Product classifications

A brief account of product classification is appropriate here. The obvious broad categories are consumer goods and industrial goods. Those products which satisfy our personal wants and needs, such as food, clothing and household item, are consumer goods, whereas industrial goods are used for a multitude of business purposes, ranging from blast furnaces, pig iron and forklift trucks to wash basin cleaning compounds and typewriter ribbons. However, this categorization is based on the use to which the product is put. It is possible that some product may be put to use in both household and business premises. Since both the markets, the consumer market and the industrial market have different characteristics and different requirements, the marketing strategies, including advertising, have to be different. For example, table salt is different form several varieties of salt processed for industrial uses. Similarly, the writing papers used in printing and Xeroxing.