Commodity science: methods of goals and objectives

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Understanding the basics of merchandising is extremely important in the formation of core professional competencies not only for merchandisers and experts, but also for merchants and marketers. Orientation in matters of planning commodity resources, analysis of financial and economic activities, production management for technologists, economists, accountants and managers will not be superfluous. In a word, to all those who, by the nature of their activities, are associated with the storage, sale, production and transportation of various goods.

The concept of commodity science

Literally, commodity science can be translated as "knowledge about the product." Obviously, it arose at the same time as the commodities themselves, with the development of buying and selling. How the science of commodity science began to take shape with the beginning of the development of commodity production. All products exist to meet personal and social needs. And if earlier this division was natural and unambiguous, today the boundary between the personal and the public is blurred. Examples include aircraft and yachts.

Currentlyservices are also the object of merchandising. They have certain quality indicators, which are fixed by regulatory documents, are useful, and, therefore, allow the use of the scientific apparatus, technologies and methods of commodity science.

Utility and cost of goods

All products are designed to meet the needs of people, which means they must have at least some degree of utility. Economic theory defines utility as the satisfaction a consumer receives from using a product. The consumer's choice of product is based on utility. At the same time, utility is not only the benefit from the consumption of a particular product. From the point of view of science, it explains the distribution of consumer finances, turns a certain product of labor into a commodity with use value.

However, a commodity can be represented as a unity of use value with exchange value, which characterizes it in terms of proportions of exchange. The value of a particular commodity is also determined by the labor that was expended on its production. Use value can be described as an assessment of the desirability of a product, as the maximum benefit brought by it to the consumer. It is worth noting that this benefit can be both tangible and intangible.

The usefulness of a product can be potential and real. In the first case, the possible variety of goods is reflected, and in the second, the variety of requests. Distinguish social use value, characteristic of goods created for members of society. However, public consumption manifests itself in a personal or family form,because every member of society buys this or that product for himself or his family.

Product life cycle

According to ISO standards, the cycle of any product is reduced to 11 stages:

1. Marketing.
2. Product design and development.
3. Material and technical supply.
4. Preparation of production processes.
5. Production.
6. Inspection and testing.
7. Packaging and storage.
8. Implementation.
9. Operation.
10. Service.
11. Disposal.

When designing, the main properties of the product are laid down. However, in order for the project to be successfully translated into a product, it is necessary to conduct marketing research. And although the merchandiser is not directly involved in the development of the project, he has the power to influence the quality through a preliminary calculation of the use value and certification of goods. The manufactured product already has real properties, and commodity science is interested in its potential defects and ways to eliminate them. Packaging is designed to preserve all the qualities of the goods at the stages of storage, transportation and sale of the goods and is the subject of knowledge of the merchandiser. Since in the course of operation any product develops its resource, commodity science is called upon to give recommendations on its optimal use. Any product that has completed its cycle is subject to recycling, and it is the responsibility of the merchandiser to know the modes of processing end-of-life waste.

General and special merchandising

At the heart of commodity sciencethere are two parts: general and special. The first deals with general questions of the theory of knowledge and the formation of the use value of any goods. The second includes separate sections corresponding to the generally accepted classification of goods, which in turn study in detail general issues in relation to a product class or product group. These are, for example, the formation and preservation of quality, methods for evaluating goods, studying the assortment.

Questions of general commodity science:

• merchandising categories;
• scientific classification of goods and nomenclature of consumer properties;
• requirements for goods and their quality;
• competitiveness of goods;
• storage of goods and development of their expiration dates;
• physical and moral deterioration;
• assortment formation;
• identification and identification of counterfeit goods;
• confirmation of conformity and examination of goods.

What are the challenges facing merchandising today?

The main tasks of commodity science in a modern market economy are:

• Study and development of patterns underlying the formation of use value.
• Research to improve the principles of classification of all kinds of goods, as well as their coding.
• Further development of product range management principles.
• Fixing the requirements for the quality of goods and products in regulatory documents.
• Issues of product safety, development of technical regulations, nationalstandards, etc.
• Studying the most suitable operating conditions for goods.
• Formation of a system for servicing the product after its sale.
• Storage modes and features of transportation of goods, as well as their impact on consumer properties.
• Improving the examination system.
• Forecasting new products.
• Consumer protection.
• Modernization of the training system for specialists.

Methods of commodity science

Under the methods used in merchandising, understand the techniques and methods suitable for solving merchandising problems. They are divided into two large groups - general and specific. General methods reflect generally accepted approaches to the development of issues of consumer properties, cost and quality of goods and services, and are also the basis of basic commodity research. General methods of commodity science, in turn, are divided into positivist, dialectical, structuralist and synthetic.

Under the synthetic methods understand the use of methods of other sciences and disciplines to address issues of commodity science. This makes it possible to overcome existing one-sided approaches, but at the same time is a source of risk of losing their integrity.

