Monday 30 June 2014

SHARE IT →

“There is no such thing as commodity”, said Ted Levitt in one of his 1980 articles in HBR (Marketing Success Through Differentiation – of Anything). “All goods are differentiable.” Modern markets operate by differentiation. Even such generic products like steel, coffee etc. are sold by differentiation today.
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products Management Masala V K Talithaya
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products

Tangible products:

Tangible products are evident – we can see them, feel them, smell them and even taste them. The quality or the satisfaction the products provides is judged from what we see, feel, smell etc. But how is the tea sold by Uniliver different from Tetley? Apparently one may not be able to make any difference. This is where the intangibles make a difference even in tangible products.  
Companies selling consumer and industrial goods seek competitive distinction by incorporating product features. Some of these features are visible and measurable (tangible) and some are implied (intangible).
Commodities which are undifferentiated are presumed to be price sensitive. If walking down the road a few yards can get a fractionally better price, the customer would rather walk. This is the concept of perfect competition found only in rarefied text books on Economics. In reality, even walking that few yards has a cost, and the customer evaluates it. That is, however, another matter. To come back to our point, companies do create features in tangible goods, that is, differentiation by adding other considerations.  Therefore, going beyond Economics text books, in the real world there will always be other considerations (tangible and intangible differentiation) in making a buying decision.
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products Management Masala V K Talithaya
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products

Intangible products:

Ted Levitt succinctly puts it: “The most important thing to know about intangible products is that the customers usually don’t know what they are getting until they don’t get it. Only then do they become aware of what they bargained for; only on dissatisfaction do they dwell”. Satisfaction’s existence is affirmed only by its absence.
That is a curious situation where the customer will be aware only through negative input of failure and dissatisfaction, not of satisfaction. This makes the company’s marketing vulnerable to competition unless it makes effective differentiation.
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products Management Masala V K Talithaya
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products

Infusing tangibility to intangible and intangibility to tangible products:

All products have elements of tangibility and intangibility. To differentiate intangibles, companies have to create surrogate or metaphors for tangibility – how people dress in the Bank’s office, how the marketing person articulates, writes or present etc. To remind customers of what they are getting there is need to continuously convey the message. This will ensure that rare occasions of dissatisfactions don’t get overblown.

Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products Management Masala V K Talithaya
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products
Just as tangible products have to be intagibilised to differentiate, intangible products need to be tangibilised for “managing the evidence” – that is, give an impression that the product, indeed, is different. This should be systematically done. Some of the examples Levitt gives are interesting: hotels wrap their drinking glasses in fresh bags or neatly shape the end-pieces of the toilet tissues into a fresh looking arrowhead, or put on the toilet seat a “sanitized” paper band. All these actions say with silent affirmation clearly that the room has been specially readied for you – no words spoken. Those tangible messages of intangible service would be much more convincing than many spoken words; and in any case, how are you sure your staff will tell the customer every time?

Keeping customers for an intangible product requires constant reselling efforts while things go well lest customers get lost when things go badly. Relations with customers are managed much more carefully by tangibilising.

Similarly tangible products are differentiated by intangibles. To quote Levitt again, “An automobile is not simply a machine for movement visibly or measurably differentiated by design, size, color, options, horsepower, or miles per gallon. It is also a complex symbol denoting status, taste, rank, achievement
Selling and Marketing: Differentiation, Tangible and Intangible Products Management Masala V K Talithaya
, aspiration, …” Therefore, “A product …is the total package of benefits the customer receives when he or she buys it.”

It is the marketing process: Products are always combinations of tangible and intangibles..
Differentiation is not of the product per se, it is the process of marketing itself.
Differentiation is most readily apparent in branded, packaged consumer goods; in the design, operating character, or composition of industrial goods; or in the features or service intensity of intangible products.

Notwithstanding all the skills in differentiating anything, and the carefully created marketing process, the experience since the time Levitt wrote this piece is that all differentiated products have the tendency to become commodities. This whole process of differentiated products becoming commodities can be likened to a pyramid – a small tip of the pyramid belongs to the reign of highly differentiated products. As you go down ‘managing the evidence’ is less clear, irrespective of tangibility or intangibility. At the bottom the large mass of price sensitive undifferentiated products reign (though the companies marketing them claim their different qualities). This is not to deny that differentiation depends on how powerfully one operates the business. In the way the marketing process is managed successfully, to rise to higher levels in the pyramid, may still reside the opportunity for many companies, especially those that offer generally undifferentiated products and services, to escape the commodity trap.   

                                                                   
By V.K.Talithaya (vktalithaya@managementmasala.com)
Management Masala V K Talithaya.jpg
On 6/30/2014

5 comments:

  1. URLhttps://forbeshints.com/ DA 64
    Keywordforbeshints
      is very interesting site you can see daily updates articles about all categories one more thing you can publish your article with do-follow links by yourself. for more info contact-us 

    ReplyDelete
  2. forum posting refers to generating quality incoming links by taking part in online discussion forums. It permits you to post new posts and reply to previous ones to drive traffic to your web site.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Im Immo Cashflow Booster erfahren Sie, wie Sie durch smarte Immobilienanlagestrategien passiven Cashflow generieren. Sie müssen keine Bankgeschäfte tätigen, Geld leihen oder etwas kaufen.

    Eric erklärte 6 verschiedene Strategien, die verwendet werden können, um durch Leasing und Leasing einen Cashflow zu generieren. Diese Methode ist völlig neu und eigentlich eine interne Strategie.

    Anfangs war ich dieser Strategie etwas skeptisch gegenüber, denn wenn man die vermietete Wohnung wieder untervermieten möchte, wie überzeugt man dann den Vermieter.

