In marketing textbooks, consumer products are classified into four related sets of products, namely:
- Convenience products
- Shopping products
- Specialty products
- Unsought products
Below is a list of examples for classifying consumer products on this basis.
Contents
Examples of convenience products
- Newspapers and magazines
- Most groceries and food items
- Soft drinks and snack foods and candy bars
- Tissues, headache tablets
- Bread and milk, breakfast cereals
- Toothpaste, soap, and shampoo
- Cleaning products, dish-washing powder, detergents
- Using an ATM
- Cigarettes
- Alcohol
- Coffee, tea and sugar
- Fast food and takeaway meals
- Pet food
- Flowers
- Fruit and vegetables
- Regular medicines and vitamins
Examples of shopping products
- Computers
- Mobile phones
- Entertainment equipment, such as an Xbox or PlayStation
- Cameras
- Household furniture
- Washing machines and dishwashers
- Clothing
- Sports equipment
- Kitchen utensils – plates, pots and pans
- Choice of restaurants
- Hotels and airlines
- Luggage
- Getting a pet
- Joining a gym
- Hairdresser and beautician
- Car repairs
- Plants for the yard
- Perfumes and cosmetics
- Running shoes
- Everyday jewelry
- Kid’s bicycles
- Internet provider
- Everyday home loans and credit cards
- House repairs, paint, tools
- Regular doctor and dentist
Examples of specialty products
- Architect designed house
- An expensive car
- Special jewelry
- Planning a wedding
- Wedding dress
- Specialist sporting equipment
- Specialist camping equipment
- Specialist medical advice
- Specialist professional advice – legal, financial
- Home loans for specialist needs
- Some types of computer software
- Extensive international holiday
Examples of unsought products
- Life insurance and funeral insurance
- Additional warranties on product purchases
- Encyclopedias
- Charity donations
- Some types of exercise equipment
- Unusual products – perhaps as advertised on the TV shopping channel
- Sometimes new technology (especially when first introduced to the market)
- Raffle tickets
- Fund raising events
- Sometimes counseling and personal support
Overlap of product categories
Please note: sometimes there can be an overlap between different types of products, depending upon the level of consumer involvement in the purchase decision. An example of this overlap would be for a home loan – which would be a shopping product for the average consumer, but could be a specialty product for a consumer planning to build a house over time or needing a greater degree of product flexibility.
RELATED TOPICS
The consumer products classification system
How products are classified in the consumer products classification system
Why the consumer products classification system is used
The marketing mix for convenience products
The marketing mix for shopping products
The marketing mix for specialty products
The marketing mix for unsought products
