Employ product-mix strategies to meet customer expectations

1. Employ product-mix strategies to meet customer expectations 4.04

2. Define the following terms: • Product Mix • Product Item • Product Line • Width • Depth • Consistency • Expansion • Contraction • Alteration • Trading Up • Trading Down • Positioning See speaker’s notes.

3. Identify ways in which product lines can be organized • Product lines are groups of similar products offered by a company. A product line can have many or few products within. • Example: Proctor & Gamble markets over 250 products within 21 different product lines. • One product line is dish care which offers 4 products (Cascade, Dawn, Joy, and Ivory).

4. Describe Product Mix Dimensions • A product mix is all the items made or sold by a company. Some companies have thousands of products offered. Some companies will try to reach all possible customers by offering more products items and product lines. The more products lines and product within a company offers refers to width and depth. • A company’s product mix has four different dimensions. • Product Width • Product Mix Length • Product Mix Depth • Product Mix Consistency

5. Identify Reasons That a Business Would Offer a Narrow Product Mix • A narrow product mix, limited product lines offered can increase the ease of management, cost effectiveness, and create simplicity and consistency. • Upstart companies usually start with a narrower product width. • It is not practical for small companies to start out with multiple product lines because of the cost involved.

6. Identify Reasons That a Business Would Offer a Broad Product Mix A broad a product mix, offering many product lines can help attract and reach more markets and create a competitive advantage while utilizing one stop shopping.

7. Identify Reasons That a Business Would Offer a Deep Product Mix A deep product mix, many products within a product line offers customers a variety and quantity of items to choose from.

8. Identify Reasons That a Business Would Offer a Shallow Product Mix A shallow product mix, limiting products within a product line can be cost effective and easy to manage while still reaching a market.

9. Explain the Importance of a Business’s Product Mix • Businesses must plan their product mix carefully because they cannot offer all the products that customers want. • If offering a large product mix, there should be a degree of consistency to the products offered so that the mix is profitable for the company.

10. Describe Advantages of Expansion Product-Mix Strategies Adding items to a product line or introducing an entire product line can capture market share and meet customer’s needs and wants.

11. Describe Disadvantages of Expansion Product-Mix Strategies Adding items to a product line or introducing an entire product line can be expensive, be difficult to manage, and not always be successful.

12. Describe Advantages of Contraction Product-Mix Strategies Deleting products from a product line or the entire product line can be cost effective and easier to manage while creating simplicity and consistency.

13. Describe Disadvantages of Contraction Product-Mix Strategies • Deleting products from a product line or the entire product line is giving away market share to your competitors. • It may be wiser to improve the existing product or line to recapture market share.

14. Describe Advantages of Alteration Product-Mix Strategies • Improving an established product can capture new customers and meet customer’s unmet wants as trends change. • Ex: McDonald’s opening stores in India

15. Describe Disadvantages of Alteration Product-Mix Strategies • Improving an established product is expensive and not always a success. • Example: New Coke

16. Describe Advantages of Trading Up Product-Mix Strategies Adding higher priced items to a product line will attract the higher income market and may help increase the image and sales of the lower priced items.

17. Describe Disadvantages of Trading Up Product-Mix Strategies Adding higher priced items to a product line is expensive and may not attract new customers while hurting the image and sales of the lower priced items.

18. Describe Advantages of Trading Down Product-Mix Strategies Adding lower priced items to a product line of expensive products can capture a lower income market who cannot afford the higher priced items.

19. Describe Disadvantages of Trading Down Product-Mix Strategies Adding lower priced items to a product line of expensive products can hurt the image and sales of the higher priced items in the line.

20. Describe Advantages of Positioning Product-Mix Strategies Creating an identity of a product helps find a place for the product in the marketplace while strongly identifying with a specific target market and possibly creating brand loyalty.

21. Describe Disadvantages of Positioning Product-Mix Strategies. Images of a product are difficult to change once they are established and very expensive.

22. Describe Considerations in Selecting Product-Mix Strategies Determine which products will produce the highest increase in profits and revenue for the company. See speaker’s notes.

23. Identify Factors That Can Minimize Costs in Developing a Product Mix • Use of technology • An online business would minimize the expenses and up-keep of a building. • Technology allows consumers to order and/or design products online and have it shipped directly to their home, minimizing inventory and labor. • Using a website to advertise is less expensive that advertising in a newspaper, television or mailings.

24. Explain Guidelines for Planning a Product Mix Some basic product-mix decisions include: (1) Review existing product lines. (2) Adding new lines and/or deleting existing lines. (3) Compare new versus existing product lines. (4) Compare internal development versus external acquisition in the product mix. (Do you want to make it yourself or buy it from another company for resale.) (5) Determine the effects of adding or deleting a product line in connection to other lines in the product mix (6) Estimate the effects of future change on the company's product mix.

25. The End 4.04