1. DIVERSIFICATION OF PRODUCT LINE AND/OR MARKETS
Eric Anderson
Anderson International Trading
Why you should look into this.
How you should look into this
The benefits of diversifying products and markets served
The disadvantages that could occur.
Examples of success stories

2. Why diversify your product line?
Increase profit
Access to capital or excess capital?
Existing office, sales staff, location
Possibility of taking direct to market
Take advantage of opportunities
Products have life cycles, you must diversify

3. How to diversify into different products or markets
Ask your suppliers what else they manufacture or could manufacture
Can you take your general products, with a slight change, into another market?
Ask your customer what they are looking for
Employees or sales staff might have ideas
Your manufacture or supplier might want to turn over a line to you, ASK!

4. Benefits of diversification
Increase margins on existing and new product
Take out the cyclical nature of current sales
It can improve sales, productivity and cash flow
Take advantage of your established business or brand

5. Disadvantages of diversification
The name itself, you diversify, you become unfocused
Must have a strong established company
Time to plan and do market research
Risky to switch to retail or go outside of your current market
Current product line can suffer
Can be capital intensive

6. Examples of diversifying
Holiday window clings
Tooling after market bicycle parts with existing CNC machining equipment
Rotary die boards to curved plywood parts
Using waterjet or laser to cut tile, light gauge sheet metal
Designing and producing alternative to traffic cones using converting equipment