THE PRODUCT Page 1 of 2

A product is successful, only when it satisfies the customers wants & needs.
A. Goods: Tangible products
Services: Intangible products
B. Layers of the product concept: There are three layers of the product:
1. Core product: The basic benefits provided in the exchange
2. Actual product: The physical goods or delivered services
3. Augmented product: The actual product + supporting features
A. Types of customer products:
1. Product classes defined by how long a product lasts:
(a.) Durable
(b.) Non-durable
2. Product classes defined by how consumers buy the product:
(a.) Convenience Product: Low priced, widely available, purchased frequently, and a min
comparison.
(b.) Shopping Product: Consumers will spend considerable time & effort gathering
information.
(c.) Specialty Product: It has unique characteristics & buyer will devote significant
effort.
(d.) Unsought Product: The consumer has little awareness or interest.
B. Types of Business-to-Business Products:
MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operating) Equipments, etc.
Innovation (In marketing) Innovation = New product (Goods, Services, Ideas)
A. The Importance of Innovations
B. What is a New Product? Anything that customers perceive as new
C. Types of Innovation
1. On a Symbolic Level: (communicates a new social meaning) e.g. a new hair style
2. On a Technological Level: (involves some functional changes) e.g. car airbags
(a.) Continuous Innovation: A modification of an existing product to set one brand apart
from its competitors
(b.) Dynamically Continuous Innovation: A pronounced change in an existing product
(c.) Discontinuous Innovation: A totally new product
D. Adoption & Diffusion Processes
1. Product Adoption: the process by which an individual begins to use a good, service or an
idea
2. Diffusion of Innovations: the process by which the use of an innovation spreads through a
society or a population
THE PRODUCT Page 2 of 2
E. Stages in a Customers Adoption of a New Product
1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Evaluation
4. Trial
5. Adoption
6. Confirmation
F. Innovators and Adopter Categories:
1. Innovators (2.5 %)
2. Early Adopters (13.5 %)
3. Early Majority (34 %)
4. Late majority (34 %)
5. Laggards (16%)
G. Product Factors Affecting the Rate of Adoption:
1. Relative advantage
2. Compatibility
3. Complexity
4. Trialability
5. Observability (Tangibility)
H. Organizational Differences Affect Adoption:
Different readiness & willingness
A. Introduction Stage
B. Growth Stage
C. Maturity Stage
D. Decline Stage
E. Variations in the Product Life Cycle (PLC):
1. The Dreamer Curve: Product sales never achieve a growth stage in the PLC
2. The Contagion Curve: Product quickly & completely diffuse into the market place
3. The Fad Curve: Products rapidly become popular and then lose their appeal quickly
4. The Redevelopment Curve: Revived Sales of a product that come from product changes or
repositioning