In planning its market offering, the marketer must address the five product levels of the customer-value hierarchy. Describe the "customer-value hierarchy" and identify the five levels of product contained within.
Answer: Each layer adds more customer value, and the five levels are: (1) the core benefit—the service or benefit the customer is really buying; (2) the basic product—the actual product that provides the core benefit; (3) expected product—a set of attributes and conditions buyers normally expect when they purchase the product; (4) the augmented product—the marketer exceeds customer expectations; and (5) the potential product—which encompasses all the possible augmentations and transformations the product or offering might undergo in the future. These five elements constitute the buyers' consumption system.