Citizendia
Your Ad Here

In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need. In popular usage "marketing" is the promotion of products especially Advertising and Branding However in professional usage the term has a wider meaning of Sao Paulo Stock Exchangejpg|thumb| Virtual market arena where buyer and seller are not present and trade via intemediates and electronical information [1] In retailing, products are called merchandise. In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need In manufacturing, products are purchased as raw materials and sold as finished goods. Manufacturing (from Latin manu factura, "making by hand" is the use of tools and labor to make things for use or sale A raw material is something that is acted upon or used by Organisms, or by human labour or Industry, for use as a Building material to create some product Finished goods are goods that have completed the Manufacturing process but have not yet been sold or distributed to the end user Commodities are usually raw materials such as metals and agricultural products, but a commodity can also be anything widely available in the open market. A commodity is anything for which there is demand but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market

The verb produce (prə doos' or -dyoos') is from the Latin prōdūce(re), (to) lead or bring forth. The noun product (prod'əkt or-ukt) is "a thing produced by labor or effort". [2] Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced. [3] Since 1695, the word has referred to "thing or things produced". The economic or commercial meaning of product was first used by political economist Adam Smith. Adam Smith ( baptised 16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of Political economy. [4]

In general usage, product may refer to a single item or unit, a group of equivalent products, a grouping of goods or services, or an industrial classification for the goods or services.

Contents

Single unique product

Product may refer to a unique product, such as a single carton of brand X milk, a single customized interior design, a single piece of lumber, or a single hour of technical support. Serial numbers are used to identify certain unique products. A serial number is a unique Number assigned for Identification which varies from its Successor or Predecessor by a fixed discrete Integer A vehicle identification number identifies a unique motor vehicle.

The term "defective product" usually refers to a single instance or a few instances of unique products not meeting specifications or standards. A technical standard is an established norm or requirement It is usually a formal document that establishes uniform engineering or technical criteria methods processes and practices Every product is unique in the sense that it cannot be sold to different customers such as customer A and customer B at the same time, or sold twice at the same time to a single customer. An invoice is a business document requesting payment for actual product delivered. An invoice or bill is a commercial document issued by a seller to the Buyer, indicating the products quantities and agreed Prices Double billing is the error of charging a customer twice for the same unique product. In commerce double billing is the error of charging a customer twice for the same unique product

Equivalent or interchangeable product

The specific meaning of generic product names varies over time and location. Some products such as bread, milk, and salt have been bartered or sold for centuries, but the meaning of "bread" or "milk" as a product varies. Barter is a type of Trade in which goods or services are directly exchanged The technologies were not available for pasteurization and homogenization of milk until the 20th century, and these food processing technologies are not used worldwide. Pasteurization is the process of heating Liquids for the purpose of destroying bacteria, Protozoa, Molds and Yeasts The process was Homogenization (or homogenisation) is a term used in many fields such as Chemistry, Agricultural science, Food technology, Sociology Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw Ingredients into Food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by Bread varies by type of grain, specific recipe, and size of loaf. In 1924, Morton Salt introduced iodized table salt, a product previously unavailable. Morton Salt is a United States company producing Salt for food water conditioning industrial agricultural and road/highway use Since 1961, pork bellies have traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, but due to selective breeding and changes in hog feed, today's pork belly is not exactly equivalent to a 1960s pork belly. The pork belly is the underside of the pig from which Bacon is made in the United States (in other parts of the world bacon is more often made from back and side meats and Certain products may be considered equivalent or interchangeable for the purposes of trade, record-keeping, and reporting, despite gradual changes in the product or variations among geographical locations.

The distinction between a new product and a minor modification to an existing product is not always clear. Certain products have a product life cycle in which the supply and demand for the product increases then decreases over time. Product Life Cycle Management is the succession of strategies used by management as a product goes through its product life cycle The demand for certain food products such as bread will tend to increase with population, but the supply and demand for a specific brand of bread may decline over time. [5] In the United States, a patent for a product is recognition that the product is new in a legal sense. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an "Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof; design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and, plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant. "[6] In business an equivalent, interchangeable or fungible product is defined by a company and its customers. Fungibility is the property of a good or a Commodity whose individual units are capable of mutual substitution A company's inventory is comprised of physical products, or goods, that are usually recorded as counts of equivalent unique products, such as 50 8-oz cans of salsa. The equivalent unique products may be assigned a product code or item code, such that "50 8-oz cans of salsa" is recorded as "50 17766443" on the company's records. If the company carries two brands of 8-oz salsa, it may assign separate item codes to the brands, or it may use a single item code for both brands.

Product numbers in many businesses clearly identify the product by linking to a full description. [7]

Product identification codes such as Universal Product Code, Global Trade Item Number and International Standard Book Number allow multiple businesses to use a single product identification code to indicate one unit of a mass-produced product. The Universal Product Code ( UPC) is a barcode symbology (ie a specific type of Barcode) that is widely used in the United States and Global Trade Item Number (GTIN is an identifier for Trade items developed by GS1 (comprising the former EAN International and Uniform Code Council Mass production (also called flow production, repetitive flow production, series production, or serial production) is the production of

Lots or batches

Lot numbers, batch numbers or control numbers are used in manufacturing to sub-divide equivalent product by its manufacturing batch or run. The primary characteristic of batch production is that all components are completed at a workstation before they move to the next one The publishing page of a book lists the printing run that produced that unique book. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, food processing, and petroleum use some form of control number to sub-divide equivalent product for product testing or expiration dating. The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting (often by Oil tankers and pipelines See also shelf life. Shelf life is that length of time that Food, drink Medicine and other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale or Two separate lots may vary slightly, but they are not assigned separate product identification codes because the variation does not give them significantly different features or uses as products.

