'Product Differentiation Essay\r'

' rendering:\r\nDevelopment or incorporation of attri exceptes (such as benefits, price, quality, styling, religious service, etc.) that a harvest-time’s intended customers perceive to be different and desir adequate to(p). Advertising and promotion of a harvest-home is based on its differentiating characteristics. Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/ growth- distinction.html\r\nToday, the trade is crowded with similar brands, clamoring for the attention of customers. In order for their brands to stand out, companies strive hard to catch up with them appear different from competing brands. This is product speciality.\r\n harvest-time specialty is an objective that a business may generate to achieve through its tradeing. Any business, must emphasize to differentiate products from those of competitors, so as to gain a ‘ combative edge’ over them, thereby attracting more(prenominal)(prenominal) customers. This difference can be achieved b y fastening the product- making it smash than that of the competitor’s or it can be ‘perceived’- such as a strong brand identity genuine in the promotional campaign.\r\nNeed for product differentiation: usu eachy customers can non tell the difference between competing products- therefore the need to differentiate developing a competitive advantage\r\nFocus and differentiation\r\nA product may sport a lot of attributes, but it is essential to focus on lone(prenominal) a couple of(prenominal) of the attributes. Eg: Volvo-safety, BMW- doance : but it doesn’t mean that Volvo does not perform or BMW is not safe. They pay just cogitate on those aspects of their products. Therefore their products will be place on that special(a) attribute. If a product claims to be good at everything, you run the risk of consumers not believing what you say, nevertheless though you may have all those attributes. If a product is foc intaked: 1) more credible 2) custome rs will think that they are as strong in separate areas.\r\nWhat to differentiate:\r\nEasiest port to differentiate is on price, but it is least powerful as competitors can always copy it easily.Example: Indian computer market included companies such as HCL and IBM. Then came shibah from sterling computers which sold it’s computers at a cheaper price. Therefore differents followed suit, and then Siva had to further differentiate it’s product in order to attract customers as competing products were similarly priced. Hence, it is better to differentiate on other attributes such as- features, mental touch, reliability, reparability, design, style, performance and so on.\r\nExamples:\r\n1) Blackberry- Differentiated by addition of BBM in their smart ph iodines. Although other smart phones with IM platforms existed, Blackberry was the one of the first to offer this service to customers as a standard on it’s devices. Their competition did not have any such serv ice at the time. This attracted customers. 2) Promise- People thought promise was different from other toothpastes as it had clove oil however even some other toothpastes had clove oil, but only Promise focused on this attribute and and then it was perceived as a differentiating characteristic. 3) Hero Honda motorcycles- distinguish in terms of fuel efficiency- â€Å"fill it debar it, forget it”\r\n brand and fruit differentiation\r\nBranding is one way of differentiating products and services. Industries give care the garments and tobacco industries, for example, use branding very effectively as the products inwardly these segments are often very similar and have little to distinguish themselves from each other. Branding helps to detain customer loyalty. Example: Smokers, are very circumstance about their brand and believe that no other brand can satisfy them. In an experiment, ccc smoking compartments who were loyal to 3 major brands were given an unrecognisable sam ple of each brand to smoke and were asked to make out their own brand.\r\nThe result: only 35% were able to identify the brands; and under the law of averages, pure guesses accounted for a third of correct identifications. The reason for this was that brands of cigarettes within the equivalent category (menthol for example) differ very marginally in terms of strength, flavour and preference, and it is difficult for a smoker to truly distinguish between them. The reason wherefore a smoker is loyal to a particular brand is the advertisment. Eg: Charminar: â€Å"it takes charminar to satisfy a man like you” †reinforces that only Charminar can satisfy the man who smokes them!\r\nProduct differentiation vs USP\r\nUSP is not the same as Product differentiation.\r\nUSP refers to advertising to communicate a product’s differentiation while Product differentiation is the process of describing the differences between products or services.\r\nTypes of differentiation:\r\ n swimming specialism: is by the customer’s preference/taste of certain characteristics of the product. (Same qualities/price, different style/taste/colour) sensed value remains the same. (eg: different colours of lipsticks) vertical: Products differ in some characteristic which all consumers agree is best. Based on quality. Prices differ as perceived value differs (eg: Different brands of lipstick: Mac, Lakme, Lipice) Horizontal differentiation is about consumers’ wants and preferences, while vertical differentiation focuses on the consumers’ willingness to pay for the quality.\r\nRemember:\r\nDO non offer wildly exaggerated differentiation that the market does not want. (eg: High priced men’s rear soap â€Å"Aramusk” was unsuccessful due to price)\r\nDO not negate useful and expansive differentiation by under attending to other parts of the product- service package. The difference should be OVER AND ABOVE the stripped expectations.
Ex ample: Fancy hotels with poor service\r\nThe product is not differentiated until the CUSTOMER understands the difference . The consumer erudition is what matters.\r\n'