The Marketing Mix: Product

The marketing mix:
Product

 It is a term which is used to describe all the activities
which go into marketing a product or service.
 FOUR Ps-
 Product
 Price
 Place
 Promotion

The role of product in
the marketing mix


The product itself is the most important element in the
marketing mix.
 Without it, the other three wouldn't exist.
 Most companies today are market oriented, and will identify a
suitable product for the market before moving on to determine
the other 3 elements.
 Large companies have R&D departments which spends all its
time developing new product and analyzing the pros and cons of
competitors' products.
Types of products:

 Consumer goods: Goods that are used up by consumers.
(e.g. food, cake)
 Consumer services: Services that are produced for people.

(e.g. education)
 Producer goods: Goods produced for businesses. (e.g.

machinery)
 Producer services: Services for businesses. (e.g. accounting,

insurance)
Each type of product determines the price,
promotion and place to sell the product. Here
are what make products successful.

 Products need to satisfy consumer wants/needs to be successful.
 The product must be at the right quality so that customers are

willing to pay for it.
 Costs should be low enough to make a profit.
 Design of a product is important. This means that
its quality and durability should meet expectations and match
the price of the product. The design should also enhance the
products brand image.
 Products can stimulate new wants.
Product development
Most businesses use a general process to develop any product:

 Generate ideas: Ideas can be generated by:
Employees.
Customers.
Competitor's products.
R&D department.
Sales department.
 Further research: The best ideas are selected and further research is done to see
their pros and cons.
 Will there be enough sales?: To see whether there will be enough sales of the
product to break-even (development costs included).
 Develop a prototype: To see how a product could be manufactured and
identify its problems.
 Test launch: To see if the product can sell or not.
 Full launch.

 The importance of branding
Traditionally, a product's unique features and quality were explained by the

sellers who made the product. However, since products are usually sold in

private retail shops nowadays, these points need to be projected differently.
Products therefore need to be branded with an unique brand name and the
products features and quality will be projected with advertisement.
The price of branded goods are usually higher, since customers are more
confident to buy them.
Here are things that are involved with branding:
 Unique name.
 Unique packaging.
 Needs advertising to enforce the brand's qualities.
 Higher price than unbranded products.
 Higher quality than unbranded products.
 Creates a brand image (unique image associated with using the product)
 Creates brand loyalty.
 Consistent quality.
 Packaging
Getting the packaging right is very important. Packaging performs several

tasks:

Protecting the product (also includes preserving foods)
 Making it easy to transport.

Allow the product to be used easily. Container must be able to be opened
easily. (e.g. juice in a can)
Suitable for the product to fit in.
 Packaging also helps promote the product:
Make it eye-catching.
 Carries information about the product.

Promotes the brand image.

INTRODUCTION COKE ZERO
It is just introduced in India, it needs some time to
decide its performance in the soft drink industry.
Growth SPRITE AND FANTA

It s already introduced long before but they face
good competition from Mountain Dew, Seven Up

and Mirinda Which caters to similar taste.
Maturity THUMS UP
It has been the biggest sellout since soft drinks
were introduced in India, even more than Coca
Cola itself. But good marketing and Promotion
slowly made the main drink come to star level.
Maaza is one more drink which is able to stand
unique in spite of other contemporaries like slice
and frooti.
Limca, Kinley soda which is able to generate
enough revenue for its maiden company and have
a group of loyal consumers like kids, females who
prefer less strong drink.
Decline Diet coke, Minute main and Nimbu are the drinks
which are introduced few years back but are not
very popular to a large market. Their revenue is
less comparatively.
 The product life cycle
Product life cycles show the stages that a product goes through from its
introduction, to its growth, and then to its decline. Here is a graph to
show the product life cycle:

 Development: The product is under development.
 Introduction: The product is introduced. Sales grow slowly
and informative advertising start to attract customers. Price skimming
could be used if the product is new to the market. The main aim of sales
is to breakeven.
Growth: Prices rise rapidly. Persuasive advertising is used to encourage
brand loyalty. Prices may be reduced a little. Sales start to generate
profits since costs have been covered.
Maturity: Sales rise more slowly. Competition forces prices to be
lowered and the firm uses competitive pricing. Advertising is used to
maintain sales. Profits are at their highest.
Saturation: Sales reach their limit. There are no new competitors. Sales
and advertising becomes stable but profits fall because of lowered prices
to be competitive.
Decline: Product go out of fashion and sales and profits decline.
Advertising eventually stops. It is no longer profitable to produce the
product.
 The length of each stage varies with products. The business needs to
identify which stage their products are in so that they can use a suitable
marketing strategy for it.
 Extending the product life cycle
When a product has reached its maturity or saturation stage a business may
adopt extension strategies to stop sales from falling which extends the product life cycle.
Sales are given a boost by these strategies.
 Introducing new variations of the product.
 Sell into new markets.

 Make small changes to the products design and packaging.
Sell through additional, different retail outlets.
 Update the product (make it better)
 Use a new advertising campaign.
 Extension strategies aim to prolong the maturity stage of a product. Successful extension
strategies may result in something like this:

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The marketing mix:

 Consumer services: Services that are produced for people.

 Producer goods: Goods produced for businesses. (e.g.

 Producer services: Services for businesses. (e.g. accounting,

 The product must be at the right quality so that customers are

Traditionally, a product's unique features and quality were explained by the

Getting the packaging right is very important. Packaging performs several

 Making it easy to transport.

 Packaging also helps promote the product:

 Carries information about the product.

Growth SPRITE AND FANTA

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