The Product Hierarchy
The product hierarchy stretches from basic needs to particular items that satisfy those needs. A product system is a group of diverse but related items that function in a compatible manner. A product mix (also called a product assortment) is the set of all products and items a particu-lar firm offers for sale. A product mix consists of various product lines. As shown in Table 9.1, a company’s product mix has a certain width, length, depth, and consistency. The table shows these concepts for selected Procter & Gamble products.
The width of a product mix refers to how many different product lines the company carries. Table 9.1 shows a product mix width of five lines (only a portion of what Procter & Gamble offers).
The length of a product mix refers to the total number of items in the mix. The depth of a product mix refers to how many variants are offered of each product in the line. The consistency of the product mix describes how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or some other way.
These product mix dimensions permit the company to expand its business in four ways. It can;
- add new product lines, thus widening its product mix;
- lengthen each product line;
- add more product variants to deepen its product mix; and
- pursue more product line consistency.
To make these product decisions, marketers conduct product line analysis.
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