As you know, people want the most for their money. "The best product at the best price!" is what the customer demands. So it is obvious, that not only the price, but also the product itself is a very important part of the marketing- mix. So, let's have a look at the product-related considerations a company has to make.
Product quality
A customer will prefer to buy product of a high quality. He will reward it by becoming a repeat customer. Also he will praise the quality, thus performing word-of-mouth advertising for the company. So sales will grow.
Bad product quality will drive the customers to buy from competitors. That's why product quality is often positively related to the market share of the seller.
What makes the quality of a product?
The ability of the product to perform its advertised functions (does the product fulfil all promises made by advertisement? Does it have all the features it should have?
The reliability of the product (The best off-road car is worthless if it does not start reliably)
The ease of operation (Think of computer. The fastest processor is useless if it is too difficult to make it work)
the durability of the product (A cheap product becomes expensive, if you have to replace it after a short time)
The ability to be repaired if there is damage (for a good product, spare parts & services will be available for many years)
The product finish and its appearance also represent quality in the mind of the customer.
Quality is not easy to produce and costs money. So the company has to supply its products with sufficient quality to meet the customers needs.
If the quality is too high, the production and the product might be too expensive, if its too low the customers won't like it. Both ways, the income from sales will not be as high as it could be.
Product design:
Normally a company produces standardised products. This means that all the goods produced have a single design. E.g. A company produces a washing machine in different grades (e.g. Using normal steel or high-grade steel) and different styles at different prices. It remains a standardised product.
One advantage of standard products is that they can be marketed nation-wide or even world wide very efficiently, because only one marketing campaign is needed. Another advantage is the benefits resulting from producing a huge amount of the same product. As more pieces becomes cheaper. The production of a car is much cheaper if 100,000 cars are produced than if only one car is produced. This effect is called "Economies of scale".
Smaller companies often produce and sell customized products according to the needs of an individual customer. E.g. A shipyard builds an ocean yacht for the owner according exactly to his specifications.
For a customer buying a customised product, price is usually less important. He expects to get a high-quality product exactly fitting to his needs. To ensure that, the customer often supervises the progress of production. If something does not conform to his ideas, he will advise the manufacturer to change it.
Many companies try to get the advantage of standardised product as well as those of customised products by mix of the two strategies. They offer standard products, but they are able to offer limited number of modifications to fit the individual customer's requirement as well. Example: a car is available with different engines, with one or two AC' s, with or without central locking.
Product diversification
In these times of advance technologies specification becomes more and more important. A company that focuses on the production and selling of only one product will be able to concentrate on the development and marketing of this product and probably be more successful than a company that has to care for many products. But a company, which concentrates on one product only, runs a big risk. If the market changes and there is no other product ready to be produced according to the requirements of the changed market, the company will have no more income from sales - and will be in big trouble.
So the company has to ensure for the diversification of products. Instead of relying on only one product, the company produces and sells several products. If one product is no longer demanded by the customers, the company still has the income from sales of the other products and can develop a new product that will meet the requirements of the changed market.
Examples:
A car manufacturer does not only produce salon cars, but also off-road cars, vans and engines for ship and
aircraft.
A shop does not only sell groceries but also household articles and camping equipment.
Packaging
packaging is very important form of promotion. It has to attract the customer's attention to the product when he
for e.g. walks through the shop. The packaging has to ensure that the customer is attracted to our product and not to a competitor's product. Using special colours, forms and styles for the packaging can do this. Furthermore, the packaging strengthens or even creates the image of the product. Last but not least, it has to protect the product.