durable goods

(noun)

A good that yields services or utility over time rather than being used up when used once.

Related Terms

Examples of durable goods in the following topics:

  • Product categories

    • For instance, a product can be classified by durability and tangibility.
    • Durable goods are tangible and survive many uses.
    • According to one convention, a durable good lasts more than one year.
    • Non-durable goods are tangible, but they provide benefits for a short time.
    • Shopping goods are purchased only after consumers make comparisons with competing goods based on such attributes as price, quality, style, or color.

  • Customer Expectations

    • Retail products are usually classified into three broad categories: food products, hard or durable goods, and soft goods or consumables.
    • Durable goods are those that yield services or utility over time rather than being used up when used once.
    • Cars and washing machines are examples of durable goods.
    • Consumable goods are those that are used up when used or otherwise have a limited life, such as clothing .
    • A department store, for example, will sell both durable and consumable goods.

  • Defining GDP

    • Gross domestic product is the market value of all final goods and services produced within the national borders of a country for a given period of time.
    • The expenditure approach attempts to calculate GDP by evaluating the sum of all final good and services purchased in an economy.
    • Personal expenditures fall under one of the following categories: durable goods, non-durable goods, and services.
    • "G" (government spending) is the sum of government expenditures on final goods and services.
    • In an economy, households receive wages that they then use to purchase final goods and services.

  • GDP Equation in Depth (C+I+G+X)

    • These personal expenditures fall under one of the following categories: durable goods, non-durable goods, and services.
    • Also, it is important to note that goods such as hand-knit sweaters are not counted as part of GDP if they are gifted and not sold.
    • Government spending (G) is the sum of government expenditures on final goods and services.
    • GDP captures the amount a country produces, including goods and services produced for other nations' consumption, therefore exports are added.
    • Note that C, G, and I are expenditures on final goods and services; expenditures on intermediate goods and services do not count.

  • Determinants of Price Elasticity of Demand

    • A good's price elasticity of demand is largely determined by the availability of substitute goods.
    • Duration of price change: For non-durable goods, elasticity tends to be greater over the long-run than the short-run.
    • However, this tendency does not hold for consumer durables.
    • The demand for durables (cars, for example) tends to be less elastic, as it becomes necessary for consumers to replace them with time.
    • Breadth of definition of a good: The broader the definition of a good, the lower the elasticity.

  • Marketing Classes of Products

    • Products can be classified based on consumer versus industrial goods and goods versus services.
    • The two most commonly used methods of classifying products are: (1) Consumer goods versus industrial goods, and (2) goods products (i.e., durables and non-durables) versus service products.
    • The traditional classification of products is to dichotomize all products as being either consumer goods or industrial goods.
    • A classification long used in marketing separates products targeted at consumers into three groups: (1) Convenience goods, (2) shopping goods and (3) specialty goods.
    • The demand for manufactured industrial goods are usually derived from the demand for ultimate consumer goods.

  • Recycling and industrial waste

    • The good news is that many of these substances can be reused in applications that require a great deal of material strength.
    • Coal waste (ash, boiler slag, fly ash, flue deposits and desulphurised material) can improve the strength and durability of concrete and manufactured wallboard.
    • In India, for example, discarded plastic bottles and bags are being shredded, melted and added to roadway asphalt to improve the integrity, water resistance and durability of paved roads.

  • Unsought Products

    • Unsought Goods are goods that the consumer does not know about or does not normally think of buying.
    • Marketers have classified products on the basis of durability, tangibility, and use (consumer or industrial).
    • Once the consumer is well-educated about the product, the good goes on to become a sought good.
    • Even though it is a classic example of an unsought good, it is quickly growing into a sought good.
    • This was to prevent the good from becoming an unsought good.

  • The Functions of Money

    • The monetary economy is a significant improvement over the barter system, in which goods were exchanged directly for other goods.
    • Barter is a system of exchange in which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money .
    • Absence of common measure of value: In a monetary economy, money plays the role of a measure of value of all goods, making it possible to measure the values of goods against each other.
    • Indivisibility of certain goods: If a person wants to buy a certain amount of another's goods, but only has payment of one indivisible good which is worth more than what the person wants to obtain, a barter transaction cannot occur.
    • It provides a way to quantify the value of goods and communicate it to others.

  • Getting started in remanufacturing

    • A sound marketing plan must also be established to inform new and current customers that remanufactured products are just as durable as new products made from virgin raw materials.
    • (Ferrer, Geraldo, and Whybark, Clay, ‘From Garbage to Goods: Successful Remanufacturing Systems and Skills', Business Horizons)