Characteristics of Shopping Products, Specialty Products, and Convenience Products
Shopping Products
These products are a consumer product that the purchaser regularly compares on attributes such as feature, value, and style in the procedure of selecting and purchasing. Therefore, consumers expend much more time and attempt in gathering information and comparing alternatives. The category of shopping products is – furniture, clothing, used cars, airline services, etc.
The important characteristics of shopping products are as below:
- The shopping products are usually of a resilient nature, i.e., they usually endure many uses;
- Shopping products are high priced (compared to the convenience product), less frequently purchased consumer products and services;
- The unit price, as well as the profit margin of shopping products, is usually high;
- As these products have high unit cost, consumers evaluate the products of diverse companies before making a selection;
- Purchases of shopping products are usually pre-planned and there is a small degree of impulse buying in these products;
- Retailers generally play an important role in the sale of shopping products as a lot of persuasive effort is needed to convince the buyers to purchase them.
Specialty Products
These goods are not purchased regularly in a lifetime and are distributed through one or few exclusive distribution outlets. Luxury goods, Sports cars, designer clothing, exotic perfumes, luxury watches, and famous paintings are all examples of specialty products
Some of the important characteristics of the specialty products may be summed up as follows:
- Specialty products are strong brand preference and loyalty, special purchase effort, little comparison of brands, low price sensitivity
- The demand for specialty products is partial as moderately little numbers of people purchase these products;
- These products are normally expensive and their unit cost is very high;
- These products are obtainable for sale at few places as the number of consumers is little and are eager to take additional efforts in the buy of these products;
- A forceful promotion is necessary for the sale of specialty products, in order to notify people about their accessibility, features, etc.
- After-sales services are very significant for many of the specialty products.
Convenience Products
It is a consumer product or service that customers usually buy regularly, immediately and without huge evaluation or buying effort. These products are generally low priced, simply obtainable products that customer buys regularly, without any preparation or exploration effort. This category includes fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) like soap, toothpaste, detergents, food items like rice, wheat flour, salt, sugar, milk and so on.
Some of the significant characteristics of Convenience Products are:
- These products are purchased at well-situated locations, with slightest efforts and time;
- Convenience products have a usual and constant demand, as these usually come under the class of vital products;
- Such products are made available to the customers through widespread distribution channels-through every retail outlet;
- These products have a little unit of buy and low prices. Like eggs; pens glasses etc.
- Convenience products have consistent cost as most of these products are recognized products;
- The opposition in these products is high as the supply is larger than the demand. The marketers have, therefore, to closely promote these products.
