Product Mix

Articles from General Knowledge Today
Product Mix, Product Lines & Cannibalization
2010- 06- 06 04:06:00 GKToday

T he combinat ion of all t he product s of f ered by a f irms is a Product Mix. In market ing t he decisions relat ed t o product mix and product lines are very import ant . When we discuss product mix, we discuss all t he product s of f ered by a company. In simple words, any organizat ion which is selling more t han 1 product has a product mix. A product line is a broad group of product s, int ended f or similar uses and having similar charact erist ics. For example Hindust an Uniliver has a broad product mix wit h several product lines such as Soap Line, Food Line, Personal care Line Home Care line and so on.. T he number of it ems in each product line is called t he Product Mix lengt h. For example Hindust an Unilever has Breeze, Hamam, Lif ebuoy, Lux, Rexona, Le sancy and Liril in it s soap line. T he widt h of t he product mix ref ers t o t he number of product lines a company has. One t ypical example is Amul. T he product lines of Amul are Bread Spreads, Milk Drinks, Powder Milk, Fresh Milk, Cheese, Cooking, Dessert s & Healt h Drinks. Each line has several product s t o of f er. You can view t he product line of Amul here

T here may be a number of reasons t o alt er eit her an exist ing product or a product line. T hese reasons may include support ing t he market ing st rat egy, Improving sales, Expansion of market share et c. T he product line can be alt ered by alt ering one or more of t he f ollowing at t ribut es. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Composit ion of product line Expansion or cont ract ion of t he product line Value addit ion Brand Image Packaging Physical charact erist ics Posit ioning

Addit ion of new product s t o a product line is expanding the product line. T he product line may be t oo long of reducing product line lengt h result s in more prof it s. T he product line may be t oo short if addit ion of new product s increases...