Product Line

3 Key excerpts on "Product Line"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  Fundamentals of Marketing

  • Marilyn Stone(Author)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  A Product Line is a group of products that are closely related to each other. For example, a clothing company might arrange its mix into shirts, coats and jeans to reflect the particular production requirements and problems for each line. On the other hand, a company might organize the product mix according to market requirements or a mixture of production and market requirements. For example, Michelin has a tripartite product organization into tyres, maps and restaurant rating services. While only a limited number of the actual lines offered by P&G is shown in Figure 8.1, this example helps to illustrate concepts such as the product mix width, length, depth and consistency. The product mix width refers to how many different Product Lines the company carries. In the simple example shown above, the width of the mix is four (although other lines such as household cleaning products, disposable nappies, etc., could be added). A Product Line consists of a number of product items. These are the individual products or brands, each with its own features and price. Product Line length refers to the number of items within the Product Line. According to Figure 8.1, Crest has a length of one item. Product Line depth refers to the number of variants of each item within the Product Line. A deep product may have many different variants. For example, if Crest came in three sizes and two formulations (regular and mint) then Crest would have a depth of six items. The consistency of the product mix refers to how closely related various Product Lines are according to the criteria devised by management. For example, P&G’s lines are consistent to the extent that they go through the same distribution channels to the final consumer

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  eBook - ePub

  Entrepreneurial Marketing

  How to Develop Customer Demand

  • Edwin J. Nijssen(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Although leading customers and innovators will be attracted to an innovation due to their enthusiasm for the new technology and its design, its quality generally needs to be improved rapidly for the start-up to attract the more pragmatic early adopters and early majority in the market. These customer groups only adopt when risk is low and when advantages clearly outweigh costs. Thus, optimising your product soon after market introduction is important. If your new product uses new technology, technological evolution may help accomplish this (e.g., acceleration and maturing of LED technology seriously increased lumen and helped move from low-quality level applications such as Christmas lights to more high-end applications. Similarly, progress in battery technology helped increase the driving range of electrical cars making them more attractive to a broader set of customers).

  Based on the feedback of early adopters, you may be able to enhance customer value by adding (or optimising) product features or trimming non-essential (extra) features. You may decide to launch a new version (new product 2.0) while also keeping your original option on the market, thus creating a Product Line . A Product Line is a group of related products defined by their functions and customer market, forming a coherent series. Adding a similar product with more or fewer features is considered upward and downward stretching, respectively.

  A Product Line can be described using three dimensions: length, breadth, and depth. Length refers to the number of similar products carried to cater to the firm’s customers (e.g., coffee, espresso, cappuccino, latte). The more variety, the longer the line. Depth refers to the level of variation in a Product Line (e.g., size, flavours or other distinctive factors). Breadth refers to the total number of Product Lines of a firm (e.g., Product Lines of juices and pastries can also be found at a café). Although unimportant for the entrepreneur’s first MVP, we do like to point out that Product Line design is a central issue in marketing. It serves to better cater to different needs in the market and keep the competition out. However, increased costs associated with adding products to the Product Line and potential cannibalisation should be accounted for. The trade-offs between these factors determine which products are best developed and offered and at what price points.

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  eBook - ePub

  Marketing and the Customer Value Chain

  Integrating Marketing and Supply Chain Management

  • Thomas Fotiadis, Dimitris Folinas, Konstantinos Vasileiou, Aggeliki Konstantoglou(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The saving of resources and capital by cooperating with specialized companies that provide special services allows a business to invest in other basic goals and sectors, and to develop other activities. Additionally, it succeeds in the improvement of the quality and performance of its services, because these companies provide the appropriate resources as well as a wide accumulated experience and the appropriate technological infrastructure. Consequently, outsourcing provides immediate access to the latest technology without requiring the usual development period within the business. Upgrading the level of quality of the services provided consequently gains further satisfaction from the customers/final consumers. However, the long-term cooperation between businesses and service providers possibly may give rise to dependence of the former on the latter, due to the gradual loss of know-how on the part of their human resources. If a business chooses to outsource a large number of its vital processes, then its ability to innovate becomes limited. Also, there is the possibility that an external partner is unable to adapt to the particularities of the company, with the result that the level of services provided does not reflect the expectations of the business. A potential “bad” provision of services will surely negatively influence the entire image of the business in the market.

  1.3 Decisions concerning the product mix, brand, packaging, and labeling of a product

  1.3.1 Product mix

  The product mix of a company refers to the set of single products that it offers to its customers and the way that these are classified based on their degree of involvement with each other, with reference to brand, price or special characteristics. A line or series consists of a group of products that are very closely associated with each other. For example, a food company has Product Lines such as fresh milk, dairy products, fruit juices, etc. The width of the mix refers to the number of different lines (series) that the business's portfolio contains. The length refers to the number of items in the product mix. The depth refers to the entire number of alternatives that each product is offered in, for example, the number of versions of fresh natural juice based on their ingredients (orange, apple, orange-pomegranate-grape mix, etc.) and the size of the packaging (e.g. single serve packaging of 300 ml and family-size packaging of 1 and 1.5 litres). The consistency

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