152 CHAPTER 7 INTRODUCINGANDMANAGINGTHEPRODUCT
moresportydesigns,andmoreenvironmentallyfriendlyengines-includinga "hybrid"
car thatcanget66 milespergallonona combinationofgasolineandelectricity. "Every
makeris preparingnewlaunchesto keepsalesfromfallingthroughthefloor," says
Christopher Redl, automotiveanalystatINGBarringsLtd.
ButJapaneseconsumersarealreadyoverwhelmedwitt;choices."Thereare now
over 190 carmodelsavailableinthemarket," saysAtsushiFuyi,memberoftheboardof
directorsin chargeof domesticsalesatNissanM otorCo."Al1dtheC'verageconsumer
can only rememberabout 11 of them."
Yetat theMotorShow,Japanesecarmakerswillbecomingoutwithevenmore.
Toyota wantsto targetyoungpeople withfunEuropean-lookingmodelsandconvertible
sports car. Toyotaalsoplans torollouttheworld' sfirst mass-producedhybrid,withsales
proj ectedat1, 000 a month.Thecompanyadmits it willseethehybridasone-thirdofthe
worl d'sautomarketby2005.After workingoutthekinksinthehybridinJapan,Toyota
planstotakeit for aspininoverseasmarkets. However,aMlystsworrythehybridcould
cannibalize salesofothermodels."Whywouldyouwanttobuya Coronawhenyou
might be ab letobuya hybridcarforjust aboutthesameprice?"asksEdwardBrogan,
automotiveanalystatSalomonBrothersInc.
In this chapterwewilllookatthespecialcha1^1 engesthatthemarketingofproducts
possess.Moreover,wewilldelineatetheuniquecharacteristicsassociatedwithproducts
astheypass throughthevariousstagesofthe:rlives.Particularattentionwillbegivento
the kindsofdecisionsthatarenecessarythroughthisprocess.
SOURCES:JeanHalliday,"Carmakers Le arntoMineDatabases:'AdvertisingAge,April17,2000,p.S6;EmilyThorton,"Too
ManyCars, TooFewBuyer,"Busin essWeek ,October20,1997,p.56;AlisonS. Wellne.., "HotWheels:'Americal1Demograph-
ics ,August 2000 , pp.48--49;DavidKiley," NotYourFather'sSUV,"AmericanDemographics,January1999,pp.44--45.
Introduction
This chapterbegins ourdi scussionofthefunctionalareasofmarketing.Whydowebegin
ourdiscussion withproductratb~rthanwithpromotion,distribution,orpricing?Theanswer
is quiteobvious. Noneofthoseotherfunctionsserveanyusefulpurposew:thoutacom-
panyproductthatprovidesconsumersatisfaction.Withouta product,thereisnothingto
promote, nothingtodi stribute,nothingtoprice,This doesnotsuggestthalproductismore
im portant,rather,it is theimpetusfortheother marketingfunctions.Logically,weshOuld
startat thebeginning, andthebeginningofa marketplaceisa setofcorrectdecisionsabout
theproduct offeringsofthefinn.
DefiningtheProduct
Inessence, th e t enn"product"referstoanythingofferedbya finntoprovidecu stomersat-
isfaction,beittangibleorintangible. I t canbea singleproduct,a combinationofproducts,
a product-servicecombination,orseveralrelatedproductsandservices.Itnonnallyhasat
leasta genericname(e.g.banana)andusuallya brandname(e.g.Chiquita). Althougha
productis normallydefinedfromtheperspectiveofthemanufacturer,itisalsoimportant
tonotetwootherpoints-of-view-thoseoftheconsumerandotherrelevantpub'.ics.
