1. Product differentiation.
The overall concept of products includes three levels, namely core products, formal products and extended products.
(1) Core products, also called substantive products, refer to the core interests that consumers pursue when buying a product, which is what customers really want to buy and determines the function and utility of the product. It is the first level and the most basic level of the overall concept of products.
(2) Regular products, also known as tangible products, refer to the appearance of product entities or services provided by the market, the carrier of core products and the basis for buyers to buy. It has five signs, namely, quality, characteristics, shape, brand and packaging.
(3) Extended products, also known as additional products, refer to all the additional services and benefits that consumers get when they buy regular products, including providing credit, free delivery, quality assurance, installation and after-sales service. Only by providing consumers and users with more extended products with practical benefits can enterprises win in the fierce market competition.
Product differentiation also includes three levels, namely core product differentiation, formal product differentiation and extended product differentiation.
(1) The differentiation of core products means that enterprises should provide consumers with more utility and benefits than competing products. On the basis of comparison with competitors' product functions, enterprises should provide consumers with more product functions suitable for consumers' needs according to their actual and potential needs for product functions, and establish comparative advantages over competitive products. For example, the basic function of air conditioning products is refrigeration. On this basis, according to the situation of competing products, the functions of air purification, sterilization, energy saving, frequency conversion, heating and humidification can be gradually added.
(2) Product differentiation in form, that is, product quality, characteristics, form, brand, packaging and other aspects of differentiation with competitive products.
① Product quality differentiation. Quality is the passport of enterprise product market and the life of enterprise. Through various quality control methods, enterprises manage the quality indexes such as stability, durability and reliability of products in a differentiated way in order to gain competitive advantages. According to the survey, there is a high positive correlation between product quality and return on investment, and the profits earned by enterprises producing high-quality products are 60% higher than those producing low-quality products. The former makes a lot of money because high-quality products enable it to be sold at high prices and benefit from more repeated purchases, which will gain the loyalty and good reputation of consumers. For example, Procter & Gamble keeps improving its products on the basis of good performance and quality, thus making it in a leading position in many markets.
② Brand differentiation. Brand is the symbol of a product, and it is the comprehensive embodiment of quality, performance and reliability to meet the utility of consumers. The brand also embodies many cultural connotations such as modern management level, market reputation and enterprise spirit. Brand plays a very important role. On the one hand, successful brands can use unique value or marketing to segment the market, thus avoiding the pressure brought by direct competition on brand management; On the other hand, it weakens the power of buyers and provides motivation for consumers to buy. Due to the lack of comparable choices in the market, brand differentiation is enough to arouse consumers' admiration and recognition, and satisfied consumers will have brand loyalty, thus establishing a solid brand preference.
It should be noted that brand differences must be valuable, and this value is recognized by consumers. Such differences often make the brand stand out, thus rapidly enhancing the brand's attention, stabilizing the market and promoting sales. When "Smart King" went on the market, the unique brand advantage of celebrity PDA was that it was "smaller than competitive brands (reduced by half in weight and one-third in volume) and more energy-saving (one No.7 battery can last for three months, while other brands need two batteries)". After these valuable differentiation advantages penetrated into the process of brand communication, the sales volume of "Smart King" in the industry dominated the market for half a year, which was unparalleled. At the same time, the price and profit are also "high", and satisfactory market results have been achieved, which is really rare today when the speed of technological update is changing with each passing day. If the products of an enterprise serve customers with intrinsic quality, then the brand differentiation of an enterprise is to please consumers with external image, thus creating its own competitive advantage.
3 morphological differentiation, that is, the specific appearance of the product is different from that of the competitive product. The pursuit of basic functions of products is not the only reason why consumers choose products today. Nowadays, consumers pay attention to the function of products in beautifying life. When consumers choose products, they should meet their basic needs and conform to their aesthetic tendencies. Secondly, they should see whether the products they choose are in harmony with their living environment. Therefore, when designing products, enterprises should pay attention to the variety of colors and styles of products and give consumers more choices.
(4) packaging differentiation, that is, distinguishing products from competitive products in the outer packaging. Good product packaging is a silent "salesman" who plays an eye-catching role in the sales process of products. Therefore, enterprises should design an eye-catching packaging for products on the basis of studying consumers' aesthetic tendency and competing packaging, combining with product characteristics, so that the internal quality of products is consistent with the external packaging.
(3) Extend product differentiation, that is, differentiate products from competitive products in terms of additional services and benefits. When there is little difference between core products and formal products and competitive products, enterprises should strive to extend products, mainly pre-sales, in-sales and after-sales services. Fully communicate with consumers before sales, so that consumers can have a deep understanding of the products of the company and establish a good impression; In the process of sales, we should provide consumers with more purchase convenience, such as providing credit, installment payment, free delivery, free installation and so on. After sale, we should provide consumers with adequate and practical services, such as regular maintenance, overhaul, after-sale return visits, the establishment of consumer clubs, and regular networking activities to give consumers a sense of identity. Enterprises should constantly improve the service level and implement it, so that consumers can get great psychological satisfaction and gain word-of-mouth effect. For example, Haier's home appliances are always more expensive than similar products, but consumers still choose to buy them. The reason is that most consumers think that Haier's products have good after-sales service.
