Classification of Products

CLASSIFICATION OF PRODUCTS

1.        Consumer Good

2.        Durability & Tangibility

3.        Industrial Good

Rural Product Categories

FMCG –Major players are HUL, Dabur, Marico, Colgate Palmolive, Nirma, CavinKare and Godrej

Consumer Durables –Usha, Bajaj, Philips, Titan, Godrej, Videocon, Onida, Salora, Hero Cycles, Hero Honda, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata. New entrants –LG, Samsung and Maruti.

Agricultural Products – Agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and implements (tractors, tillers and threshers) Livestock, poultry and fishery. Major players are Rallis India, Monsanto, DCM Shriram, Chambal Fertilisers, IFFCO, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher and Escorts.

Services –Telecommunications (BSNL), transport, health care, banking (SBI), insurance (LIC) and education.

1Five levels of Products

Five levels of the product offering: Core benefit, basic product, expected product, augmented

product, potential product.

The core benefit (mobility, entertainment) and the basic product (eg. Motorcycle, television) remain the same both in rural and urban.

At the third level, the marketer prepares an expected product and defines a set of attributes and conditions that a buyer normally expects when he purchases a product. A

rural television buyer expects good picture quality, clear sound and an easy to operate set, whereas an urban consumer looks for digital sound, flat screen, and features such as child lock and picture in picture. A motorcycle buyer in rural expects good shock absorbers, fuel efficiency and low maintenance cost, whereas an urban buyer expects good appearance, power and style.

At the fourth level, rural consumers expect a Television set that can run on batteries and provides better picture quality in weak signal conditions and on-screen display in local Languages for easy operation. For urban consumer, could be an in-built DVD player with a television and a set top box to watch his or her favourite.

Fifth level, by offering TV sets that can sustain high voltage fluctuations or TV that can run on alternate sources of power.