There are different types of goods in the market and when planning and developing a product, it is important to take these types into account. This is due to the simple fact that different type of goods are bought at different times and for various reasons. Okay??
You have to take into account the purpose of your product and what it will be used for as these will translate into the reason why the customer will buy our product and when they will buy it. The types of goods in today’s market are: convenience goods, shopping goods and specialty goods.
Convenience Goods
Convenience goods are those that customer buy without putting a lot of thought into the decision to buy them. This is mainly because the customer already has all the information they need on the product before they go out to buy it. The customer is not really looking to go out and get more information on the product and will opt to taking a substitute of the product as opposed to having to visit more than one store looking for that product.
These are usually products that consumers use on a daily basis such as milk, bread, cereal etc. The customer already knows what they want and they are really not for the idea to shop around, they are usually willing to take what is available.
Convenience can further be grouped into three categories;
? Staples which are goods that are available at low prices and are bought on a regular basis and they include cereal, milk and detergent.
? Impulse goods which are goods that the customer had no prior plans to buy as they walked into the store but still ended up buying them and they include ice-cream and candy.
? Emergency goods which are goods that are bought as a result of a very urgent need. Examples include an umbrella when it suddenly begins to rain or an aspirin to deal with a headache.
Click the image below to download !!
Shopping Goods
These are goods that the customer has no sufficient information about. They are required to first source for information of the attributes of the product and its alternatives before they go out and buy it.
These are not goods that are bought on a regular basis. They are bought occasionally and they usually cost a lot of money which probably explains the great amount of research that is done before buying them.
Shopping goods are further classified into:
? Attribute-based shopping goods – These are goods that the consumer first gets information about then proceeds to evaluate its options, performance, warranty, product features and other such factors. The product that will offer the best blend of attributes is the one that will be bought. Examples of products that are marketed as attribute-based shopping goods are Calvin Klein Clothes and Sony Electronics.
?
? Price-based Shopping Goods – with these goods, consumers come to the conclusion that all product attributes are the same and they look around to get the least expensive option.
Specialty Goods
Specialty goods usually come with a lot of brand loyalty. These are goods to which customers are loyal to a certain brand. The customers have all the information that they need on the product and all its attributes before they go out to buy it.
They are willing to put in all the effort and money required to get them the product. They are even willing to pay a higher price than they would for an alternative product if they have to. Their loyalty is never wavered. With these goods, it is either their brand of choice or no brand at all. Substitutes are never options for the consumers.
There are also different types of services available in the market and these include; rented-goods services, owned-goods services and non-goods.
Rented-Goods Services
Rented goods are a property of someone else that are leased out to a customer for a certain period of time. The leasee does not get full ownership of the product. They only get to use it for a certain time period, for which they are charged a certain amount of money, after which they return the good back to its original owner.
This is a very beneficial to use when you are looking for a product that you conveniently use for the short-term or if there is a product that you have urgent need of but you really do not have the money to buy it. Examples of goods that can be rented out include cars, tuxedos, hotel rooms and apartments.
Owned-Goods Services
These are services that are rendered to owners of various goods. They typically involve the repair or alteration of a good that is owned by a customer. The good is only given to the second party to be made better after which it is returned to the owner. In these situations, it is the owner who pays for the services and not the person being given the good like in the case of the rentals. The services are usually offered by people who are skilled in different areas of craft at a fee. These services include dry cleaning, haircuts, car wash, lawn care, plumbing, watch repair, automobile repair just to mention but a few.
Non-Goods
These are services that do not involve the movement of any goods from one party to another. They are normally quite expensive and the bill is footed by the consumer. They are also offered by experts in the field and the products being offered here are mostly intellectual. Remember that no tangible goods are actually moved. Such services include; legal, medical, counseling, accounting and consulting services.
Characteristics of Services
Services are generally much harder to select owing to the fact that they are intangible in nature. One can never really be sure of what they are getting until they have received the services
Most of the time, it is simply impossible to set apart the service from the person offering it. This is simply because it is the person who is doing the actual work thus without them no service will be provided.
Services are actually highly perishable which makes it impossible for one to store them which in turn increases the risk of loss where they are concerned.
The quality of service varies. Depending on the resources, training, experience and knowledge that they have, different service providers will offer different quality of service.
Click the image below to download !!