2.1.3.1 Product
A product can be defined as anything that can be offered for want or need satisfaction that is the term include an object, activity, person, place organization or idea (Kotler, 2006).
In developing a product strategy, the meaning of a product to the consumer must be borne in mind; the product should be seen as a bundle of satisfaction and not just a physical thing. Products must provide some benefits, which will prompt the purchase. These benefits though psychological in outlook create a new phase in competition.
Covey (2004) opined that a “product” is what the product does; it is the total packaged benefits the customer receives when he buys it. This includes the utility of the goods, the product service that the manufacturer provides, the technical assistance he may give his customer and the assurance that the product will be delivered when and where it is needed and in the desired quantities. He stressed that a product should not be concerned narrowly in terms of its primary functions; even if it is not differentiable, the seller may differentiate it from competitive offerings through special services, distribution or band image.
Levitt (1969) added that the new competitions is not between what companies produce in their factories but between what they add in their factory output in form of packaging, services, advertising, customers advice, financing delivery arrangements, warehousing and other things that people value.