Product and Service Strategies

Marketing Mix * Blending of the four strategy elements—product, distribution, promotion, and price—to fit the needs and preferences of a specific target market * Marketers develop strategies to sell both tangible goods and intangible services
What is a Product? * People buy want satisfaction, not objects * Product - Bundle of physical, service, and symbolic attributes designed to satisfy a customer’s wants and needs
What are Goods and Services? * Services - Intangible tasks that satisfy the needs of consumers and business users * Goods - Tangible products that customers can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch * Goods–services continuum - Spectrum along which goods and services fall according to their attributes, from pure good to pure service
Figure 12.1 – Goods-Services Continuum

Characteristics of Services * Intangible * Inseparable from the service providers * Perishable * Cannot be standardized * Buyers play important roles in the creation and distribution of services * Wide variations in service standards
Figure 12.2 – World’s Most Admired Companies

Importance of the Service Sector * The service sector makes up more than three-fourths of the U.S. economy * Backshoring - Firms return much of their offshore work to the U.S. to save money and improve customer service efficiency * Homeshoring - Hiring workers to do jobs from their homes * Most service firms emphasize marketing as a significant activity for two reasons * Growth potential of service transactions represents a vast marketing opportunity * Environment for services is changing
Classifying Goods and Services for
Consumer and Business Markets * Consumer (B2C) products - Product destined for use by ultimate consumers * Business (B2B) products - Product that contributes