The positivist method

Associated with the philosophy of positivism, which recognizes concrete empirical sciences as the main source of knowledge. His traits are:

• Phenomenalism.
• Verification.
• Pragmatism.

Formal logicaluniversal methods. The most characteristic of them:

• instrumentalism, or the transformation of scientific concepts into tools of analysis;
• operationalism, which can be expressed in the description of operations that are performed with certain scientific concepts;
• explication, or description of phenomena through formalized mathematical models;
• situational analysis, or case studies.

This method in merchandising has the widest distribution. It is used for quality control, mathematical modeling, case studies, etc.

Structuralistic method

At the forefront of this method is the identification of the structure (internal structure) of the system and the relationship of its elements to each other. His traits are:

• focus on the ordering of elements;
• the structure of the system is more important than the content of its elements;
• objectivity of a phenomenon can manifest itself only when it is included in the structure;
• "undersides of the system" are not considered.

The structuralist approach makes full use of mathematical logic and modeling. In commodity science, it manifests itself, for example, in the classification and grouping of goods; in the division of indicators of their quality. So, for example, commodity science of food products divides food products into grocery and gastronomic groups. The main disadvantages of the structuralist method are the danger of schematism and detachment from real phenomena, whichdo not always fit into theoretical models.

Dialectical method

In a general sense, dialectics is interested in the general laws of the development of nature, society and the peculiarities of thinking. It focuses on the development process. Her special methods are:

• The ascent from the abstract to the concrete, which can be seen as a way of systematizing and reproducing the whole.
• The unity of the logical and historical, which shows logic in the real historical process of development.
• A systematic approach that reveals the diversity of connections and brings them together.

All these principles are implemented in various commodity science technologies. For example, when developing a new product, as something whole, the relationship of engineers and economists, artists and technologists is necessary, bringing their individual contribution to the common cause.

Specific methods

They understand specific tools and techniques that allow you to explore certain aspects of commodity science. They are:

• analysis and synthesis, which are manifested in the division of the product into its characterizing properties, and the subsequent combination of consumer properties into a given quality;
• induction and deduction as random batch quality control on a single sample;
• abstraction, assumption, generalization and the like.

Classification of food products

The most important part of the merchandising of food productsis their classification, or distribution into groups according to characteristic features. Such signs may be the origin or chemical composition of products, the degree and quality of processing of raw materials, their purpose and other signs. Trade classification distinguishes the following groups: wine and vodka, confectionery, tea, water, coffee, dairy, fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, juices, tobacco, bakery products.

In addition, food merchandising highlights groceries and gastronomy. The first group includes cereals, flour, pasta, tea, spices, vegetable oils and other products, and the second group includes meat and fish gastronomy, butter, cheeses, canned food, etc.

Assortment management

The main principles of product range management are:

1. Compatibility. The assortment should correspond to the direction of activity and development of the organization.
2. Customer focused. For a product to be sold, it must meet the needs of the buyer.
3. Development. The range of goods should not only change to meet the new needs of the buyer, but should anticipate them.
4. Professionalism. The assortment should be managed by a person who knows the basics of commodity science of food products (or another area of trade), has the skills to apply them in practice and has analytical thinking.
5. Efficiency. The main goal of assortment management is to increase the profit of the company.

Under the assortment strategy is understoodthe process of formation with the development of an assortment of goods, which is built taking into account the prospects for the organization's activities in order to increase income. Strategies are offensive and defensive.

Types of assortment strategies

Offensive strategies	Defensive strategies
New assortment positions in many product groups (this is the so-called large-scale offensive). Adding products specific to competitors' range. Slight assortment change aimed at increasing customer loy alty. Correction of the assortment matrix when competitors change it.	Oriented to the needs of target customers. Tracking changes in needs and timely adjustment of the assortment.

Rules for assortment formation

Organization of commodity science at a particular enterprise is impossible without the following rules for the formation of the assortment of the store and its development:

• it must meet the needs of target and non-essential buyers;
• the assortment should meet not only basic, but also related needs;
• prices should be formed not only focusing on purchasing power, but also to ensure the profitability of the store.

An effective assortment is the key to the active development of a trading enterprise and consumer loy alty.

Formation of a commodity group

A product category is understood as a group of goods perceived by buyers as capable of interchangeability. The name of a particular product category should reflect its range and be understandable to the buyer. Examples include the following product groups: picnic products, baby products, etc.

An important step in the formation of a product group is the compilation of various matrices:

• assortment, reflecting the list of goods;
• role-playing, describing the role of all products in this category;
• price, representing a list of goods with their prices;
• correlation, containing information about the relationships of sales of various goods (allows you to determine interchangeability);
• summary, including key indicators for a specific product category.

Types of trade organizations

It is possible to classify trade enterprises according to numerous criteria. However, their ranking by types of retail trade is of the greatest interest. This concept includes the classification of trade enterprises by retail space and the form of customer service.

The most common type of retail outlets are "Department Store", "Products", "Fabric" and others. Retail trade is also carried out through pavilions, vending machines and tents.