Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e- Elements of Product
Planning for Goods and
Services
Text © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002252 Chapter 9
with less capacity (equipment and people), but then it will sometimes have to face
dissatisfied customers.
It’s often difficult to have economies of scale when the product emphasis is on
service. Services can’t be produced in large, economical quantities and then trans-
ported to customers. In addition, services often have to be produced in the presence of
the customer.So service suppliers often need duplicate equipment and staff at places
where the service is actually provided. Merrill Lynch sells investment advice along
with financial products worldwide. That advice could, perhaps, be produced more
economically in a single building in New York City and made available only on its
website. But Merrill Lynch has offices all over the world. Many customers want a
personal touch from the stockbroker telling them how to invest their money.^3Providing the right product—when and where and how the customer wants it—is
a challenge. This is true whether the product is primarily a service, primarily a good, or
as is usually the case, a blend of both. Marketing managers must think about the “whole”
Product they provide, and then make sure that all of the elements fit together and work
with the rest of the marketing strategy. Sometimes a single product isn’t enough to meet
the needs of target customers. Then assortments of different products may be required.A product assortmentis the set of all product lines and individual products that
a firm sells. A product lineis a set of individual products that are closely related.
The seller may see the products in a line as related because they’re produced and/or
operate in a similar way, sold to the same target market, sold through the same types
of outlets, or priced at about the same level. Sara Lee, for example, has many prod-
uct lines in its product assortment—including coffee, tea, luncheon meats, desserts,
snacks, hosiery, sportswear, lingerie, and shoe polish. But Enterprise has one prod-
uct line—different types of vehicles to rent. An individual productis a particular
product within a product line. It usually is differentiated by brand, level of service
offered, price, or some other characteristic. For example, each size and flavor of aThink about the
whole Product
At companies like 3M, managers
must develop marketing plans for
individual products that are
consistent with the marketing
program for the whole product
assortment.
Whole Product Lines Must Be Developed Too