Product (cont.

Product Mix Decisions

 Product Mix

A product mix (or product portfolio or

product assortment) consists of all the
product lines and items that a particular seller
offers for sale.
P&G
 Product Line
A group of products that is closely related
because they perform similar functions, are sold
to the same customer groups, are marketed
through the same channels, or fall within given
price ranges
 Product Item
Specific model, brand, or size
of a product within a line

– Eg: P&G
– Detergents is a product line
– Tide and Ariel are
product items
 Product Line Decisions

Product line length is the number of items in the

product line

• Line stretching

• Line filling
 Important Product Line Decisions
• Product line stretching is when a company lengthens its product line beyond its
current range.
• Downward product line stretching is used by companies at the upper end of
the market to plug a market hole or respond to a competitor’s attack. E.g.
Titan adding the SONATA range to its portfolio to cater to lower price points.
• Upward product line stretching is by companies at the lower end of the
market to add prestige to their current products. E.g. Titan -> Xylis/Tanishq
• Combination line stretching is used by companies in the middle range of the
market to achieve both goals of upward and downward line stretching.

• Product line filling occurs when companies add more items within the present
range of the line. Brittania Bread -> Initially white and brown bread variants to now
-> Multi Grain Bread, Oat Bread etc.

• Line Pruning: HUL in India decided to delete the variants Close-Up Renew and
Close-Up Oxyfresh from its Close-Up variants
• Line pruning decisions (e.g. Maggi 2 Minute Noodles: Sambhar)
Product Mix - HUL
 Product Width
• Refers to the number of product lines the
company carries

Width of the Gillette Product Mix

Oral Blades & Personal Batteries Appliances

Care Razors Care
 Product Mix Length

• Refers to the total number of items the

company carries within its product lines
 Product Mix Depth

• Refers to the number of versions offered of

each product in the line
 Consistency of Product Mix

Refers to how closely related the various

product lines are in end use, production
requirements, distribution channels or some
other way
 Nestle looking to widen product mix in India

• Nestle India, which has been focussing on a broad-based volume-

led growth for the past three years, is looking to increase the
depth and width of its brand portfolio in India. The company,
which recently ventured into the breakfast cereals segment with
NesPlus, believes that it now has a strong product-portfolio to
leverage on the fast-growing breakfast segment.

• Continuing with its product launch spree, the Swiss major is next
looking to launch Maggi dips, Maggi Special Masala Noodles,
which imbibes the flavours of 20 select spices, and a dark
chocolate called Kitkat Desert Delight Brownie Kubes, in the
coming weeks. It is also looking at bringing in premium coffee
products from its global portfolio.
 Digital-Only Products Were 10 Per Cent Of
Product Mix In 2018
• What kind of digital-only product growth has there been?
• We have had tremendous success. We launched our Ulip (unit-linked insurance
plan) for the online market, called Bajaj Allianz Life Goal Assure, in February 2018.
In just nine months, we clocked 16,000 policies, and collected about `150 crore as
premium on an annualised basis. In entire 2017, we collected about 50 crore. The
reason for the product clicking is that we had the best innovation around return
of mortality charges; a good hook for customers. Our fund management
capability is also fairly strong.

• In terms of customer segmentation, I think we've actually seen a very good

spread. While metros, of course, remain strong, because of our brand being
present in tertiary and secondary towns, we have seen some uptick there as well.
It is spread well across the country. In 2018, our digital-only products were
approximately 10 per cent of our entire product mix, which is quite a large
number, as most companies clock only 1-2 per cent.
 India’s steel giants to focus on product mix,
quality to take on ArcelorMittal

•  India’s two biggest private sector steel

companies JSW Steel Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd are
banking on their diversified product mix to
take on steel giant ArcelorMittal SA as it gears
up to enter the country.
We Offer A Balanced Product Mix Strategy
Which Is Mostly Protection-Led: Tata AIA
Life Insurance’s Bharat Kalsi

• At Tata AIA we are primarily focussed on

protection. We believe the primary objective
of Life Insurance is to offer Life Insurance
protection cover.
• We offer a balanced product mix strategy
which is mostly protection-led.
 E- retailers

Inkfruit is an online brand of lifestyle products

across apparel, footwear, accessories and home
décor. It offers about 10000 SKUs, adding about
500 - 1000 SKUs to the product mix every month
 Value added steel products to enrich product mix: Sail 

• State-owned Sail is putting a premium on its 20 value added

products for defence and construction that it expects will strengthen
product mix and lead to better realisations, a company official has
said 

• "The products from new Universal Rail Mill (in Bhilai), new Cold
Rolling Mill (in Bokaro), 4.3 metre wide Plate Mill (in Rourkela), new
Wire Rod Mill (in Burnpur) and other new mills would enrich Sail's
product mix fetching higher realisations," R K Singhal, Executive
Director (corporate affairs), Sail, told PTI. 

Read more at:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/59841458.cms?u
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 Cipla goes through a quiet revolution
• An imminent revolution can be seen in Cipla’s product portfolio. The
company is gradually shifting focus to high-margin products, such as
oncology drugs and inhalers from tender-based anti-retroviral medicines.
No surprise as to why it is doing so — its margins are slated to halve
themselves from 21.3 per cent in FY10 to an estimated 11.9 per cent in
FY14.

• According to Mehra, Cipla may perhaps be best known outside India by its
landmark low-priced, anti-HIV products, but, it also needs to address
regulated markets with quality products, across segments. “Cipla should
rightly be proud of its image of being a ‘low-cost drug maker’ but the anti-
retrovirals had been quite low-margin for Cipla, and changing the product
mix towards more high-value products, such as the inhalers for the
regulated markets, would help shore up margins,” says Mehra.