    Aber ich habe eine bessere Ausbildung und Eric hat klare Anweisungen, wie man den Vermieter leicht überreden kann. Der Immo Cashflow Booster bietet dir Top aktuelle Strategien, welche auch jahrelang funktionieren. Und in diesem Erfahrungsbericht, werde ich dir meine persönlichen Immo Cashflow Booster Erfahrungen mitteilen.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just 99 Web Design offers affordable web design packages for every business, from basic one-page websites to full eCommerce website design services. affordable ecommerce website design

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ýnternet üzerinden gerçek bir casino hizmetine ulaþabilirsiniz. Gerçek casino salonlarýndan canlý casino hizmeti veren özel siteleri bulunmakta. Canlý casino siteleri gerçek casino salonlarýndan kullanýcýlarýna gerçek paralar üzerinden casino oyunlarý sunmakta canlı casino. Oyuncular internete baðlý olduklarý her yerden casino oyunlarý oynayabilmekte. Lakin bahsettiðimiz ve bahsedeceðimiz hizmetleri almak için doðru casino siteleri seçmeniz gerekmekte. Doðru siteleri yani güvenilir casino siteleri tercih ederek hem gerçek bir hizmet alýn hem de kazançlarýnýzý sorunsuz bir þekilde çekin.
    Sektörün en gözde casino þirketleri sayfamýzda paylaþýlmakta. Casino siteleri giriþ butonlarý üzerinden sitelere ulaþabilirsiniz. Sizlere sitelerin hizmetleri hakkýnda bilgiler vereceðiz. Sitelerin sunduklarý hizmetleri, bonuslarý ve finansal araçlarý hakkýnda bilgileri sizlere sunacaðýnýz. En iyi canlı casino sayfamýzdan ulaþabilirsiniz.
    Canlý casino
    Paylaþtýðýmýz siteler oyuncularýna gerçek casino salonlarýndan hizmet sunmakta. Oyuncular BlackJack, rulet, poker gibi casino masa oyunlarýný 4K görüntü kalitesi üzerinden gerçek casino salonlarýndan oynamakta. Ayrýca masa oyunlarý yanýnda özel oyunlarda bulunmakta. Canlý olarak sunulan oyunlar 4K görüntü kalitesi üzerinden oyunculara aktarýlmakta. Oyunlarýn sunumlarý canlý kurpiyerlerin sunumlarýyla yapýlmakta. Canlý casino oyunlarý kurpiyerlerin sunumlarýyla oynanmakta. Ayrýca masalarda bulunan herkes sizler gibi gerçek oyuncudur. Asla sitelerde bot hesaplarý bulunmaz. Herkes gerçek oyuncudur. Ayrýca odalarda sohbet bölümleri bulunmakta. Canlý casino
    oyunlarý oynanýrken ayný zamanda diðer oyuncular ile sohbet edebilirsiniz.
    Sitelerde poker, blackjack, rulet gibi onlarca farklý casino masa oyunlarý. Özel olarak hazýrlanan crayz time gibi canlý casino oyunlarý. Aviator, zeplin gibi popüler oyunlar ve binlerce farklý slot oyunlarý bulunmakta. Oyuncular istedikleri oyunlarý istedikleri bet üzerinden oynayabilmekte. Casino siteleri gerçek kumarhanelerdeki oyunlarý ve hatta daha fazlasýný kullanýcýlarýna sunmakta canlı casino.
    Lakin unutmayýn bahsettiðimiz hizmetleri en iyi casino siteleri için geçerli. Her canlý casino sitesi ayný hizmeti vermemekte. Bundan dolayý önünüze gelen her casino sitesi giriþ yapmayýn. Güvenilir casino siteleri giriþ yaparak gerçek bir hizmete ulaþýn.
    Oyuncular casino oyunlarýndan saðladýklarý kazançlarýný sorun yaþamadan çekebilmekte. Ayrýca istedikleri finansal yöntemi kullanarak seçebilmekte. Siteler oyuncular onlarca farklý finansal araç sunmakta. Kullanýcýlar istedikleri yöntemleri kullanarak para yatýrma ve çekme iþlemlerini kolay bir þekilde canlı casino yapabilmekte.
    Casino siteleri onlarca farklý bonus da vermekte. Yeni kayýt olan kullanýcýlar deneme bonusu ve free spin alarak bedava casino oyunlarý oynama fýrsatý yakalamakta. Ýlk yatýrýmlarýna özel casino hoþgeldin bonusu. Her yatýrýmlarýna özel casino yatýrým bonusu. Þansýz günlerinde ise casino kayýp bonusu alabilmekte. Ayrýca bahsettiðimiz bonuslar dýþýnda farklý casino bonuslarý da bulunmakta canlı casino.
    Deneme bonusu veren casino siteleri sayesinde kayýt olarak yatýrým yapamadan bedava casino oyunlarý oynayabilirsiniz. Siteler yeni üyelerine özel olarak bedava bonus vermekte.
    Bonusu alan kullanýcýlar bedava bir þekilde casino oyunlarý oynayarak ayrýca kazançlarýnýzý çekebilirsiniz.
    Güvenilir canlý casino siteleri sayesinde avantajlý bir hizmete ulaþýn.

    ReplyDelete

'I Want to Start with Solving a Real Customer’s Real Problem' – Ted Selker MANAGEMENTMASALA’S Seven Rules of Leadership How Millennials Gen Y Loyalty is a Challenge for Brands Innovation and Invention – Another View Strategy: Conjuring The Future