What is Product?
We define a product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. Product include more than just tangible goods. Broadly define, products include physical objects, services, events, persons, places, organizations, ideas, or mixes of these entities. We use the term product broadly to include any or all of these entities.
Because of their important in the world economy, we give special attention to services. Services are a from of product that consists of activities, benefits or satisfaction offered for sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything. Examples are banking, hotel, airline and home-repair services.
Level of Product:
Product planners need to think about products and services on three levels. Each level adds more customer value. 1. CORE BENEFIT 2. ACTUAL PRODUCT 3. AUGMENTED PRODUCT
The most basic level is CORE BENEFIT, which addresses the question what is the buyer really buying? When designing products, marketers must first define the core, problem solving benefits or services that consumer seek.
At the Second level, product planners must turn the core benefit into an actual product. They need to develop product and service features, design, a quality level, a brand name, and packaging and other attributes have all been combined carefully to deliver the core benefit of staying connected.
Finally, product planners must build an augmented product around the core benefit and actual product by offering additional consumer services and benefits. BlackBerry must offer more than just a communications device. It must provide consumers with a complete solution to mobile connectivity problems.
Consumers see products as complex bundles of benefits that satisfy their needs. When developing products, marketers first must identify the core consumer needs the product