Product Mix

PRODUCT mix:

1. Product is a mixture of tangible and intangible attributes, which are capable of being exchanged for a value, with the ability to satisfy customer needs.

Include services, ideas, persons, and places.

Three types of benefits for a customer from the product

• Functional benefits

            Car provides the functional utility of transportation

• Psychological benefits

            Satisfies the need for prestige and esteem

• Social benefits.

            Acceptance from a group

Branding: Branding is a name, term, symbol, or combination of all these which uniquely identify the products and create a corporate brand identity for the consumer. Two components—brand name and brand mark.

1. 1. Brand Name: Part of a brand, which can be spoken, is called a brand name. For example, Asian Paints, SONY Maggie.
   2. Brand Mark: Part of a brand that can be recognized but which is not able to express. Appears in the form of a symbol, design, for Example, the tiger on Britannia biscuits

Trade Mark: A brand or part of a brand that is given legal protection is called a trademark.

Advantages to the Marketers

1. Product Differentiation: Helps a firm in differentiating its product from that of its competitors. This enables the firm to secure and control the market for its products. Example Sony, Samsung, Nokia.
2. Advertising and Display Programmers: Without a brand name, the advertiser can only create awareness for the product and branding increases the sale of the product.
3. Introduction of New Product becomes easy: If a new product is introduced under a known brand, it enjoys goodwill and can get a good start.
4. Differential Pricing: enables a firm to charge a higher price for its products than its competitors. Nokia, Sony charge higher prices than their competitors

Advantages to Customers

1. Status Symbol: Some brands have become status symbols because of their quality. The consumers feel proud and improve their satisfaction level. Like Puma, Nokia
2. Ease in shopping: Satisfied customer with a particular brand of a product, customer need not make a close check every time.
3. Ensures Quality: Branding means quality. Customer is always confident about the quality McDonald's, Haldiram

Characteristics of Good Brand

1. Suggestive it should suggest the product’s benefits and qualities. It should be appropriate to the product’s function. E.g. Boost. Sunsilk, Hajmola.
2. Continuing Chosen name should have staying power i.e., it should not get out of date. Lifebuoy( more than 125 years)
3. Adaptable should be suitably flexible to hold new products, which are added to the product line e.g., nestle, Samsung.
4. Registration should be capable of being registered and protected legally.
5. Easy to spell  should be short, easy to pronounce, spell, recognize and remember e.g., Ponds, VIP, Rin, Vim, etc
6. Disincentive A brand name should be distinctive e.g., GOOGLE, Sprit, MICROSOFT,LG

Packaging: - anything which protects the product from leakages, spoilage, moisture, heat, and mishandling and adds value and life to the product

Levels of Packaging

1. Primary Package:

• Refers to the product’s immediate container.
• Ready to use the product (e.g., plastic packet for socks);
• Used throughout the entire life of the product (e.g., toothpaste tube, a matchbox, etc.).

2. Secondary Packaging:

• additional layers of protection that are kept till the product are ready for use, e.g., a tube of shaving cream

3. Transportation Packaging:

• Further packaging components are necessary for storage, identification, or transportation. For example toothpaste in cardboard boxes containing 10, 20, or 100 units.

Importance of Packaging

1. Self-Service Outlets: Self-service retail outlets are becoming very popular, particularly in major cities and towns. Example reliance fresh, easy day, etc.
2. Increasing Standards of Health and Sanitation: standards of living in the country are increasing, and more and more people have started purchasing packed goods as the chances of adulteration in such goods are less.
3. Innovational Opportunity: packaging has completely changed the marketing scene in the country. milk can now be stored for 4-5 days, traveling pouches of  paste, tea, sugar, coffee, canned juices
4. Product Differentiation, by looking at the package of a product customers can guess about the quality of the product contained in it.

Functions of Packaging

1. Product usage: The size and shape of the package should be such that it should be convenient to open, handle and use for the consumers. 
2. Identification: Colgate in red color or Ponds cream jar can be easily identified by its package.
3. Promotion: color schemes, photographs, or typeface may be used to attract the attention of the people at the point of purchase. In self-service stores, this role of packaging becomes all the more important.
4. Enables Protection: protects the contents of a product from spoilage, breakage, leakage, pilferage, damage, climatic effect, etc. This kind of protection is required during storing, distribution, and transportation of the product.

Labeling: - Part of the product that carries information about the product, its contents, method of use, seller, etc.

Functions

1. Promotion of Products: Attractive labels can attract customers and can increase sales. For example the label on the soft drink‘20% Extra Free.
2. Required Information By Law: For example, the statutory warning on the package of Cigarettes or Pan Masala, ‘Smoking is Injurious to Health’
3. Identification of the Product: Labels help to identify the product or brand on its package from many products also including the name and address of the manufacturer.
4. Describe the Product and Specify its Contents. Describe the product, its usage, cautions in use, etc. and specify its contents, MRP, expiry date, manufacturing date, batch number, etc.
5. Enables grading of products: Grading the products into different categories. Different type of milk is sold by Amul brands under Red( full cream), blue (single tone) yellow(double tone)