1

Five Product Levels:

2

Product Levels Example: a mobile

5. Introduce New Features4. Long Battery Life3. Robust & Durable2. Mobile Phone1. Communicate

3

Product Hierarchy: Need Family: To pass time while on move Product Family: Entertainment Product Class: Portable Entertainment

Instruments Product Line/Category: Portable DVD

players, CD players, MP3 players Product Type/Form: Audio ipods Brand: Apple Item: Apple ipod nano 4GB

4

Other Product Hierarchy Concepts:

Product System: Product Mix

5

Product Classifications: On Basis of Durability & Tangibility:

Non Durable Goods

Eg: FMCG productsDurable Goods

Eg: TV, MobilesServices

Eg: Aviation Industry

6

Consumer Goods Classification: Convenience Goods: Purchased Frequently

with min. effort.Staples: Eg: Food items, soaps etc. Impulse Goods: Eg: Chocolates, Magazines etc.Emergency Goods: Eg: Some pharma products

Shopping Goods: Selection & Comparison Process before purchase Eg: Apparel, Furniture

Specialty Goods: Unique Characteristics/Brand Eg: Mercedes Benz, Bose Speakers

Unsought Goods: Consumer normally doesn’t buy them till persisted Eg: Helmets, Reflectors

7

Industrial Goods Classification: Materials & Parts:

Raw Material: Eg: Milk for Ice Cream etc.Manufactured Material: Eg: Cement

Capital Items: Installations: Eg: Factories, power plantsEquipment: Eg: Tools, Lift trucks

Supplies & Business ServiceEg: Office Stationary, cleaning services

Product Differentiation

8

Form FeaturesPerformance quality Conformance qualityDurability ReliabilityReparabilityStyle

Service Differentiation

Ordering Ease Delivery Installation Customer training Customer consulting Maintenance and repair

9

10

Product Mix: Width of Product Mix (Product Categories):

Eg: For HUL it is Detergents, Deodorants, Soap, Shampoo, Tea, Ice Cream etc.

Length of Product Mix (Brands): Eg: For HUL it is Surf, Rin, Lux, Axe, Sun Silk, Brooke Bond, Lipton, Kwality-Walls etc.

Depth of Product Mix : Variants of each brand.

Consistency of Product Mix: Close relation among product categories

11

Product Line Strategies: Line Stretching: Taking product line to new

segmentDown Market Stretching/Trading Down: Eg:

Tata’s 1 lakh carUp Market Stretching/Trading Up: Eg: Hyundai’s

Verna, Elantra, Sonata, TusconTwo-Way Stretching:

Eg: Nokia Mobile Models

12

Line Filling: Adding More Variants/Filling Product DepthMaruti’s Strategy

Line Modernization: Eg: Onida’s new technologically advanced products

Line Featuring: Eg: Tata Indica & Indigo Line Pruning: Eg: HLL concentrating on 30

power brands out of its 110 brands.

Product Line Strategies (Cont.):