Consumers’ needs and wants are fulfilled through market offerings —some combination of products, services, information, or experiences offered to a market to satisfy a need or a want.
Market offerings are not limited to physical products. They also include services—activities or benefits offered for sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything.
Examples include banking, airline, hotel, retailing, and home repair services. More broadly, market offerings also include other entities, such as persons, places, organizations, information, ideas, and causes.
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What is market offering?
A marketing offer is a product or service that a company provides to customers to meet their needs. An offering encompasses more than a single product or service.
It includes the extra value that a business adds to its products, such as convenience, quality, and support. Customers may prioritize these elements differently, so it’s important to offer a range of features and benefits with any offering to attract as many customers as possible.
Definition:
The products, services, or experiences offered to the customers in a market to meet their needs are known as market offerings.
Purpose and Importance
Market offerings develop an interest among customers toward a business’s products and services.
Businesses in the market adapt their products or services such that it fills the customer’s needs gap. More people are drawn toward a brand when it sells products that resolve customers’ problems or make their lives easier.
The brand that can do this the best and exceed a customer’s expectation will stand out in the customers’ minds.
Again marketing offer is important because it can generate interest in your products and services.
By developing products that align with your target market’s needs and wants, you can increase your sales and promote brand loyalty among your customers.
When you offer products or services that resonate with consumers, you differentiate your business from others.
Types of market offerings
There are several types of marketing offerings that your business may promote, including:
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Convenience offerings: Convenience offerings are low-price products that customers purchase frequently, such as common grocery and toiletry items. Typically, customers don’t spend much time comparing prices or quality.
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Shopping offerings: Shopping offerings are higher-price products that customers compare before making a purchase, such as a car or large piece of furniture. Consumers may spend several days or weeks shopping for the best type of offering for their needs and desires.
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Specialty offerings: Specialty offerings are less common, more exclusive products that customers recognize by brands, such as designer clothes or accessories. Consumers show brand loyalty by purchasing the same type of items from their preferred brand.
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Unsought offerings: Unsought offerings are products or services that consumers rarely purchase, like roofing services or a new HVAC system. Customers generally know little about the product and must shop around.
How to create effective market offerings
Here are the steps you can follow to develop marketing offerings:
1. Learn about your customers
Identify what products and features are most important to your target market. For instance, your customers may think it’s more important to have convenient ways to shop than having the lowest prices. Learning about what your customers value and what they need can help you develop relevant products and services. Consider incorporating the following types of research:
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Customer surveys
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Comment cards
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Focus groups
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Demographic data
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Market trends
2. Position your products to meet customers’ needs
Knowing your customers can guide your choices for product development, including what features and support you offer.
With your market data, you can advertise your products in ways that resonate with your customers.
For example, if your market research revealed that your customers are parents of newborns, you might run an ad campaign focused on getting more sleep.
When presenting your products or services to consumers, it’s important to differentiate between product features and product benefits. Features are standard elements of a product’s design or function.
Benefits are the ways in which the features can improve your customer’s experiences or provide a solution to a problem.
For instance, a mobile app may include a feature that connects your phone to your television, allowing you to use your phone as a remote.
The benefit to customers is that they have added convenience when using their television, and the app can solve the problem of lost remotes.
3. Price your products
Price your products based on your market research. You might consider your customers’ income and spending habits.
You should also factor in other companies’ pricing for similar products or services so that you can remain competitive.
Some businesses try to attract customers through low prices while others focus on product quality and benefits. Your strategy may vary depending on your customer base and company goals.
Some pricing strategies include:
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Cost-plus pricing: Cost-plus pricing means determining the total cost to your organization to make the product and adding a percentage on top of that amount.
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Competition-oriented pricing: This pricing strategy uses competitor pricing to dictate your prices.
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Dynamic pricing: This is a flexible pricing strategy that changes based on market trends and customer demand.
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High-low pricing: High-low pricing involves introducing new products at higher prices, then lowering them as interest or seasonality declines.
4. Add value
You can increase interest in your offerings by adding value through:
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Convenience: Make your products or services easier to access by implementing usability testing and design, delivery services or curbside pickup.
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Customer service: Focus on providing customers with positive experiences through strong customer service skills.
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Quality: Improve product quality to exceed consumers’ expectations and gain customer loyalty.
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Support: Offer support services for products, such as free installation, regular maintenance or free repair estimates for the life of the product.
Adding value to your offerings may change your pricing strategy. Customers may be willing to pay more for your products or services if they believe they are getting more for their money.
Market Offerings and Marketing Myopia
Many sellers make the mistake of paying more attention to the specific products they offer than to the benefits and experiences produced by these products.
These sellers suffer from marketing myopia. They are so taken with their products that they focus only on existing wants and lose sight of underlying customer needs.
They forget that a product is only a tool to solve a consumer problem. A manufacturer of quarter-inch drill bits may think that the customer needs a drill bit. But what the customer really needs is a quarter-inch hole.
These sellers will have trouble if a new product comes along that serves the customer’s need better or less expensively. The customer will have the same need but will want the new product.
Smart marketers look beyond the attributes of the products and services they sell. By orchestrating several services and products, they create brand experiences for consumers.
Conclusion
Market offerings are not designed to solve problems, but to highlight the value of your product or service.
If you use them as an end in itself, they can easily become confusing and lose their effectiveness. To be more effective with market offerings, you need to think about how they fit into your overall strategy.
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