A product can be anything offered to satisfy a want or need, including physical goods, services, and ideas. There are different levels of products from the core benefit that satisfies customer needs to augmented products that may change in the future. Products are also organized in a hierarchy from broad needs down to specific items, with levels including product family, class, line, type, and brand.

1. Amity Business School Marketing & Sales Programme, IInd Semester Product & Brand Management Varsha Khattri

2. What is a Product? A PRODUCT is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption and that might satisfy a want or need.

3. Includes: Physical Objects Services Events Persons Places Organizations Ideas Combinations of the above

4. What is a Service? A SERVICE is a form of product that consist of activities, benefits, or satisfactions offered for sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything.

5. Examples include: Banking Hotels Tax preparation Home repair services

6. PRODUCT LEVELS Core Benefit Augmented Potential Expected Basic

7. Product Levels Core Benefit Basic Product Expected Product Fundamental service or benefit that the customer is really buying Containing only those attributes or characteristics absolutely necessary for its functioning but with no distinguishing features A set of attributes & conditions buyers normally expect when they purchase the product

8. Exceeds customer expectations Augmented Product Potential Product Encompasses all possible augmentations & transformations the product might undergo in future

9. Product Hierarchy Need Family Product Family Product Class Product Line Product Type Brand Item

10. 7 Levels of Product Hierarchy Product Need — to satisfy a need Product Family — all the product classes that can satisfy a core need with reasonable effectiveness Product Class — a family of products having similar function Product Line — a group of products with closely related functions, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through the same channels, or fall within given price ranges

11. Product Type — products within a line having similar form Brand — a name representing a product or line Item (Stock Keeping Unit or Product Variant) — a unit within a brand or product line distinguishable by size, price, appearance or some other attribute