Products can be tangible goods, ideas, or services but for now let’s just consider tangible goods.
A product is more than just a product!
A product is more than itself.
Toothpaste is also the tube that it’s in and the box the tube is in. Packaging is important. It attracts attention. It can help with brand recognition. It can even turn an ordinary product into something more luxurious, that a consumer is willing to pay a higher price for – think of tins of ordinary breakfast tea from Harrods !
A laptop is also the associated warranty.
An iphone is also the after sales service and even someone teaching you how to use it.
The brand is important in some products perhaps because it speaks to the reliability of the product or the innovativeness of the design.
The value of the product to the customer is also part of the product – this might be the problem it solves and the intensity of that problem for the customer, it might be the image it conveys of them (think of Mont Blanc pens as opposed to Bic pens).
So to summarise a product includes the physical item but some or all of the following:
- packaging
- warranty
- any service attached to it
- the brand
- the value to the customer
I would argue that the product also includes the way it’s displayed in a shop or on a market stall. This can be a strong way of differentiating your products from competitors.
Why not reflect on your views on products? Why not think about your products and the ways in which they’re more than just a product or could be made to be more than just a product.
Share your thoughts and suggestions!
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This is so important for big business and down to the at-home business. I wish more business folks understood this. My purchase choices are usually based on all of these qualities of the product. For example, on a bigger scale, I won’t even enter a business if the outside of the building and the yard is a complete disaster. They may have the best reputation in the world, but if it looks unappealing, I’m not entering.