Five Product Levels:
1
Product Levels Example: a mobile
1. Communicate
2. Mobile Phone
3. Robust & Durable
4. Long Battery Life
5. Introduce New Feature
2
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
3
Other Product Hierarchy Concepts:
Product System: Product Mix
4
Product Classifications:
On Basis of Durability & Tangibility:
Non Durable Goods
Eg: FMCG products
Durable Goods
Eg: TV, Mobiles
Services
Eg: Aviation Industry
5
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 6
Industrial Goods Classification:
Materials & Parts:
Raw Material: Eg: Milk for Ice Cream etc.
Manufactured Material: Eg: Cement
Capital Items:
Installations:
Eg: Factories, power plants
Equipment: Eg: Tools, Lift trucks
Supplies & Business Service
Eg: Office Stationary, cleaning services
7
Product Differentiation
Form
Features
Performance quality
Conformance quality
Durability
Reliability
Reparability
Style
8
Service Differentiation
Ordering Ease
Delivery
Installation
Customer training
Customer consulting
Maintenance and repair
9
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
10
Product Line Strategies:
Line Stretching: Taking product line to new
segment
Down Market Stretching/Trading Down: Eg:
Tata’s 1 lakh car
Up Market Stretching/Trading Up: Eg: Hyundai’s
Verna, Elantra, Sonata, Tuscon
Two-Way Stretching:
Eg: Nokia Mobile Models
11
Product Line Strategies (Cont.):
Line Filling: Adding More Variants/Filling
Product Depth
Maruti’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.
12
