This article explores the five attributes of product differentiation: product, price, accessibility, service and experience. Product differentiation is a method used to make your offering appear more appealing to a specific target market. The process of differentiation can be used to make a distinction between your products and your competitors’ products, as well as between your own products.

Typically, businesses differentiated their offering based on five attributes: product, price, accessibility, service and experience. The desired end result of product differentiation is to influence consumer perception. The following includes some product differentiation examples:

1. Product

Differentiating by product means that you are using your product features as your competitive edge. You want to not only tell your target market that you can deliver what they want or need, but you also want to appear superior to the competition. Therefore, when applying this process of differentiation, put the most emphasis on the product features your target market values and point out what you can provide that your competitors cannot.

2. Price

Price differentiation can work in two ways. It can apply when you offer a cheaper rate than the competition. This strategy works because shoppers like to save money. It is often used by discount furniture stores and used car dealerships. On the contrary, price differentiation can also be used to market high ticket or “prestige” offerings, like luxury cars and high-end salons. Because it is human nature to perceive the more expensive of two options as being of higher quality, many businesses are able to charge higher prices on products or services that are fundamentally the same as the competition’s.

3. Accessibility

Differentiating your business based on accessibility is ideal if your business has multiple locations, long hours of operations, 24-hour customer support or other benefits that makes it more convenient for your customers to reach or do business with you. When using this attribute as your competitive advantage, you want to focus on convenience, availability and promptness.

4. Service

Service differentiation is a great way to create an additional benefit when your offerings are very similar to your competitors’ offerings. For instance, if you own a store that sells wholesale electronics, your competitors probably sell the same brands you sell and within the same price ranges. As a result, you have little or no competitive edge. The process of differentiating by service allows you to enhance appeal by adding a valuable service that your competitor may not offer, like free delivery or free installation.

5. Experience

Like service differentiation, experience differentiation pertains to intangible benefits. With this strategy, your goal is to consistently provide your customers with a great experience. You pretty much want to pamper them to a degree. Experience differentiation can include anything from employing a courteous staff goes above and beyond to make the customer happy to presenting a knowledgeable customer support team that is available at all times. The experience attribute requires that you meet and exceed customer expectations.

Although the above product differentiation examples may seem clear cut, today’s competitive market is not as precise. Most products and services available in the market are extremely similar if not identical. Patents only last for a limited amount of time, so consumers can usually choose from numerous brands offering the same things. They can even purchase replicas, making it easy for them to achieve the “prestige” factor without splurging. As a result, many businesses promote more than one attribute.