In the world of marketing, durability and imitability play main roles in determining competitive advantage. Explain?

OF COURSE RAAFAT,,,,, FEATURE/BENEFIT OF THE PRODUCT PLAY VITAL ROLE IN MAKING ANY STRATEGY ,,,,, YES ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE IS WHAT ANY PRODUCT IS GOING TO DO IN ANY CONSUMER LIFE STYLE,, ADVANTAGE ,,,, AND ALSO THE DURABILITY OF THE PRODUCT ,,,, IN THE LONGER RUN IT DETERMINES THE CONSUMER LOYALITY FOR THE PRODUCT=========   GOOD DAY BRO

Durablity has a great advantage. Volks Wagon cars sell more than others in their  own class as they are thought to be more durable. Also if your product is unique and cannot be immitated then u have few competition. Eg hand crafted Swiss watches cannot be immitated. Hence inspite of their high price they are in demand.

Yes, your view endorsed.....durability and imitability plays a prominent role with modern marketing world..

Durability of products in the marketing arena is also important because customs and practices  resist people for frequent replacements which evolve Additional financial commitments and time loss and breakage of services for a certain interval

“Immitiability” what you call it as  is an advanced version whereby one item of goods or services observed by a competitor  and replicates  that goods with his own modifications and customisation. Such items are also have wide  demand as is evidence in spare parts for the Automobile sector..

Well answered by all of my friends,

I would like to add only that these two add the sustainablity and durablity with a trust with consistency among the ultimate consumers which leads to large volume of revenue generations and handsome amount of profits.

Durability is USP of german and Japanese product and imitability is of Chinese product. Based on these their marketing strategies are totally different.

Good Day!!!

YES Indeed........ they play an important role in developing a competitive advantage in marketing.

Wonderful comments by all friends here........ Mr. Socrates Chinniah & Mr. Venkitaraman has explained it all.

Durability is the way to offer something innovative and better as compared to the competition that will eventually replace the older versions, e.g, computer hardwares.

Imitability is the way to re-engineer & copy a product e.g., copy of technology in certain electronic items. 

To stay above the competition one has to remain proactive and sense a change before it actually takes place in the market.So durability with product does not mean only that the product is durable by manufacturing perspective only,it means you have durable marketing strategy in place which makes the product to remain alive in market and above the competition,

There is no better playing field if there are no competitors , durability determines the ability to offer something better than the competition and hence ensures there is a constant effort that drives to define the uniqueness which translates to competitive advantage . 

Imitability may sound dull , but most companies have succeeded in imitating . Imitation along with little more creativity can produce a new product . ex - Microsoft , Samsung  

When a firm sustains profits that exceed the average for its industry, the firm is said to possess a competitive advantage over its rivals. The goal of much of business strategy is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

Michael Porter identified two basic types of competitive advantage:

• cost advantage
• differentiation advantage

A competitive advantage exists when the firm is able to deliver the same benefits as competitors but at a lower cost (cost advantage), or deliver benefits that exceed those of competing products (differentiation advantage). Thus, a competitive advantage enables the firm to create superior value for its customers and superior profits for itself.

Durability determines how good the product can be which means it has value for money interms of quality and uniqueness, whiles immitation is copying from the durable product.

 well, let me first to identify what competitive advantage both to me or competitors, its a feature available in my product or my company at  the same time not available in competitor product or his company and might be vice versa Simply you can determine these advantages through the following : 

Product quality, price, packaging, political distribution of the product, profit margin for distribution channels, level of advertising and promotion, physical capabilities, costs .. etc