Product

A product is an object or system made available for consumer use; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. In retailing, products are often referred to as merchandise, and in manufacturing, products are bought as raw materials and then sold as finished goods. A service is also regarded to as a type of product. A product can be physical or virtual, or include both virtual and physical elements. Physical products include durable goods, such as cars, furniture, or computers, and nondurable goods, such as food or beverages. Virtual products include offerings such as services or experiences, including education, software, and other digital products. A product can also include both virtual and physical elements.

A product can also be an input into another product. For example, cars use computer chips to control engine functions, dashboard panels, and related electric features. While the car itself is a product, so too are the various parts that have developed the product. Again, a mechanic who offers repair services sells a related product that a new car owner will want to take advantage of. Another example is the printer. While the product feels like the printer itself, what the product has become are the ink cartridges, which with consistent replacement have made companies more money than a single sale of a printer unit. This is especially the castcase as the price of printers havehas come down.

Products often have a lifecycle, which is the time a product can exist in the market before it needs to be replaced, re-invented, or reintroduced. Attempts are often described as having a lifecycle, which is the time in which a product can exist in the market before it needs to be replaced, re-invented, or reintroduced. This ismade to maintain thea product's relevance, which refers to the immediate use a consumer will have for it. To help consumers understand this relevance, part of a product's lifecycle is the developer or company communicating to the potential user why they need a product, what benefits they can derive from a product, or what a product offers that its related products do not offer. The common or recognizablestandard pattern of a product lifecycle sees a productconsists go throughof four stages: market development, growth, maturity, and decline. This concept is used by management and marketing professionals when deciding if it is appropriate to increase advertising, reduce prices, expand to new markets, or redesign packaging.

As part of this lifecycle, market development is defined as a new product is brought to market, which is a period where and demand for it has to be proven. Often thisThis initial stage typically sees low sales and involves heavy advertising or marketing to help make consumers aware of a product and its benefits. The growth stage is seenoccurs when a product is successful and seeshas growing demand in the market, which requires an increase in production and expansion of its availability. Maturity of a product is the most profitable stage, when the costs of production and marketing decline. And theThe final, decline, stage occurs when a product experiences increased competition from other companies emulating the success of the product, and the original product beings to lose market share.

Many of the most successful products are keptremain in the mature stage for asa longmore asextended possibleperiod. In this stage, the product can undergo minor updates or redesigns to keep themstay differentiated. A goodGood exampleexamples of this are Apple computers and, iPhones, Starbucks coffee, and Ford trucks. Each of these products experienceexperiences minor changes and refreshes accompanied by renewed marketing efforts to keep the products feeling unique and new for the consumers.

There are various types of products, with almost as many ways of categorizing them. Most waysmethods of organizing products include the categories of consumer products, industrial products, services, orand digital products. They can also be defined as tangible or intangible products. The definition of products as either consumer or industrial can capture both tangible or intangible products, and those tend to be the most common categories.

When trying to get a consumer to change their purchasing habits of convenience goods, sales or discounting are often not seen as the most efficient way to get customers to change, as many of these products are already priced low and cost will not be a major deciding factor. Often convenience, such as placing a product near a checkout, or on a big display, will often induce change in consumer purchasing habits more reliably.

These are any goods or products that consumers will spend more time researching and comparing before purchasing. A shopping good can include any product in a range from affordable items, like clothes or home décor, to more expensive products, such as cars and houses. These products tend to be one-off purchases with a higher economic impact on the consumer. In order toTo market a shopping good, a company will have to develop content that persuades a buyer of the product's value. This can require those marketing materials tothat demonstrate how the product differs from the competition and whatits unique value it offersvalues to the consumers. Price is also important to this product category, and promotions or discounts can be very effective toin attractattracting consumers in this category.

Shopping goods can be further broken down into two types: homogenous shopping goods and heterogenous shopping goods. Homogenous shopping goods are ones that consumers believe to be essentially the same in terms of quality, price, styling, and suitability for their needs. For example, a consumer may find all refrigerators the same or similar in quality, and price differences in price will be what the consumer uses to make afor comparison.

