Product marking gives sellers and buyers vital information on the characteristic nature of a given product or the packaging that contains it. These could be made by symbols, pictograms, graphics, logos, numbers or, as plain text.
A product or its packaging will have to be marked in a way spelled out by specific guidelines stipulated by the standards bureau of a country. Quality bureaus the world over have drawn up specific regulatory standards and guidelines that are mandatory requisites for product manufacturers to adhere to so that consumers (as well as the manufacturers) are protected in a volatile market scenario. In India, the products that one buys will be marked as per the guidelines were drawn up by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Such marking can be viewed from three perspectives: marking as specification standards, marking as to brand a product and, marking as a promotional requisite.
MARKING AS SPECIFICATION STANDARDS
Of the numerous ways to mark a product (in particular, an industrial product such as pipes and cables), compliance to stipulated standards assumes great importance. To realize this end, manufacturers will have to display crucial product parameters such as serial number and, technical specifications such as inner and outer diameters, wall thickness and the like, displayed as text and numerals and, made clearly visible for the buyer to read and know the details. This testifies that the product has been marked according to the standards that are mandatory in compliance.
MARKING AS BRANDING
A brand is a name, picture, design, emblem or a combination of all these, utilized by a seller to identify its offerings and, to differentiate them from those of his/her competitors. A brand extension means using an existing brand name or brand mark as defined above, for a new product or category of products. The advantage of branding is the recall factor of the brand symbol or emblem, by which buyers will readily identify and choose that product over the others for its quality over an extended time period. Hence, marking for the purpose of branding a product will involve the depiction of such symbols or emblems on the product or its packaging. Manufacturers of glass and glass products have their brand emblem visibly marked so as to further their brand and also, to prevent counterfeiting of their products.
MARKING AS A PROMOTIONAL REQUIREMENT
Product sellers, mostly in the FMCG market sector, deploy marking of certain information in an effort to promote their product(s) at sporadic times of the year to enhance their brand reach to the consumer with seasonal offerings and discounts that are visibly marked on the surface of the product packaging.