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an economic PRODUCT which is produced to meet some personal or business demand. Goods which are purchased by individuals are called consumer goods or final goods, while goods purchased by businesses are referred to variously as producer goods, capital goods, industrial goods or intermediate goods.

Some consumer goods (nondurables), such as bread and toothpaste, are used up immediately or within days of purchase, while others, referred to as consumer durables, such as cars, washing machines and televisions, are ‘consumed’ over a time scale often running into several years and are often considered to constitute part of an individual's personal assets or wealth.

Producer goods are items which are purchased by manufacturers, etc. to be used as factor inputs in producing other goods or services. They too may be used up in the short term (for example nuts and bolts, engines, etc.) as the production cycle repeats itself, or they may constitute the firm's stock of longer-lasting (durable) fixed capital assets such as plants, equipment and machinery The provision of goods (for example, a motor car, a perfume etc.) involve a number of characteristics which set them apart from the provision of a SERVICE (for example, window cleaning), in particular tangibility - the ability of a customer to see, touch, taste or smell the good, and separability - the fact that goods are typically produced and consumed at different points in time and thus can be stored. See MARKETING.