A specialty good is thought of as a product that is in some way unique, be it features or characteristics, that are typically expensive and distributed in select areas while targeting a particular set of consumers. SpecialtyFor example, specialty products could include designer clothes, sports cars, and other expensive items. Often consumers do not need to compare or deliberate as much on these purchases as they would with shopping products, and as such, the product should already be differentiated from competitors. These products are often improved upon and innovated constantly, to reinforce the uniqueness of the product, while marketing efforts for these products aim to keep customers loyal to the brand.

Unsought goods are those that are not typically exciting to buy, but are often purchased out of fear, to insureensure safety, or for utility purposes and not bought often enough to be considered convenience goods. Examples of unsought goods are fire extinguishers, batteries, and life insurance. When marketing an unsought good, companies will focus on reminding the consumer of the existence of a product and work to convince the consumer that the purchase of that product will leave them with a better sense of security than if they did not have it.

Capital goods are any goods used in the production of another product. Capital goods can consist of installations and accessory equipment, such as buildings, plants, and machinery. Installations as a product will be bought directly from a producer, while accessory equipment are those needed for the production of other products. Often accessory equipment areis involved in the overall production or selling of a product. Accessory equipment can include anything such as tools, shelving, or seating.

Capital goods can include major equipment, which arerefers to any industrial product used to make, process, or sell other goods,. andThey can include specialized machinery, computers, automobiles, or tractors, to name a few examples. These are usually expensive with a limited lifecycle.

Raw materials include any goods that are used in the process of making other products. This can include natural resources such as forest products, minerals, water, oceanic products, and agricultural products or livestock. Often raw materials lose their individual identities in the final product. These products are processed to become a part of the buyers' products. Generally, and generally these materials are sold directly to industrial users, with an emphasis inon selling on price and service rather than on branding or advertising.

Similar to raw materials, and sometimes classified as raw materials, component parts are often parts whichthat have been processed and are sold to a manufacturer who uses the parts to assemble a finished product. Although these parts are often not visible, they are part of the assembly and cost of the final product. Examples of component parts could include the door handles or locking mechanisms of an automobile, with the automobile being the finished product;, or it could be memory modules or the processor of a computer, with the computer being the finished product.

Operating supplies include products like office stationarystationery, repair, and maintenance items. Supplies are often treated as convenience products of the industrial market, as they are often purchased with minimal effort, and often are low cost. These materials tend to be incidental to the production or selling functions, and are usually quickly used up in the company's operations.

A service tends to be any intangible part of a product, generally defined as an action or effort to fulfill a demand or satisfy a customer's needs. Services are unable to be owned and isare consumed at the point of sale, forsale—for example, visiting a doctor is a service whichthat cannot be taken outside of the moment the service is rendered.

Digital products are created in a digital format that may or may not be for sale or not. Whether these are considered tangible or intangible products will depend in part on the digital product, and on who is viewing or consuming the digital product. Any digital product may include audio, video, ebook, desktop applications, mobile applications, downloadable templates graphics, fonts, and PSD files.

Tangible products are usually, or to a degree, products that can be directly experienced, or they can be seen, touched, smelled, tasted, and tested. This experience can be done in advance of buying in the case of tangible products. For example, a car can be test driven and a perfume can be smelled, while industrial machines can be handled and pre-tested before purchase. Despite this tangibility, even these tangible products cannot be reliably tested or experienced, as different details can change the experience. As well, there are probably more tangible products that cannot be pre-tested, such as food items or detergents, which then rely on advertisements and labelling to provide reassurance.

Unlike tangible products, intangible products can seldom be pre-tested, inspected, or given a try before they are purchasepurchased. Instead, many of these products require surrogates to assess what the product is like. Intangible products can include travel, freight, insurance, repair, consulting, computer software, investment banking, brokerage, education, health care, and accounting. To market intangible products, sellers can offer glossy pictures, while consumerconsumers can consult current or past users, or past consumers on whether to trust an intangible product, or which firm or service provider to trust.

