Articles from General Knowledge TodayConcept of Product2010-06-02 02:06:00 GKToday

Generally market of fering of any kind is called a product . In management , aproduct is anything that is of fered in the market to sat isfy a need or want .The products may be raw materials in indust ries, merchandise in retailing orservices in service indust ry. The raw materials are called commodit ies of ten.Commodity is also something of fered in an open market .A product essent ially has ut ilit y. A product is a bundle of ut ilit ies consist ing ofvarious features and services.The bundle of ut ilit ies here means that the product is not the physical productbut the total package of the benef it s obtained by a customer.

A product is a mixture of tangible plus intangible at t ributes.

For example if we buy a book or CD f rom amazon.com, the product is not onlythe book but also the guarantee of get t ing delivered with 24 hours. The bookin this example is the core product or core benef it . A product as a bundle oftangible and intangible at t ributes is a Total product and the concept is calledTotal Product Concept .This bundle is represented by the following graphic:

Core Benef it refers to what the product means to a customer. The Genericproduct is the unbranded and undif ferent iated commodity which provides thecore benef it . A Branded product gives an ident it y to the generic product . Forexample water is a generic product , but Bisleri and Aquaf ina are the brands.Car is a generic product which of fers the benef it s of convenience in t ravellingbut Wagon R or Mercedes are brands.The generic products are undif ferent iated products. However, dif f erentiatedproducts have a dist inct ion f rom other similar products. The dif ferent iat ion ismost ly claimed by the marketers; however It may or may not have the realdist inct ion of ingredient , qualit y, ut ilit y and service. For example Pacimol andCalpol are two brands which of fer Paracetamol as ingredient used for fevermedicines.In customized product, the customer requirements are taken into account .T he augmented products involve the voluntary improvements made by theproduct manufacturers. The potential product is tomorrow’s product whichmay possibly int roduced by the f irm in future depending upon thetechnological and economic resources of the f irm