Chapter 6: Product as part of marketing mix

• Product: anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a need. It includes physical objects and services.
• Products can be:

1. Tangible: you can see and physically hold a product. Example, a meal in a restaruant.
2. Homogeneous:’Like’ products are all standardised. Example, a hotel room is the same as another.
3. Separable: you can easily distinguish between one product and another because of the features of the product.
4. Storable: a product will last and is not perishable.

• Services can be:

1. Intangible: services cannot be physically held or seen.
2. Heterogeneous: services are not standardised, every experience is individual.
3. Inseparable: it is not possible to separate the service out of the experience. Example, being waited upon is an integral part of the service element of a meal.
4. Incapable of being stored: services are personable and cannot be transferred for use at a later date.

• Product life cycle: allows an organisation to $evaluate the positioning of the products and services$ it offers in the market. Product analysis in this way and it was travel and tourism providers to improve their competitive advantage and increase their profitability.
• Stages of product life cycle:

1. Introduction: product is launched into the market, period of intense marketing to raise awareness and to attract customer loyalty, limited volume of sales, high cost of promotion and no competition.
2. Growth: demand is steadily rising, competitors are working on substitute products, sales volume increasing thus profitability is also increasing.
3. Maturity: sale curve peaks within the stage, product continuing to make a profit, competition is strong and more marketing is needed to extend the product appeal.
4. Decline:Number of sales fall sharply, organisation needs to decide whether to discard the product or to re-launch it and is a very costly stage for the organisation.

• Reasons why organisations decide to develop product/service mix:

1.To gain Recognition as innovator in the market.

2. To develop/stimulate the market in specific destination.
3. To extend operations into new territories.
4. To defend market share when challenged by competitors.
5. To reposition themselves in the market.

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