Product
According to Kotler and Armstrong, “A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.” Product constitutes one of the four P’s of the marketing mix and entails both the physical products and also the services that comprise all the offerings of a company to the target market. Product can also be further sub-divided into two categories comprising; firstly consumer products and secondly industrial products. Consumer products are bought by final consumers for personal consumption. They can be broken down to tangible and intangible (services). Examples of tangible are laptops, cars, books, games. Examples of intangibles are insurance and haircuts.
Industrial products are those purchased by individuals and organizations for added processing or for use in conducting a business. It comprises of materials and parts, capital items and supplies and services. Some examples include steel, building and equipment.
Product Standardization
According to Buzzell, standardization can be defined as, “The offering of identical product lines at identical prices, through identical promotion programs, in different countries” 2. In the world we live, we are observing same patterns of consumer buyer behaviour, tastes and demands as the world is becoming a homogenous place.
Standardization of a company’s product signifies that there is no change to the product what so ever and that the same product is distributed and sold to all markets around the globe. This strategy is seen as significant in lowering costs through economies of scale where each product unit shares uniform characteristics making them identical to each other. With standardization the compan...
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... – A company’s product is adapted to the needs and wants of the international markets. Thus this satisfies and provides customer value. For instance Subway offers “Halal meats” in specific stores and McDonald offers the “Maharaja Mac” in India.
2) Flexibility-A company can adjust to market conditions and adapt its product decisions to the international market.
3) Risk is reduced- A company that adapts its product to cultural background across international markets would see risk of failure greatly reduced and a higher probability of success.
Cons
1) Economies of Scale- Each product it tailored for each specific target market and the firm cannot enjoy the benefits of economies of scale.
2) Quality- There may be differences in the consistency of quality of products to the target market.
3) Costs- The company has to spend large sums of finance in marketing the product
• A more competitive, efficient and profitable business with less competition in the domestic markets.
Consumers become more interested in what brand they buy, and that what they want does not reflect their needs. While there are different products having the same features, people are still giving attention to the brands’ name. When people go shopping at the mall, they do care how the stores present their commodities, which brands use to target their consumers, especially women, and teenagers because they spend more time at the mall, so they are more likely to spend money on useless features’ commodities. Shopping at home, the salesperson explains the features of the product so that another will offer to buy it. Also, at home is the easiest way to buy useless
...price, it also allows for them to increase their sales and enter into new markets, which in turn would help to increase their profits.
Today, many companies enter the global market, and some companies have become extremely successful in the global marketplace and others still struggling. In Theodore Levitt’s article “The Globalization of Markets”, he states that a well managed corporation focuses on selling standardized products with high quality and low priced instead of focuses on selling on customized products with high cost. Levitt defines the differences between multinational corporation and global corporation, and adopts many specific examples to proves his view. He defines the multinational corporation who operates in many countries and adjust its product based on the taste of specific region. This will result in a high cost to produce the product because company have to input more resource into each individual product. However, global corporation sells similar product worldwide at relative low cost. According to Levitt, the cultural differences are becoming more and more “homogenized”; therefore, becoming a global corporation will lead to the successful of the company in the global market.
The company is managed such that it adjusts to the laws and regulations of different countries it operates thus making it successful.
When it comes to doing business internationally the decision making is more complex. There are many interactions between each country that need to be addressed. In order for a business to be successful in the international market they need to examine and analyze all the facets of their company. They need
In internationalization, the most challenging decision faced by the company to choose between standardization and adaptation in its operations, products or services. It has been one of the important and most popular research topics since 1960s to understand whether standardization is better or adaptation for marketing mix in international marketing. The increasing role of international expansion of business across the borders has also increased the focus of companies towards the international marketing strategies. It is also a biggest challenge for companies to better understand the different needs and choice of customers due to the huge differences among the cultures from various nationalities. This leads to the dilemma in the mind of marketers to understand which strategy is effective and good - standardization or adaptation. There is a significant impact of standardization or adaptation on all avenues of business such as research & development, structure, marketing mix, production, finance and marketing mix. The attitude of a company towards the culture of a particular country in which it is going to enter or start its operations decides to choose between standardization and adaptation. Consider the different views and arguments for each standardization and adaptation, this essay critically analyze which strategy is better to choose for international marketing.
Consumer offerings are essential products that are available in the consumers’ market. However, not all these offerings are part of the consumers’ need at a particular time. In this brief piece of writing, readers will understand the consumer offerings that relate to their needs and when. Similarly, readers will learn the difference in these offerings and probably the products the author has patronized with a vivid example. At the end of the paper, readers should feel free to consult the references that aided the writing.
Some of the major characteristics that make it in this firm includes high barriers to entry of other related substitutes, it ensure maximum profit on maximization, it is considered as the sole seller, price determiner and price changer. That is; it can change the price of its products a...
Pricing. Our product is priced lower than our competitors in our industry. Even though our competitors have a different kind of product compared to us.
The first element in the marketing mix is the product. A product is any combination of goods and services offered to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers. Hence, a product can be anything that is tangible or intangible and can be offered for purchase or use by consumers. An organization needs to have an in depth understanding about what it is they are marketing. Developments of the product’s quality, design, or brand name are important when trying to match with customers’ needs and wants. An organization should explain how their product’s features benefit the customer.
Among every product selling in the market, products are divided into three levels. From the first level to the third level, they are “core customer value”, “actual product” and “augmented product”.
Products are not standardized and vary by country in terms of type, packaging and specification. This increases production time, production costs, lead tim...
More competition in lower trade as other firms will try to convince that their product is better than K2-products.
The term "product" refers to tangible, physical products as well as services. It also means defining the characteristics of your product or service to meet the customers' needs. AirAsia’s philosophy is girded by the fact that they have been seen as a small airline competitor for many years. Therefore, in order to win more customers and return customers, they need to ensure that their primary products and services are up to par and meet the defining needs of customers. AirAsia offered (product) tangible and (services) intangible good to increase the demand of customer. (AIR ASIA MARKETING PLAN, 2015)