Product Mix Strategies Tomas, Brianna, Eileen

Product Line Product line is a set of related products sold by a single company. A company can expand its business by adding to its existing product line. This is because people are more likely to buy things from a company they are already familiar with. For example, a frozen pizza company may want to increase its market share by adding frozen breadsticks or frozen pasta to its existing product line.

Product Item Unlike a product line, a product item is one specific item in a product line. For example, a product line would be dry cereal, a product item would be corn flakes.

Product width and product depth Product width is the range of product service lines. (Apple – Nano, touch, iPhone, iPad, etc.) Product depth is the number of products in that line. ( Apple – iPhone 3G/4G, 16 gb, 32 gb, 64 gb, etc. ) This combination is often referred to as product/service mix.

Product Mix: Specialty Store vs. Department Store Specialty stores are businesses that focus on specific product categories. Such as office supplies, men’s or women’s clothing, and carpet. If a company can be considered an expert on a certain type of good it can be considered a specialty store. Department stores are large retail establishments with a variety and range of goods organized into various departments. All of the departments are housed into the same building. An example would be a place such as Sam’s club.

Making Changes to your Product Mix Businesses product mix’s revolve around the needs of their customer. So if their current product mix is not satisfying the customers needs they may need to reevaluate their current product mix. Basically, they are trying to stay ahead by meeting customers needs. Also if a company is thinking about rebranding their image they may make changes to their product mix in order for it to present the type of view they’d like people to have on their company.