Product, marketing mix, product mix, branding and packaging
Marketing and Service Management · Unit III · Topic 7 of 15 · 5 min read
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Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.
Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.
1. The marketing mix
The marketing mix is the set of controllable tools a firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. Neil Borden popularised the term (1953, published 1964); E. Jerome McCarthy (Basic Marketing, 1960) grouped the tools as the 4 Ps:
- Product: variety, quality, design, features, brand, packaging, services, warranty.
- Price: list price, discounts, allowances, credit terms.
- Place: channels, coverage, locations, inventory, transport.
- Promotion: advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity.
For services three more Ps are added (people, process, physical evidence), giving the 7 Ps dealt with in Unit IV. The mix must be consistent: a premium product needs a premium price, selective outlets and image advertising.
2. Product: meaning and classification
A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need (Kotler). It includes physical goods, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas. A buyer pays for a bundle of benefits rather than a thing.
Levels: core product (the basic benefit, e.g. communication for a mobile phone); actual product (features, design, quality, brand, packaging); augmented product (warranty, installation, delivery, after-sales service).
Consumer products: convenience goods (bought frequently with little effort: soap, bread), shopping goods (compared on price and quality: clothes, furniture), speciality goods (unique, buyers make a special effort: luxury watches), and unsought goods (not normally thought of: insurance). Industrial products: raw materials, components, installations, accessory equipment, supplies and business services.
Product planning means deciding the products the firm will make, their features and range, the addition of new products and the dropping of weak ones.
3. Product mix and product line
A product line is a group of closely related products that perform a similar function, are sold to the same customer groups or through the same outlets, or fall in a given price range (e.g. a company’s range of shampoos). The product mix (product assortment) is the set of all product lines and items a firm offers for sale.
- Width: the number of different product lines (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, tea).
- Length: the total number of items in all lines.
- Depth: the number of versions of each item (sizes, flavours, variants).
- Consistency: how closely the lines are related in use, production or distribution.
Product-line decisions: line stretching (downward to cheaper models, upward to premium models, or both ways), line filling (adding items within the present range), line pruning (dropping weak items), and line modernisation. Product-mix strategies: expansion of mix, contraction of mix, alteration of existing products, trading up and trading down, and product differentiation.
4. Branding
A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller and to differentiate them from those of competitors (AMA). A brand name is the part that can be spoken; a brand mark is the symbol or design; a brand registered under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 is a trade mark and gets legal protection against infringement and passing off.
Essential qualities of a good brand name (January 2026):
- short, simple and easy to pronounce, spell and remember;
- suggests the product’s benefit or quality;
- distinctive, not confusingly similar to a rival brand;
- capable of legal registration and protection (not descriptive or generic);
- adaptable to new products in the line;
- pleasant and free from bad meaning in other languages and regions;
- suitable for advertising in every medium;
- timeless, so it does not date.
Types of brands (December 2018):
- Individual brands: a separate name for each product (a firm selling several soaps under different names).
- Family (umbrella) brand: one name for all products (the company name across salt, tea and cars).
- Manufacturer (national) brands: owned by the producer.
- Private (dealer or store) brands: owned by a retailer, made by contract manufacturers.
- Generic products: unbranded, plain-packaged goods.
- Co-brands: two established brands on one product (a co-branded credit card).
- Multi-brands: several brands in the same category to catch different segments.
Advantages of branding: identification, repeat purchase, premium price, easy introduction of new products, legal protection and advertising focus. Disadvantages: cost of building the brand, risk that one failure harms the whole family brand.
5. Packing, packaging and labelling
Packing is wrapping and crating goods for transport and storage (bulk cartons, wooden crates): its object is protection in transit. Packaging is designing and producing the container or wrapper in which the product reaches the consumer: its object is protection plus promotion and convenience. Packaging has three layers: primary (the immediate container, a bottle), secondary (the box around it) and shipping package (the carton of many boxes).
| Packing | Packaging |
|---|---|
| For transport and storage | For the consumer |
| Protection only | Protection, convenience and promotion |
| Bulk, outer container | Unit, inner container |
| Not seen by consumer | “Silent salesman” on the shelf |
Functions of packaging: protection from damage and contamination; containment and convenient quantity; identification; information and instructions; promotion and attraction at the point of sale; convenience in use, storage and disposal; and re-use value. Qualities of good packaging: safe, attractive, economical, convenient, informative, and eco-friendly.
Labelling gives information about the product. In India pre-packaged commodities must carry the declarations in the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011: name and address of manufacturer or packer, common name of the commodity, net quantity, month and year of manufacture, retail sale price (MRP inclusive of taxes), and consumer care details. Food labels must also comply with the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020.
How this is examined
The brand questions are 10-mark essays in Unit III: give the AMA definition, distinguish brand, brand mark and trade mark, then list eight qualities or seven types with an example each. “Packing and packaging” (January 2026) is answered with the comparison table and the functions. “Product mix and product line” is a 6-mark note: definitions, width, length, depth and consistency with one company’s range as illustration.
Now try the real questions: Marketing and Service Management past question papers.