Industrial Product: 3 Groups of Industrial Goods and Services.
1. Material and parts are goods that enter the manufacturer and product completely. They fall in to two classes: Raw materials and Manufactured materials.
Raw materials fall into two major classes:
- Farm product (Wheat, cotton, fruits)
- Natural products (fish, iron ore, timber and the like) each is marketed differently.
Farm products are supplied by many suppliers. Natural products are of limited nature in supply. They usually have great bulk and low unit value and require substantial transportation to move them from producer to user. Price and delivery reliability are major factors influencing the selection of suppliers.
Manufactured materials and parts are divided into two categories.
- Component material (Iron, steel, yarn, cement)
- Component parts (small motor, steel castings)
Component materials are fabricated further. For example pig iron is made into steel and yam is woven into cloth. The standardised nature of component materials usually means that price and supplier reliability are the important factors. Component parts enter the product completely with no further change in farm as when small motors are put into vacuum cleaners.
2. Capital items are long lasting goods that facilitate developing and for managing the finished product. They include: Installations and Equipment.
Installations– Concepts of building (factories and offices) there are major purchases. They are usually bought directly from the producers, with the capital sale preceded by long negotiation period.
Equipment companies of portable factory equipment and tools (example. Hand tools, fork lift trucks) and office equipments, (personal computers, desktops). These types of equipment do not become a part of the finished product but only aid in the operation of the business.
3. Supplies and business services are short lasting goods and services that facilitate developing and /or managing the finished product.
Supplies are of two kinds:
- operating supplies (lubricants, coal, writing paper, pens
- maintenance and repair item (paint, nails, brooms).
They are purchased with minimum effort on a strait survey basis; they are usually marketed through the intermediaries because of their low unit value and geographic destination of customers.
Business services include:
- maintenance and repair services (window cleaning, carpet cleaning, and computer repair)
- business advisory services (legal, management consulting, advertising).
These services are usually supplied on contract and by small producers who goes by service and reputation.
Consumer product: 4 Groups Consumer Goods and Services.
A consumer product is a product bought by final consumers for personal consumption. But not every consumer product is the same. There are four different types of consumer products. Marketers usually classify consumer products into these 4 types of consumer products:
- Convenience products
- Shopping products
- Speciality products
- Unsought products.
1. Convenience products
Among the four types of consumer products, the convenience product is bought most frequently. A convenience product is a consumer product or service that customers normally buy frequently, immediately and without great comparison or buying effort. Examples include articles such as laundry detergents, fast food, sugar and magazines. As you can see, convenience products are those types of consumer products that are usually low-priced and placed in many locations to make them readily available when consumers need or want them.
2. Shopping products
Shopping products are a consumer product that the customer usually compares on attributes such as quality, price and style in the process of selecting and purchasing. Thus, a difference between the two types of consumer products presented so far is that the shopping product is usually less frequently purchased and more carefully compared. Therefore, consumers spend much more time and effort in gathering information and comparing alternatives. Types of consumer products that fall within the category of shopping products are: furniture, clothing, used cars, airline services etc. As a matter of fact marketers usually distribute these types of consumer products through fewer outlets, but provide deeper sales support in order to help customers in the comparison effort.
3. Speciality products
Speciality products are consumer products and services with unique characteristics or brand identification for which a significant group of consumers is willing to make a special purchase effort. As you can see, the types of consumer products involve different levels of effort in the purchasing process: the speciality product requires a special purchase effort, but applies only to certain consumers.
Examples include specific cars, professional and high-prices photographic equipment, designer clothes etc. A perfect example for these types of consumer products is a Lamborghini. In order to buy one, a certain group of buyers would make a special effort, for instance by travelling great distances to buy one. However, speciality products are usually less compared against each other. Rather, the effort must be understood in terms of other factors: Buyers invest for example the time needed to reach dealers that carry the wanted products. To illustrate this, look at the Lamborghini example: the one who wants one is immediately convinced of the choice for a Lamborghini and would not compare it that much against 10 other brands.
4. Unsought products
Unsought products are those consumer products that a consumer either does not know about or knows about but does not consider buying under normal conditions. Thus, these types of consumer products consumers do not think about normally, at least not until they need them. Most new innovations are unsought until consumers become aware of them. Other examples of these types of consumer products are life insurance, pre-planned funeral services etc. As a consequence of their nature, unsought products require much more advertising, selling and marketing efforts than other types of consumer products.