is the best way to make sure that the products are known and accessed by customers in the market.

2. Explain the importance of product quality and discuss how marketers use quality to create customer value.

The main importance of quality of the product produced by accompany is based on the ability of this product to satisfy the needs of the customers. It is noticeable when many customers storm the stores for these products and seek to be served again and again. This indicates that the product is valuable. Marketers from companies usually are interested in creating customer value through two observable dimensions; quality level and consistency. In order to satisfy the needs of the customer, marketers and companies make sure that their product or services is positioned in a manner that it can perform its functions effectively in comparison with other products other competitors in the market. Sometimes, it needs an added advantage over the other companies products to create the performance quality. The added advantage serves as the highest quality level when compared with the other similar products in the market. In addition to this, the nature of the consistency of producing high quality products complements each other in order to create customer value. Consistency in delivering the targeted quality performance as well as making sure that the product is free from defects or has minimal defects is the sure ware to maintain product quality and create customer value.

3. What is a brand? How does branding help both buyer and sellers? Why are there many people willing to pay more for branded products than non-branded?

A name, symbol, a type of design as well as a combination of all these that is used in giving the exact identity to the actual producer of a product or service is what is known as a brand. Branding is essential creates a meaning to both the seller and the buyer. For customers, branding helps them to make comparisons between several products before making the right choice. The differences that exist between products and services offered by different sellers are what define the value created by the customer. Therefore, this plays a big role in the seller domain; the seller uses branding in order to create a unique quality product and service offering that can be considered to be the best solution providers to the problems or challenges of the customer.

4. What are the four characteristics of services that marketers must consider when designing marketing programs? How do the services offered by a doctors office differ from those offered by a bank?

There are four characteristics of services that marketers should embrace in order to design marketing programs that are effective for their companies.

Service intangibility- this is an indication that services cannot be seen, felt or tasted and the end product of the services shows how quality the service offered by a certain seller is. Therefore, marketing programs should have strategies that make display the actual process of service delivery and at the end of the process, the quality of the service should be reflected by the impact it has on the customer.

In marketing, service inseparability should be a major concern of the sellers because the service offered is consumed at the same time and at the point of sale. Therefore, the marketer should be the brand and should brand himself or herself in the best way possible in order to gain a customer base.

Since, the service and the marketer are inseparable; service variability is a common characteristic in services. The seller should consider identifying the best person to deliver the service, the best place of delivery as well as the manner of delivery. This will avoid the flop of service delivery and increase effectiveness.

Lastly, service perishability is a vital characteristic since services cannot be stored and therefore, to avoid difficulties companies should try strike a balance between demand and supply.

Section 2

1. Using your product as defined in Assignment 5, define the three levels of a product

The three product levels that exist in marketing include:

- Core customer value-it is considered to be the most basic level because, it defines the kind of problem that the customers have and the best solution (product quality) that sellers will develop.

- Actual product- in this level, the defined features and characteristics of the product in the basic level should be combined through processing in order to come up with the final product.

- Augmented product- in order to have a product that is acceptable and thrives in the market, planners should design and introduce additional services and benefits to the customer. For instance, Porsche, a luxurious car has a warranty as an additional benefit to their customers.

ASSIGNMENT 9

1. Name and describe the major steps in the new-product development process.

The following are steps that ought to be observed in new-product development process. These steps are idea generation, idea screening, concept development and testing, marketing strategy, business analysis, product development, test marketing and commercialization.

The first step in new development-product is idea generation. The firm needs to come up with new ideas so as to be relevant in the market. The sources for these are customers, internet and other business companies or personnel. Consequently, after generation of idea, idea screening counts. The company needs to determine the feasibility of the idea and if it will meet the threshold of the perceived market. In addition to that, concept development and testing takes the center stage. Here, the developed idea needs to be put in place to determine its viability.

When the idea has been developed and tested, marketing strategy becomes paramount. Plan is drawn to establish the intended coverage of a given product. Business analysis is carried out for purpose of identifying the challenges encircling the product. Product development entails the products suitability in the market. Some research and market promotion is done to determine its suitability in the market. Similarly, test marketing is carried out as a piloting strategy to know the tastes of customers who are the central users of the product. Lastly, commercialization plays an integral part in marketing of this new product in the market.

2. What is test marketing? Explain why companies may or may not test market products and discuss alternatives to full test markets.

Test marketing is the stage where the new product is introduced to the market. This introduction of new product to the market creates an opportunity for the product to gain wider coverage and appreciation. The companies may not test the market products for number of reasons. First, test marketing is very expensive as the company is required to employ the team that is going to steward the new product to the market. The branding and advertisement made are very expensive. Another factor is that it takes a lot of time which in turn creates loophole and in the long run advantaging the competitors.

Nevertheless, alternative to full test markets are explicitly covered in this area. The company needs to have requisite knowledge on the type of product to be introduced in the market. This will in turn give the company the chance to establish the risks that are there and if the risks are high devise good approaches of marketing the product.

3. Identify a company that is using the public to generate new ideas, explain what process they are using and how they are screening ideas.

LEGO Group is the company that uses the public to generate new ideas to the market. The company listens to its customers and understands their needs. It is from this engagement with the customers that they establish the suitability of the new product. The company conducts research to ascertain various facts. One notable way is through hanging out with children whilst observing their conduct. In so doing they get to know much of what should be brought on board

4. Find two products that you believe are in the introduction stage of the product life cycle. Justify your beliefs.

The two products that are in introduction stage are Krafts new product_ Macaroni & Cheese and Digiorno Crispy Flatbread Pizza. This is because the products are still new in the market; therefore they are gaining coverage and wider usage gradually.

5. What is the difference between fads, styles, and fashions? Please provide an example of each.

The Product Life Cycle applies the fashions, style and fads. The distinctive features of styles are basically the expression mode. The styles are deduced from art, home and clothing. In contrast, a fashion is a popular field that deals with current trend of product in the market. Finally, fads are generally the period of unprecedented high sales oscillating around brand product.

In what ways do the growth, maturity and decline stages of the product life cycle differ? For each strategy, describe a real-life example of a product that you are familiar with, that is not referred to in the book.

The Growth, Maturity and Decline Stage vary in number of reasons enumerated below. In the growth stage, the sales starts going up as its product gains enough coverage to its consumers. The noble role of the company is to continue educating and expand its market to wider...