Three Levels of Product

Brands, products, packaging and support services

We define a product as anything that is offered to a market for use, and that will satisfy a want or a need. Product include physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas.

Services are products that consist of activities, benefits or satisfaction that are offered for sale, but don not result in the ownership of anything. Examples are banking, haircuts, home repairs and hotel.

There are three level of a product: the core product, the actual product and the augmented product.

The core product is answer to the question What is the buyer really buying? The core product stands in the center or the total product. If a consumer buys washing detergent the core product would be clean clothes.

The actual product is the level around the core product, for example the quality of the product, features, styling, a brand name and packaging. The actual product would be the brand of the detregent, quality and the packaging.

Finally an augmented product around the core and actual product by offering additional consumer services and benefits. The additional services, the Internet site or the hot line of the company.