A product is an object or system made available for consumer use; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. In retailing, products are often referred to as merchandise, and in manufacturing, products are bought as raw materials and then sold as finished goods. A service is also regarded to as a type of product. A product can be physical or virtual. Physical products include durable goods, such as cars, furniture, or computers;, and nondurable goods, such as food or beverages. Virtual products includesinclude offeringofferings such as services or experiences, such asincluding education, software, and other digital products. A product can also include both virtual and physical elements.

A product can also be an input into another product. For example, cars use computer chips in order to control engine functions, dashboard panels, and related electric features. While the car itself is a product, so too are the various parts whichthat have developed the product. And againAgain, a mechanic thatwho offers repair services sells a related product that a new car owner will want to take advantage of. Another example is the printer. While the product feels like the printer itself, what the product has become are printersthe ink cartridges, which with consistent replacement have made companies more money than a single sale of a printer unit. While consumers believedThis the product was the printer itself,is especially the cast as the price to purchaseof printers continued tohave come down, what the product became were the ink cartridges, which, with consistent replacement, made companies more money than a single sale of a printer unit.

Products are often described as having a lifecycle, which is the time in which a product can exist in the market before it needs to be replaced, re-invented, or reintroduced. This is to maintain the productsproduct's relevance, which refers to the immediate use a consumer will have for it. To help consumers understand this relevance, part of a productsproduct's lifecycle is the developer or company communicating to the potential user why they need a product, what benefits they can derive from a product, or what a product offers that its related products do not offer. The common or recognizable pattern of a product lifecycle sees a product go through four stages: market development, growth, maturity, and decline. This concept is used by management and marketing professionals when deciding if it is appropriate to increase advertising, reduce prices, expand to new markets, or redesign packaging.

As part of this lifecycle, market development is defined as a new product brought to market, which is a period where demand for it has to be proven. Often this initial stage sees low sales and involves heavy advertising or marketing to help make consumers aware of a product and its benefits. The growth stage is seen when a product is successful and sees growing demand in the market, which requires an increase in production and expansion of its availability. Maturity of a product is the most profitable stage, when the costcosts of producingproduction and marketing decline. And the final, decline, stage occurs when a product experiences increased competition from other companies emulating the success of the product, and the original product beings to lose market share.

Many of the most successful products are kept in the mature stage for as long as possible. In this stage, the product can undergo minor updates or redesigns to keep them differentiated. A good example of this are Apple computers and iPhones, Starbucks' coffee, and Ford trucks. Each of these products experience minor changes and refreshes accompanied by renewed marketing efforts to keep the products feeling unique and new for the consumers.

There are various types of products, andwith almost as many ways of categorizing products as there are variations of productsthem. However,Most ways of organizing products include mostthe categories of products organize products as either consumer products, industrial products, services, or digital products. However, theyThey can also be defined as tangible or intangible products. The definition of products as either consumer or industrial products can capture both tangible or intangible products, and those tend to be the most common categories for products.

Both consumer products and industrial products are defined by the people who are intended to purchase the products, and therefore for whom the products are marketed. In the case of consumer products, these are any convenience products, shopping products, specialty products, or unsought products whichthat are produced to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers.

Convenience goods are any products that consumers purchase repeatedly, and often without much thought. These are oftenfrequently goods that, once a consumer has chosen a brand, doesdo not see much change in purchasing happen unless there is a reason for the consumer to switch. Such a reason oftenis offerednoted by advertising or sales that compelcompels the consumer to try a new product over a preferred brand. Common examples of convenience goods include gum, toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, milk, and other necessities.

For convenience goods, a major key to a successful product will be brand recognition. This requires a company bringing a convenience good to market to need to use widespread marketing campaigns to create awareness of a company and recognition for that brand.

These are any goods or products that consumers will often spend more time researching and comparing before purchasing. A shopping good can include any product in a range from affordable items, like clothes or home décor, to more expensive products, such as cars and houses. Often these are These products whichtend areto be one-off purchases with a higher economic impact on the consumer. In order to market a shopping good, a company will often have to develop content that persuades a buyer of the product's value. This can require those marketing materials to demonstrate how the product differs from the competition and what unique value it offers to the consumers. Price is also important to this product category, and promotions or discounts can be very effective to attract consumers in this category.

