In chapter nine of, Basic Marketing, by William D. Perreault, Joseph P. Cannon, and E.Jerome McCarthy, there is a wonderful discussion on the concept of what a product really is, or the "total product". This discussion takes into account two perspectives, that of the business and also that of the consumer. While the term product may represent an item or service, the text points out that it can be interpreted in more than one way. A key point that is made in this discussion is that as business people we can easily become distracted by all the processes involved with developing, producing, and launching a product and forget to take into account how consumers will view the end result, thus we focus on the product, but not the "total product".
After reading this section in the text and reflecting on the material that is presented, in 300 words or more:
Problem 1) Compare and contrast these two views of a product. How does a consumer view the "total product" versus how a business can sometimes view the product when they forget to address the "total product"? (Hint: Take into consideration accounting, finances, depreciation, etc vs. the experience or whole package)
Problem 2) How does the text book discussion support the idea we have been looking at throughout the class that we as business people, professionals, and marketers should be sure to remind ourselves to look at situations from multiple perspectives? Why is this important to remember from an organizational perspective?
Problem 3) Please reflect on your experiences and think of an example from your life as a consumer or professional where the total product was not addressed or an example where it was addressed very well. Explain what the situation was, how the total product was not considered or how it was and what if anything could have been differently. To build on this analysis, how does remembering the concept of the "total product" help organizations build consumer or brand loyalty?