Exam 12: Setting Product Strategy

As the newest member of the marketing department, your immediate boss asks you to comment on the company's proposal to add two new shoes to the company's middle-of-the-road pricing and product-line strategies. The first pair will retail for $ 40.00 and has as its target market the "bargain" shopper. The second pair will retail for $ 200.00 and is targeted at the "sophisticated shopper." In relation to product-line strategy, what is the company trying to accomplish with these two new items?

The potential disadvantages of ________ are the risks and lack of control from becoming aligned with another brand in the consumers mind. Consumer expectations about the level of involvement and commitment are likely to be high, so unsatisfactory performance could be very negative for the brands involved.

Using the ________ level of the product hierarchy to market its soups, Campbell Soups feature the company name first, then the soup variety on their packaging.

Describe the six main service differentiators.

A manufacturer is contemplating introducing a product that is inferior to its competition in its performance, design, and functionality. However, the manufacturer believes that "good brand marketing" can overcome these shortfalls. Why is this thinking incorrect?

A new product is advertised on the "infomercials" as being "the best cleaner money can buy" and "if not completely satisfied, return the product for a full refund, including shipping." The strategy of using a strong guarantee in this instance is sound because ________.

If the Ford GT is designed to accelerate to 50 miles per hour within 10 seconds, and every Ford GT coming off the assembly line does this, the model is said to have high ________.

Every company's product line covers a certain part of the total possible range of products and consumer levels.

Buyers expect products to have high ________, which is the degree to which all the produced units are identical and meet the promised specifications.

In planning its market offering, the marketer must address the five product levels of the customer-value hierarchy. Describe the "customer-value hierarchy" and identify the five levels of product contained within.

Ideal ________ would exist if users could fix the product themselves with little cost in money or time.

Many sellers offer either general or specific guarantees. Guarantees reduce the buyer's ________ risk.

You have been asked to prepare a product-line analysis for your company's stable of products. Why is it important for product-line mangers to do a product-line analysis?

What is the importance of guarantees?

Distinguish between controllable returns and uncontrollable returns.

A ________ is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need, including physical goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas.

Product-line analysis provides information for two key decision areas product-line length and ________.

________ describes the product's look and feel to the buyer; it has an advantage of creating distinctiveness that is difficult to copy.

________ is the level at which the product's primary characteristics operate.

In increasingly fast-paced markets, price and technology are not enough. ________ is the factor that will often give a company its competitive edge and is defined as the totality of features that affect how a product looks, feels, and functions in terms of customer requirements.