Shopping goods are sometimescan further broken down into two types: homogenous shopping goods and heterogenous shopping goods. Homogenous shopping goods are ones that consumers believe to be essentially the same in terms of quality, price, styling, and suitability for their needs. For example, a consumer may find all refrigerators the same or similar in quality, for which theand differences in price will be wherewhat the consumer makesuses to make a comparison.

Heterogenous shopping goods, on the other hand, are products in which the consumer perceiveperceives a discernablediscernible difference. This difference could be based on suitability, quality, price, or styling. Regardless of ifwhether these differences are real or only imagined by the consumer, they will beare important enough to cause consumers to evaluate the trade-offs betweenamong them. Often individualIndividual taste will playplays a large part in a consumersconsumer's purchase of heterogeneous products.

A specialty good is thought of as a product whichthat is in some way unique, be it unique features or characteristics, that are typically expensive and distributed in select areas while targeting a particular set of consumers. Specialty products could include designer clothes, sports cars, and other expensive items. Often consumers do not need to compare or deliberate as much on these purchases as they would with shopping products, and as such, the product should already be differentiated from competitors. These products are often improved upon and innovated upon constantly, to reinforce the uniqueness of the product, while marketing efforts for these products will workaim to keep customers loyal to the brand.

Unsought goods are any goodsthose that people are not typically excitedexciting to buy, but are often boughtpurchased out of a sense of fear, to orinsure dangersafety, or are bought for utility purposes and not bought often enough to be convenience goods. ForExamples example,of unsought goods can includeare fire extinguishers, batteries, orand life insurance. When marketing an unsought good, company'scompanies will often focus on reminding the consumer of the existence of a product, and work to convince the consumer that the purchase of that product will leave them with a better sense of security than if they did not have it.

Industrial products include any products that are purchased for further processing in a manufacturing or business process. The difference often stems from the usage for which it is bought. For example, if someone buys a computer for personal use, then it is a consumer product. If the same computer is bought for an accounting business, it is a business product. Industrial products are further classified into capital goods, raw materials, component parts, operating supplies, and services.

Capital goods are any goods used in production of another product. Capital goods can consist of installations and accessory equipment, such as buildings, plants, and machinery. Installations as a product will be bought directly from a producer, while accessory equipment are any equipmentthose needed for the production of other products. Often accessory equipment isare involved in the overall production or selling of a product. Accessory equipment can include anything such as tools, shelving, or seating.

Raw materials include any goods that are used in the process of making other products. This can include natural resources such as forest products, minerals, water, oceanic products, and agricultural products or livestock. Often raw materials lose their individual identityidentities in the final product. These products are processed to become a part of the buyers products, and generally these materials are sold directly to industrial users, with emphasis in selling on price and service rather than on branding or advertising.

A product is an object or system made available for consumer use; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. In retailing, products are often referred to as merchandise, and in manufacturing, products are bought as raw materials and then sold as finished goods. A service is also regarded to as a type of product. A product can be physical or virtual. Physical products include durable goods, such as cars, furniture, or computers; and nondurable goods, such as food or beverages. Virtual products includes offering such as services or experiences, such as education, software, and other digital products. A product can also include both virtual and physical elements.

Different classes of products that can go into a single product.

A product can also be an input into another product. For example, cars use computer chips in order to control engine functions, dashboard panels, and related electric features. While the car itself is a product, so too are the various parts which have developed the product. And again, a mechanic that offers repair services sells a related product a new car owner will want to take advantage of. Another example are printers. While consumers believed the product was the printer itself, especially as the price to purchase printers continued to come down, what the product became were the ink cartridges, which, with consistent replacement, made companies more money than a single sale of a printer unit.

Classic view of a product lifecycle.

Products are often described as having a lifecycle, which is the time in which a product can exist in the market before it needs to be replaced, re-invented, or reintroduced. This is to maintain the products relevance, which refers to the immediate use a consumer will have for it. To help consumers understand this relevance, part of a products lifecycle is communicating to the potential user why they need a product, what benefits they can derive from a product, or what a product offers that its related products do not offer. The common or recognizable pattern of a product lifecycle sees a product go through four stages: market development, growth, maturity, and decline. This concept is used by management and marketing professionals when deciding if it is appropriate to increase advertising, reduce prices, expand to new markets, or redesign packaging.

