Product levels; The customer value hierarchy.
1. Core benefit. Service/benefit/attribute the customer is really buying. A hotel
guest is buying rest & sleep.
2. Basic product. The marketer has to turn the core benefit into a basic
product. Thus a hotel room includes all the related items.
3. Expected product. A set of attributes & conditions buyers normally expect
when they purchase this product/service. As in the same hotel example, a clean
bed, fresh towels & working lamp.
4. Augmented product. Any feature/attribute that exceeds the customer’s
expectations such as a complimentary breakfast in our above mentioned example.
5. Potential product. It encompasses all the possible augmentations &
transformations the product or offering might undergo in [Link] we find the
new ways of satisfying needs.
