In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need. In retailing, products are called merchandise. In manufacturing, products are purchased as raw materials and sold as finished goods. Commodities are usually raw materials such as metals and agricultural products, but a commodity can also be anything widely available in the open market. In project management, products are the formal definition of the project deliverables that make up or contribute to delivering the objectives of the project.

In general, product may refer to a single item or unit, a group of equivalent products, a grouping of goods or services, or an industrial classification for the goods or services. A related concept is subproduct, a secondary but useful result of a production process.

Dangerous products, particularly physical ones, that cause injuries to consumers or bystanders may be subject to product liability. Various classification systems for products have been developed for economic statistical purposes. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) classifies companies by their primary product [this is not even close to true, NAICS is a production-oriented classification system, not a product-oriented classification system – the NAFTA signatories are working on a system that classifies products called NAPCS as a companion to NAICS. The European Union uses a "Classification of Products by Activity" among other product classifications. The United Nations also classifies products for international economic activity reporting. The Aspinwall Classification System classifies and rates products based on five variables:

Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?) Gross margin (How much profit is obtained from each product?) Buyer goal adjustment (How flexible are the buyers' purchasing habits with regard to this product?) Duration of product satisfaction (How long will the product produce benefits for the user?) Duration of buyer search behavior (How long will consumers shop for the product?) The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) developed a commodity and services classification system for use by state and local governments, the NIGP Code. The NIGP Code is used by 33 states within the United States as well as thousands of cities, counties and political subdivisions. The NIGP Code is a hierarchical schema consisting of a 3 digit class, 5 digit class-item, 7 digit class-item-group and an 11 digit class-item-group-detail. Applications of the NIGP Code include vendor registration, inventory item identification, contract item management, spend analysis and strategic sourcing.

Marketing is one-to-one in nature. It is relatively easy for the seller to identify a prospective customers and to build a face-to-face relationship.

Highly professional and Trained people in Buying processes are involved.In many cases two or three decision makers have to be considered in purchasing industrial products.

High value considered purchase. Purchase decision is typically made by a group of people ("buying team") not one person.

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