Product lining
Product lining is the
marketing strategy of offering for sale several related
products. Unlike
product bundling, where several products are combined into one, lining involves offering several related products individually. A line can comprise related products of various sizes, types, colours, qualities, or prices.
Line depth refers to the number of product variants in a line.
Line consistency refers to how closely related the products that make up the line are.
Line vulnerability refers to the percentage of sales or profits that are derived from only a few products in the line.
The number of different product lines sold by a company is referred to as
width of product mix. The total number of products sold in all lines is referred to as
length of product mix. If a line of products is sold with the same
brand name, this is referred to as
family branding. When you add a new product to a line, it is referred to as a
line extension. When you add a line extension that is of better quality than the other products in the line, this is referred to as
trading up or
brand leveraging. When you add a line extension that is of lower quality than the other products of the line, this is referred to as
trading down. When you trade down, you will likely reduce your
brand equity. You are gaining short-term sales at the expense of long term sales.
Image anchors are highly promoted products within a line that define the image of the whole line. Image anchors are usually from the higher end of the line's range. When you add a new product within the current range of an incomplete line, this is referred to as
line filling.
Price lining is the use of a limited number of prices for all your product offerings. This is a tradition started in the old
five and dime stores in which everything cost either 5 or 10 cents. Its underlying rationale is that these amounts are seen as suitable
price points for a whole range of products by prospective customers. It has the advantage of ease of administering, but the disadvantage of inflexibility, particularly in times of inflation or unstable prices.
There are many important decisions about product and service development and marketing.In the process of product development and marketing we should focus on strategic decisions about
product attributesproduct brandingproduct packagingproduct labelingprodcut support servicesBut product strategy also calls for building a product line.
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brand*
brand management*
halo effect*
marketing*
product management