Among the three levels of product differentiation, core product differentiation requires enterprises to have strong new product development ability, and it is the most difficult task to track and lead the trend of consumer demand; The differentiation between formal products and extended products is easy to be imitated by competitors and lose the differentiation advantage; This requires enterprises to constantly reform and innovate to form the core competitiveness of enterprises.
2. Price difference.
Price is a factor that affects product sales. With the improvement of purchasing power, it is no longer the dominant factor. Consumers have the psychology of seeking cheap, and also have the psychology of "one price for one product". Enterprises should determine the appropriate price strategy according to the market positioning of products, their own strength and product life cycle, considering consumers' psychology on product prices and combining competitive product prices. In the mid-1980s, the Japanese film market was monopolized by Fuji, overwhelming Kodak. Kodak Company made a careful study of this, and found that Japanese people generally tend to value quality over price, so it formulated a high-priced policy to start the brand and protect its reputation, and then implemented the strategy of competing with Fuji. They set up a trade joint venture in Japan to sell Kodak film at a higher price than Fuji. After five years of hard work and competition, "Kodak" was finally accepted by the Japanese, entered the Japanese market, became an equal enterprise with "Fuji", and its sales volume soared. Haier refrigerators in China have always appeared at high prices in the market, giving people a sense of value for money. Changhong color TV can win many times by fighting at low prices.
3. Differentiation of distribution channels.
Distribution channel refers to the route and channel through which products are transferred from the production field to the consumption field. Product distribution channels can be based on product characteristics, combined with market factors, enterprises' own factors and competitors' factors, using long channels or short channels; Wide channel or narrow channel. The differentiation of distribution channels is mainly manifested in channel coverage, specialization, channel width and length determination and so on. For example, Dell's direct customer-oriented sales have brought earth-shaking changes to the computer industry and created a brand-new channel for the production and sales of personal computers. Analyze Dell's successful experience: provide customers with "tailor-made" services; Adopt zero inventory; The fastest speed, the application of the latest parts technology, rapid assembly; The sales channel is the shortest, consumers can customize it through free direct dial telephone, and 80% of new customers in online sales are through this channel. It means that the company does not have to be controlled by retailers, nor does it have to bear huge inventory costs. In fact, it has achieved the best utility cycle, low cost and high profit, thus achieving extraordinary business performance.
4. Promotion differentiation
Promotion refers to the marketing activities in which an enterprise informs its target customers of its products and related information in some way, stimulates their desire to buy and persuades them to buy, thus enabling the enterprise to expand product sales. Promotion methods include advertising, personnel promotion, public relations and business promotion.
(1) advertising appeal differentiation, that is, advertising appeal differentiation between enterprise products and competitive products. At present, most products are still product-oriented in advertising appeals, and they are in the stage of "selling melons and boasting". Advertisers have long been tired of this appeal. Enterprises should change from directly praising products to indirectly praising products, and even deliberately expose some insignificant defects of products, giving people a sense of honesty. For example, only high-quality raw materials and strict management can produce high-quality products, and enterprises can use this as a starting point for advertising complaints. Nongfu Spring praises water source, "Yili" and "Mengniu" praise milk source, and Wanxi Pharmaceutical Factory's "good medicine, good medicine" all have the same effect, giving consumers unlimited imagination space.
(2) the difference of personnel promotion, that is, the difference between enterprises and competitive products in promotion when personnel promotion is adopted. At present, most of the personnel promotion is to promote products and serve the interests of enterprises. Enterprises should conduct unified training for sales staff, help them to establish a correct marketing concept, shift from emphasizing the interests of enterprises to paying attention to the interests of customers, and realize the interests of enterprises while helping customers solve problems, so as to maintain long-term cooperative relations with customers.
(3) the differentiation of public relations activities, that is, the differences between enterprises and competitors in the use of public relations activities. At present, public relations activities are still in the vulgar stage. The public relations activities of enterprises should jump out of the vulgar stage, start with the hot issues that consumers pay attention to, such as returning to society, paying attention to people's livelihood, environmental protection, etc., and set up a good corporate image as the starting point, so as to obtain better social returns.
5. Differentiation of business promotion activities, that is, the differences between enterprises and competitors when using business promotion activities.
There are three ways of business promotion, namely, consumer-oriented business promotion, middleman-oriented business promotion and sales-oriented business promotion. Most commercial promotion activities are concentrated in the latter two categories. Business promotion activities of enterprises should focus on business promotion aimed at consumers, supplemented by others, so as to benefit consumers. For the long-term development of enterprises, it is consumers who play a decisive role.