Marketing: Products and Services Classification

Questions and Answers

What are the four characteristics of a service? Apply these to a dentist's office.

Intangibility, Inseparability, Variability, Perishability. In the context of a dentist's office, intangibility refers to the inability to touch or see the service before it is delivered, inseparability means that the service is created and consumed simultaneously, variability implies that the quality of service may vary between different visits, and perishability indicates that services cannot be stored or saved for later use.

What is a product according to the provided content?

Anything that can satisfy a want or need (correct)

Only physical products

Only services

Only tangible goods

Define a service based on the information provided.

An activity, benefit, or satisfaction offered for sale; it is intangible and does not result in ownership of anything.

Consumer products are bought by final consumers for __________ consumption.

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Match the following marketing considerations with the correct product types:

Materials and parts, capital items, and supplies and services = Industrial products Major appliances, televisions, furniture, and clothing = Shopping products Toothpaste, magazines, and laundry detergent = Convenience products Luxury goods, such as Rolex watches or fine crystal = Specialty products Signup and view all the answers

Product line length is determined by the number of items within the product line.

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Study Notes

Products, Services, and Brands

A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.
A service is an activity, benefit, or satisfaction offered for sale; it is intangible and does not result in ownership of anything.

Classifications of Products and Services

Consumer products are bought by final consumers for personal consumption.
Industrial products are bought by individuals and organizations for further processing or for use in conducting a business.
Materials and parts, capital items, and supplies and services are classified as industrial products.
Market offerings include both tangible goods and services.
Companies create and manage customer experiences with their brands or companies.

Product and Service Decisions

Individual product decisions include product quality, features, and style and design.
Product line decisions include the number of items in the product line and the length of the product line.
Product mix decisions include the width, length, depth, and consistency of the product mix.

Service Characteristics

Services are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable.
Service profit chain links service firm profits with employee and customer satisfaction.
The service profit chain consists of five links: internal service quality, satisfied and productive service employees, greater service value, satisfied and loyal customers, and healthy service profits and growth.

Branding Strategy

Brand equity is the differential effect that knowing the brand name has on customer response to the product or its marketing.
Brand value is the total financial value of a brand.
Customer equity is the value of customer relationships that the brand creates.
Brand strategy decisions include brand positioning, brand name selection, brand sponsorship, and brand development.

Brand Positioning and Brand Name Selection

Brand positioning establishes a mission and vision for the brand.
Desirable qualities for a brand name include being based on the product's benefits and qualities, easy to pronounce, recognize, and remember, distinctive and extendable, easily translated into foreign languages, and capable of registration and legal protection.

Brand Sponsorship

National brands are marketed under the manufacturer's own name.
Store brands are created and owned by a reseller of a product or service.
Licensing uses names and symbols created by other companies or well-known movie characters or celebrities for a fee.
Co-branding uses the established brand names of two different companies on the same product.

Managing Brands

Companies must manage their brands carefully by communicating the brand's positioning, managing all brand touch points, training employees to be customer centered, and auditing the brand's strengths and weaknesses.