As part of this lifecycle, market development is defined as a new product brought to market, which is a period where demand for it has to be proven. Often this initial stage sees low sales and involves heavy advertising or marketing to help make consumers aware of a product and its benefits. The growth stage is seen when a product is successful and sees growing demand in the market, which requires an increase in production and expansion of its availability. Maturity of a product is the most profitable stage, when the cost of producing and marketing decline. And the final, decline, stage occurs when a product experiences increased competition from other companies emulating the success of the product, and the original product beings to lose market share.

The original Apple MacBook Pro was released in 2006 and continues to be annually refreshed.

Many of the most successful products are kept in the mature stage for as long as possible. In this stage the product can undergo minor updates or redesigns to keep them differentiated. A good example of this are Apple computers and iPhones, Starbucks' coffee, and Ford trucks. Each of these products experience minor changes and refreshes accompanied by renewed marketing efforts to keep the products feeling unique and new for the consumers.

There are various types of products, and almost as many ways of categorizing products as there are variations of products. However, most categories of products organize products as either consumer products, industrial products, services, or digital products. However, they can also be defined as tangible or intangible products. The definition of products as either consumer or industrial products can capture both tangible or intangible products, and tend to be the most common categories for products.

Both consumer products and industrial products are defined by the people who are intended to purchase the products, and therefore for whom the products are marketed. In the case of consumer products, these are any convenience products, shopping products, specialty products, or unsought products which are produced to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers.

Convenience goods are any products that consumers purchase repeatedly and often without much thought. These are often goods that, once a consumer has chosen a brand, does not see much change in purchasing happen unless there is a reason for the consumer to switch. Such a reason often offered by advertising or sales that compel the consumer to try a new product over a preferred brand. Common examples of convenience goods include gum, toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, milk, and other necessities.

Example of a convenience product with strong brand recognition

When trying to get a consumer to change their purchasing habits of convenience goods, sales or discounting are often not seen as the most efficient way to get customers to change, as many of these products are already priced low and cost will not be a major deciding factor. Often convenience, such as placing a product near a checkout, or on a big display, will often induce change in consumer purchasing habits more reliably.

For convenience goods, a major key to a successful product will be brand recognition. This requires a company bringing a convenience good to market to need to use widespread marketing campaigns to create awareness of a company and recognition for that brand.

Example of a shopping good that has enjoyed a long maturity stage in the product lifecycle.

These are any goods or products that consumers will often spend more time researching and comparing before purchasing. A shopping good can include any product in a range from affordable items, like clothes or home décor, to more expensive products such as cars and houses. Often these are products which are one-off purchases with a higher economic impact on the consumer. In order to market a shopping good, a company will often have to develop content that persuades a buyer of the product's value. This can require those marketing materials to demonstrate how the product differs from the competition and what unique value it offers to the consumers. Price is also important to this product category, and promotions or discounts can be very effective to attract consumers in this category.

Shopping goods are sometimes further broken down into two types: homogenous shopping goods and heterogenous shopping goods. Homogenous shopping goods are ones that consumers believe to be essentially the same in terms of quality, price, styling, and suitability for their needs. For example, a consumer may find all refrigerators the same or similar in quality, for which the differences in price will be where the consumer makes a comparison.

Heterogenous shopping goods, on the other hand, are products in which consumer perceive a discernable difference. This difference could be based on suitability, quality, price, or styling. Regardless of if these differences are real or only imagined by the consumer, they will be important enough to cause consumers to evaluate the trade-offs between them. Often individual taste will play a large part in a consumers purchase of heterogeneous products.

Example of high-price specialty goods.

A specialty good is thought of as a product which is in some way unique, be it unique features or characteristics, that are typically expensive and distributed in select areas while targeting a particular set of consumers. Specialty products could include designer clothes, sports cars, and other expensive items. Often consumers do not need to compare or deliberate as much on these purchases as they would with shopping products, and as such, the product should already be differentiated from competitors. These products are often improved and innovated upon constantly, to reinforce the uniqueness of the product, while marketing efforts for these products will work to keep customers loyal to the brand.