Barcode labels on vaccines in the UK contain a product code but do not currently contain the batch number or expiry date. A bar code (also barcode) is an optical Machine-readable representation of data [8] Inventory records of controlled substances in the United States must include a "batch number or other appropriate identifying number". A controlled substance is generally a drug or chemical whose manufacture possession and use are regulated by a government [9]

Product groups

Categories

In its online product catalogue, retailer Sears, Roebuck and Company divides its products into departments, then presents products to shoppers according to (1) function or (2) brand. Sears Roebuck and Company, commonly known as Sears, is an American mid-range chain of International Department stores founded by Richard [10] Each product has a Sears item number and a manufacturer's model number. The departments and product groupings that Sears uses are intended to help customers browse products by function or brand within a traditional department store structure. A department store is a Retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant merchandise line. [11]

Sizes and colors

A catalog number, especially for clothing, may group sizes and colors. When ordering the product, the customer specifies size, color and other variables. [12] example: you walk into a store and see a group of shoes and in that group are sections of different colors of that type of shoe and sizes for that shoe to satisfy your need.

Product line

A product line is "a group of products that are closely related, either because they function in a similar manner, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through the same types of outlets, or fall within given price ranges. "[13]

Many businesses offer a range of product lines which may be unique to a single organization or may be common across the business's industry. In 2002 the US Census compiled revenue figures for the finance and insurance industry by various product lines such as "accident, health and medical insurance premiums" and "income from secured consumer loans". [14] Within the insurance industry, product lines are indicated by the type of risk coverage, such as auto insurance, commercial insurance and life insurance. Insurance, in Law and Economics, is a form of Risk management primarily used to hedge against the Risk of a contingent loss Vehicle insurance (also known as auto insurance, car insurance, or motor insurance) is Insurance purchased for cars, Trucks Life insurance or life assurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the [15]

Service types

National and international product classifications

Various classification systems for products have been developed for economic statistical purposes. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) classifies companies by their primary product. The North American Industry Classification System or NAICS (pronounced) is used by business and government to classify and measure economic activity in Canada, The European Union uses a "Classification of Products by Activity" among other product classifications. [16] The United Nations also classifies products for international economic activity reporting. [17]

The Aspinwall Classification System (Leo Aspinwall, 1958) classifies and rates products based on five variables:

  1. Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?)
  2. Gross margin (How much profit is obtained from each product?)
  3. Buyer goal adjustment (How flexible are the buyers' purchasing habits with regard to this product?)
  4. Duration of product satisfaction (How long will the product produce benefits for the user?)
  5. Duration of buyer search behaviour (How long will consumers shop for the product?)

The structure of a product

We can distinguish three layers:

a) Core product - focus on the benefit and core advantage which determines our decision.

b) Actual product - emphasis on five physical characteristics of a product: quality, brand name, features, style/design and packaging.

c) Augmented product - post-purchase services and additional services provided by the company.

Example: a cell phone

The core product: to make phone calls.

The actual product:

The augmented product: additional goods and services that improve the appeal of the product (e. g. one-year warranty).

The division of goods depending on the degree of materiality:

a) Material goods: those can be described in terms of physical features. We can verify the quality of a product before the purchase.

b) Services: they entail no possibility of checking their excellence prior to a purchase.

c) Services accompanied by material goods (and vice versa): an amalgamation of the two (e. g. hairdresser (cutting + hair dye)).

Notes and references

  1. ^ Kotler, P. , Armstrong, G. , Brown, L. , and Adam, S. (2006) Marketing, 7th Ed. Pearson Education Australia/Prentice Hall.
  2. ^ Random House Dictionary, 1975
  3. ^ Etymology of product, etymonline. com.
  4. ^ Etymology of produce, etymonline. com.
  5. ^ Product Life Cycle illustration, agmrc. org.
  6. ^ United States Patent and Trademark Office definition of patent, uspto. gov.
  7. ^ Gurney's Seed and Nursery Co., product number 14328, gurneys. com. Accessed on 2007-07-01.
  8. ^ UK Department of Health Immunisation Group Informatics Update, info. doh. gov. uk. Retrieved on 2007 June 27. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1358 - Republic of Dubrovnik is founded 1709 - Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden
  9. ^ "(ii) For each controlled substance in the process of manufacture on the inventory date, the inventory shall include:. . . (C) The physical form which the substance is to take upon completion of the manufacturing process (e. g. , granulations, tablets, capsules, or solutions), identified by the batch number or other appropriate identifying number, and if possible the finished form of the substance (e. g. , 10-milligram tablet or 10-milligram concentration per fluid ounce or milliliter) and the number or volume thereof. "Section 1304.11 Code of Federal Regulations, deadiversion. usdoj. gov.
  10. ^ Sears online, sears. com.
  11. ^ When an online Sears customer goes to the "Parts and accessories" section of the website to find parts for a particular Sears item, the "model number" field actually requires a Sears item number, not a manufacturer's model number. This is a typical problem with product codes or item codes that are internally assigned by a company but do not conform to an external standard.
  12. ^ L.L. Beans webpage for ordering men's "Dress Chinos, Classic Fit Pleated", catalog number TA55203. llbean. com. Accessed 2007-07-01.
  13. ^ Kotler, Philip; Gary Armstrong (1989). Principles of Marketing, fourth edition (Annotated Instructor's Edition). Prentice-Hall, Inc. , 639 (glossary definition). ISBN 0137061293.  
  14. ^ "2002 Economic Census, Finance and Insurance" US Census Bureau, 2002, p. 14.
  15. ^ Insurance carrier product lines on dmoz.org
  16. ^ Eurostat classifications, ec. europa. eu.
  17. ^ United Nations product classifications, unstats. un. org.
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic