Consumer Products
A consumer product is any tangible product for sale that is used by a person or household for non-business purposes.
A consumer product is generally any tangible product for sale that is used for personal, family, household or non-business purposes.
To determine whether an item is a consumer product requires a factual finding, on a case-by-case basis.
Another type of consumer products can be classified as products you don't need, like candy, luxury goods, and toys .
The production and sale of consumer goods is an important sector of US GDP and creating employment.
Product Orientation
A firm employing a product orientation is chiefly concerned with the quality of its product.
Similar to production orientation, the product orientation of marketing focuses solely on the product a company intends to sell.
A firm employing a product orientation is chiefly concerned with the quality of its product.
A firm such as this would assume that as long as its product was of a high standard, people would buy and consume the product.
Adopting the product orientation can be advantageous to a company, due to the fact that the cost of determining consumer preferences and the development of new products and services are minimized or eliminated because consumers are in some way captive.
Consumer goods marketing and business-to-business (industrial) marketing
Consumer goods marketers sell to individuals who consume the finished product.
Business-to-business marketers sell to other businesses or institutions that consume the product in turn as part of operating the business, or use the product in the assembly of the final product they sell to consumers.
Business-to-marketers engage in more personal selling rather than mass advertising and are willing to make extensive adjustments in factors such as the selling price, product features, terms of delivery, and so forth.
For the consumer goods marketer, the various marketing components are relatively fixed.
In addition, consumer goods marketers might employ emotional appeals and are faced with the constant battle of getting their product into retail outlets.
Goals of Consumer Market Research
Consumer market research is the systematic collection of data regrading customers' preferences for actual and potential products / services.
In the field of marketing, consumer market research can be generally defined as the systematic collection and evaluation of data regrading customers' preferences for actual and potential products and services.
This type of research focuses on understanding the consumer as a person by focusing on exploring his or her attitudes, needs, motivations, and behavior as it relates to a product or service .
For instance, a consumer goods company that wants to develop a new cheese product for the growing Hispanic demographic can use market research.
If the consumer market research demonstrates that consumers do in fact have an unsatisfied need for a cheese that could replace the product they are currently consuming in Latin America, the company could go ahead and develop the cheese product.
Trade vs. Consumer Promotions
Trade promotions help companies differentiate a product, increase product visibility, and increase the product purchase rate.
Consumer promotions are marketing activities targeted at the consumer to encourage them to buy the product.
Companies will often use a combination of trade and consumer promotions when launching a new product.
A point of purchase or end cap display can make consumers aware of new products.
Differentiate between trade and consumer promotions relative to a product's marketing mix
Basic Consumer Rights
A consumer is defined as "someone who acquires goods or services for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing.
" Before the mid-twentieth century, consumers were without rights with regard to their interaction with products and producers.
Consumers had little ground on which to defend themselves against faulty or defective products, or against misleading or deceptive advertising methods.
The assertion of this right is aimed at the defense of consumers against injuries caused by products other than automobile vehicles, and implies that products should cause no harm to their users if such use is executed as prescribed.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has jurisdiction over thousands of commercial products, and powers that allow it to establish performance standards, require product testing and warning labels, demand immediate notification of defective products, and, when necessary, force product recall.
B2C Channels
The seller makes its products or purchases them at a wholesale price, then sells them at a higher (or retail) price to the consumer, thus earning a profit.
The consumer uses the products for his or her own personal use and is not interested in reselling the product.
The types of product features consumers desire include value, convenience, efficiency in operation, dependability in use, and/or improvement in earnings.
Usually, a brick-and-mortar establishment offers consumers the chance to see, touch, and/or try the products.
Business-to-consumer e-commerce reduces transaction costs by increasing consumer access to information and allowing them to find the most competitive price for a product or service.
Consumer Interest Groups
Consumer Interest Groups focus on the issues and interests of consumers .
These groups focus on a number of different issues that include product safety, price issues, and consumer notification.
Two examples of consumer groups concerned with a broad range of consumer goods are the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Consumer Union, who publishes the Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports is known for its rigorous product testing including side-by-side comparison of similar products.
Consumer Reports also continues to do lobbying work around issues such as telecommunications and mass media, health care, and product safety.
The Demand Curve and Consumer Surplus
Consumer surplus is the difference between the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay.
Consumer surplus is the difference between the maximum price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay.
If a consumer would be willing to pay more than the current asking price, then they are getting more benefit from the purchased product than they spent to buy it.
An individual's customer surplus for a product is based on the individual's utility of that product.
Consumer surplus, as shown highlighted in red, represents the benefit consumers get for purchasing goods at a price lower than the maximum they are willing to pay.
Alternative Arrangements
Business-to-government, consumer-to-consumer, and institutional markets are additional types of marketing channels.
Business-to-government marketing encompasses marketing products and services to various levels of the government, such as federal, state, and local .
Consumer-to-consumer commerce is the completion of transactions between private individuals or consumers.
There are also older forms of consumer-to-consumer transactions, such as classified ads and garage sales .
Often, these types of transactions are for a lower cost than if they were conducted through a business, as there is some added risk that the product will be defective or otherwise be not as expected.
Source: Boundless. “Consumer Products.” Boundless Marketing. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 11 Sep. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/marketing/textbooks/boundless-marketing-textbook/products-9/types-of-products-67/consumer-products-334-712/