Marketing Aptitude: Label

A label is an informative tag or sticker attached to the product or its package. It is a piece of paper, polymer, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information about the product. It contain verbal  information like name of producer, name of product, qualities of product, quantity of product, date of production, batch number, lot number, expiry date and important instructions for the use of product, etc. The term ‘Label’ has been defined by the following scholars:

• William J. Stanton: “The label is that part of a product which carries verbal information about the product or the sellers (manufacturers or Middlemen). A Label may be part of a package or it may be a tag attached directly to the product.”
• Mason and Rath: “The label is an informative tag, wrapper or a seal attached to a product or package of a product.”

Types of Labels

The labels are divided into following types:

• Brand label: The brand label is that type of label that contains only the brand name or brand mark of the product. It doesn’t give any information about the product. They are exclusively meant for identifying the product and popularizing the brand name of the manufacturer. Such as Taj Mahal Tea of Brooke Bond, Sony, Philips, Reliance, Maruti, Bajaj, etc.
• Grade label: When a manufacturer produces many types of a product, he uses grade labels to describe the type of the product. The grade label specifies the quality or standard of the product. It shows the quality of products by letters, words or figure or combination of these. For example-Different types of Usha fans are labelled as PRIMA, DELUXE and CONTINENTAL. This type of label also does not provide any information to the consumers about the product or producer.
• Descriptive label: It provides complete information about the product. Such as name of product, name of producer, date of manufacturing, date of expiry, quantity of product, qualities of product, composition of product and necessary instructions for the use of product. It is used for the products whose grade cannot be differentiated. Such label is widely used for medicines, products of cosmetics, etc.