Product Attributes
Developing a product involves defining the benefits that the product will offer. These benefits are communicated and delivered by tangible product attributes, such as quality, features and design. Decisions about these attributes are particularly important as they greatly affect consumer reactions to a product. We will now discuss the issues involved in each decision.
product quality The. ability of a product to perform its functions; it includes the product's overall durability, reliability, precision, ease of operation and repair, and other valued attributes.
• Product Quality
Quality is one of the marketer's major positioning tools. Quality has two dimensions - level and consistency. In developing a product, the marketer must first choose a quality level that will support the product's position in the target market. Here, product quality stands for the ability of a product to perform its functions, it includes the product's overall durability, reliability, precision, ease of operation and repair, and other valued attributes. Although some of these attributes can be measured objectively, from a marketing point of view, quality should be measured in terms of buyers' perceptions. Companies rarely try to offer the highest possible quality level - few customers want or can afford the high levels of quality offered in products such as a Rolls-Royce, a Sub Zero refrigerator or a Rolex watch. Instead, companies choose a quality level that matches target market needs and the quality levels of competing products.
Beyond quality level, high quality can also mean consistently delivering the targeted level of quality to consumers. In this sense, quality means 'absence of defects or variation'.
During the past decade, a renewed emphasis on quality has spawned a global quality movement. Japanese firms have long practised 'total quality management' (TQM), an effort constantly to improve product and process quality in ever;' phase of their operations. For more than 40 years, die Japanese have awarded the Demming prize (named after quality pioneer W. Edwards Demming) to companies that have achieved outstanding quality. In these 40 years, a focus on quality has turned Japan from a maker of knick-knacks into an economic powerhouse - and European and US companies are now being forced to respond. The result has been a global revolution affecting every facet of business.3
To some companies, improving quality means using better quality control to reduce defects that annoy consumers. To others, it means making lofty speeches about die importance of quality and passing out lapel badges with quality slogans on them. But total quality management means much more than this. It requires a total-company dedication to continuous quality improvement. Quality starts with a strong eommitment by top management - many companies have now created 'total quality programmes' headed by vice-presidents or directors of quality. Then employees at all levels of the organization must be educated and motivated to put quality first.
Rather than catching and correcting defects after die fact, total quality management involves preventing defects before they occur, through better product design and improved manufacturing processes. Beyond simply reducing product defects, the ultimate goal of total quality is to improve customer value. Some argue that total quality is not merely a manufacturing issue, but a powerful weapon for achieving 'total customer satisfaction'. This is possible if quality is defined from the customers' perspective and if product defects are interpreted in terms of customer need and expectations (see Marketing Highlight 13.1).
Many companies have turned quality into a potent strategic weapon. Strategic quality involves gaining an edge over competitors by consistently offering products and services that better serve customers' needs and preferences for quality. As one expert proclaims: 'Quality is not simply a problem to be solved; it is a eoinpetitive opportunity."1 Others suggest, however, that quality has now become a competitive necessity - only companies with the best quality will thrive.
• Product Features
A product can be offered with varying features. A 'stripped-down' model, one without any extras, is the starting point. The company can create more features hy adding higher-level models. Features are a competitive tool for differentiating the company's product from competitors' products. Being the first producer to introduce a needed and valued new feature is one of the most effective ways to compete.
How can a company identify new features and decide which ones to add to its product? The company should periodically survey buyers who have used the product and ask these questions: How do you like the product? Which specific features of the product do you like most? Which features could we add to improve the product? How much would you pay for each feature? The answers provide the company with a rich list of feature ideas, each of which should be assessed on the
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