Unsought goods are any goods that people are not typically excited to buy, but are often bought out of a sense of fear or danger, or are bought for utility purposes and not bought often enough to be convenience goods. For example, unsought goods can include fire extinguishers, batteries, or life insurance. When marketing an unsought good, company's will often focus on reminding the consumer of the existence of a product, and work to convince the consumer that the purchase of that product will leave them with a better sense of security than if they did not have it.

Industrial products include any products that are purchased for further processing in a manufacturing or business process. The difference often stems from the usage for which it is bought. For example, if someone buys a computer for personal use, then it is a consumer product. If the same computer is bought for an accounting business, it is a business product. Industrial products are further classified into capital goods, raw materials, component parts, operating supplies, and services.

Capital goods are any goods used in production of another product. Capital goods can consist of installations and accessory equipment, such as buildings, plants, and machinery. Installations as a product will be bought directly from a producer, while accessory equipment are any equipment needed for the production of other products. Often accessory equipment is involved in the overall production or selling of a product. Accessory equipment can include anything such as tools, shelving, or seating.

Capital goods can include major equipment, which are any industrial product used to make, process, or sell other goods, and can include specialized machinery, computers, automobiles, or tractors, to name a few examples. These are usually expensive with a limited lifecycle.

Raw materials include any goods that are used in the process of making other products. This can include natural resources such as forest products, minerals, water, oceanic products, and agricultural products or livestock. Often raw materials lose their individual identity in the final product. These products are processed to become a part of the buyers products, and generally these materials are sold directly to industrial users, with emphasis in selling on price and service rather than on branding or advertising.

Similar to raw materials, and sometimes classified as raw materials, component parts are often parts which have been processed and are sold to a manufacturer who uses the parts to assemble a finished product. Although these parts are often not visible, they are part of the assembly and cost of the final product. Examples of component parts could include the door handles or locking mechanisms of an automobile, with the automobile being the finished product; or it could be memory modules or the processor of a computer, with the computer being the finished product.

Operating supplies include products like office stationary, repair, and maintenance items. Supplies are often treated as convenience products of the industrial market, as they are often purchased with minimal effort, and often are low cost. These materials tend to be incidental to the production or selling functions, and are usually quickly used up in the company's operations.

Services can include any business services such as maintenance or repair, factory premise cleaning, office equipment repair, and business consultancy services. These are often provided through contracts with small producers and manufacturers of the original equipment. Industrial services are purchased for use in producing a buyer's products, or for more general operations.

A service tends to be any intangible part of a product, generally defined as an action or effort to fulfill a demand or satisfy a customer's needs. Services are unable to be owned and is consumed at the point of sale, for example, visiting a doctor is a service which cannot be taken outside of the moment the service is rendered.

Digital products are created in a digital format that may be for sale or not. Whether these are considered tangible or intangible products will depend in part on the digital product, and on who is viewing or consuming the digital product. Any digital product may include audio, video, ebook, desktop applications, mobile applications, downloadable templates graphics, fonts, and PSD files.

Tangible products are usually, or to a degree, products that can be directly experienced, or they can be seen, touched, smelled, tasted, and tested. This experience can be done in advance of buying in the case of tangible products. For example, a car can be test driven and a perfume can be smelled, while industrial machines can be handled and pre-tested before purchase. Despite this tangibility, even these tangible products cannot be reliably tested or experienced, as different details can change the experience. As well, there are probably more tangible products that cannot be pre-tested, such as food items or detergents, which then rely on advertisements and labelling to provide reassurance.

Unlike tangible products, intangible products can seldom be pre-tested, inspected, or given a try before they are purchase. Instead, many of these products require surrogates to assess what the product is like Intangible products can include travel, freight, insurance, repair, consulting, computer software, investment banking, brokerage, education, health care, and accounting. To market intangible products, sellers can offer glossy pictures, while consumer can consult current users, or past consumers on whether to trust an intangible product, or which firm or service provider to trust.

A product is an object or system made available for consumer use; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. In retailing, products are often referred to as merchandise, and in manufacturing, products are bought as raw materials and then sold as finished goods. A service is also regarded to as a type of product.