Produkt

Produkt is a German noun meaning something that is produced, a good or service offered on the market. In economics and marketing it designates a tangible item or a service arising from production. The term is widely used in contexts such as product development, product management, and product policy. In everyday language, synonyms include Ware and Erzeugnis, though Produkt is common in business and technical writing. The plural is Produkte.

In mathematics, Produkt denotes the product of numbers or expressions. It is the result of multiplying a set of factors. For example, the Produkt of 3 and 4 is 12, and the Produkt of a1, a2, ..., an is a1 × a2 × ... × an. The notation ∏ from i = 1 to n is standard for representing a finite product, and the concept is considered alongside the sum.

In economic and business usage, Produkt distinguishes the item or service from production processes. It is central to areas such as Produktpolitik (product policy), Produktentwicklung (product development), and Produktmanagement (product management). Concepts like Produktlebenszyklus (product life cycle), Produktdifferenzierung (product differentiation), and Produktportfolio or Produktmix describe the planning, branding, pricing, packaging, and distribution of a firm’s offerings. A product may belong to a Produktlinie (product line) and is frequently analyzed in terms of features, quality, and market fit.

Across German-speaking contexts, Produkt is a standard term in science, industry, and commerce, cognate with the English word product and related terms in other languages.