Consumer Products

Consumer products are tho.se bought by final consumers for personal consump consumer product tion. Marketers usually classify these goods based on consumer shopping habits.

A product bought by Consumer products include convenience products, shopping produces,

final consumers for speciality products and unsought products. These products differ in the way

personal consumption. consumers buy them, so they differ in how they are marketed (see Table 13,1). 2

Convenience products are consumer goods and services that the consumer Convenience product

A consumer product that usually buys frequently, immediately and with a minimum of comparison and

the customer usually buying effort. They are usually low priced and widely available. Examples are

buys frcq uently, soap, sweets and newspapers. Convenience goods ean be divided further into

immediately, and with a miples, impulse goods and emergency goods.

minimum of comparison Staples are goods that consumers buy on a regular basis, such as milk, tooth

and buying effort. paste or bread. Impulse goods are purchased with little planning or search effort. These goods are normally available in many places because consumers seldom seek them out. Thus chocolate bars and magazines are placed next to checkout counters because shoppers may not otherwise think of buying them. Emergency

564 • Chapter 13 Brands, Products, Packaging and Services*

Figure 13.2

Classification of industrial goods

products are purchased when a need is urgent umbrellas during a rainstorm, or boots and shovels during the year's first snowstorm. Manufacturers of emergency goods will place them in many outlets to make them readily available when the customer needs them.

shopping product Shopping products are less frequently purchased and consumers .spend

A consumer produce that considerable time and effort gathering information and comparing alternative The customer, in the

brands carefully on suitability, quality, price and style. Examples of shopping process of selection

products are furniture, clothing, used cars and major household appliances. and purchase,

Shopping products can be divided into homogeneous and heterogeneous goods. aha racteristica lly

The buyer sees homogeneous shopping products, such as major appliances (e.g., compares with others on

cookers, fridges), as similar in quality but different enough in price to justify such bases as suitability,

quality, price and style. shopping comparisons. The seller has to 'talk price' to the buyer. However, when a consumer is shopping for heterogeneous products such as clothing and furniture,

speciality product product features are often more important than price. If the buyer wants a new

A consumer product suit, the cut, fit and look are likely to be more important than small price differ «!t(/i unique

ences. Therefore a seller of heterogeneous shopping products must carry a wide characteristics or brand

assortment to satisfy individual tastes and have welltrained salespeople to give identification for 'which

information and advice to customers.

a significant group of Speciality products arc consumer goods with unique characteristics or brand buyers is 'willing to

identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special make a special purchase

purchase effort. Examples are specific brands and types of car, highpriced home effort.

entertainment systems, photographic equipment and luxury goods. A jukebox, for example, is a speciality good because buyers are usually willing to travel greal distances to buy one. Buyers normally do not compare speciality goods. They invest only the time needed to reach dealers carrying the wanted products. Although these dealers do not need convenient locations, they must still let buyers know where to find them.

unsought product Unsought products are consumer goods that the consumer either does not

A consumer product that know about or knows about but does not normally think of buying. Most major the consumer either does

innovations are unsought until the consumer becomes aware of them through not know about or

advertising. Other examples of known but unsought goods are life insurance, knows about but does

home security systems and blood donations to the Red Cross. By their very not normally think of

nature, unsought goods require a lot of advertising, personal selling and other buying. marketing efforts. Some of the most advanced personal selling methods have

developed out of the challenge of selling such goods.

Product Glassffieations • 565

Consumer Products