In response to Elizabeth's Question

"A lot of people are now seeing that companies are selling more products or have them in stock online rather than in the store. Do you agree with this?"

I do not agree with this. I feel that it is can really attract the customer away from the product or even the store. When one goes shopping, they may be buying on impulse and they may see a pair of jeans they want in the store but that don't have their size or length. When asking the sales clerk if they have them in stock, and they respond with they can purchase the product online, it may give them time to think about it and decide they don't want to make the purchase. In turn, they lose the sale.

Also, I do not think it is beneficial for them to sell some products online only. For instance, I know Victoria's Secret does this often. They have clothes that they sell online that they do not sell in the store. This limits their customer base because people may not always look at their website. In the mall, people may just happen to wander into their store and purchase a product. It is more difficult for a person to come across their website one day and find something they want to buy. It definitely limits who purchases their products.

Have you ever experienced this type of situation and in turn didn't end up purchasing the product at all?

Product Differentiation

It is important for a company to make sure their products are different from their competitors. The use of product differentiation includes the quality, features, and support services of each product. The different products helps to attract a vast variety of customers. It also helps make your product stand out as opposed to one of your competitors.

To start, the quality of the product is one of the most important parts of a product. It it what first will attract a customer to a certain product line, or ever store. For example, there are some products that may look exactly the same but the quality is different. A car for instance, Toyota, could have a life expectancy of 10 years where as a Honda may be known to have a life expectancy of 15 years. This is all due to the quality of the product. They may have the same features and support services but the overall quality is more reliable and longer lasting.

Next, the features of a product is what may be the deciding factor for some people as to which brand to buy. For example, the ipad and the kindle are two very similar products. But they both have different features. The features one of them has may work for one customer while the features the other has may work for another. The ipad is in color, where as the kindle is not. This could be what helps the consumer make the purchasing choice.

Finally, the support services of a product can set them aside from the rest. Many electronics equipment have support services over the phone. Whether or not the service is in an area where the language they speak one can understand, or if it is outsourced could affect the satisfaction of the customer. The less satisfied a customer is, the more they could spread the word which could cause less customers.

In the end it is best to have product differentiation because it helps give a customer a variety of options. What part of product differentiation do you think you pay most attention to when looking to make a purchase?