Product Mix

Meaning

and

Structure/ Dimensions of Product Mix

Meaning

A product mix constitutes the set of all products and services offered by a marketer. It is also known as product assortment or product portfolio. Product mixes vary from company to company. Some have multiple product lines with lots of products in each line. But others are much more limited. A successful product mix strategy enables a company to focus efforts and resources on the products and product lines within its offerings that have the greatest potential for growth, market share, and revenue.

Structure of Product Mix

The constituents of typical product mix include dimensions of width, depth, length and consistency.

1. Width

The width of product mix means the number of different product lines found within the company. In other words, it is the sum total of the number of product lines a company carries.

 Examples

i. Bajaj Electrical produces bulbs, fluorescent lights, mixtures and grinders, toasters, scooters, pressure cooker and other electrical appliances. This list of number of product lines can be called as width.

ii. Tata Motors carries a large number of products in its portfolio ranging from heavy trucks, last mile feeder vans, SUV’s, passenger cars etc. with many variants within each product line.

iii. If LG carries a total of seven product lines namely TV/Audio/Video, Mobile phones, Computer products, Washing Machines, refrigerators, Microwave Ovens, Air Conditioners then its Width or breadth is seven.

2. Length

The length refers to the total number of items produced by the company in all the product lines. This is the sum total of number of items in each product lines.

Examples

i. Tata Motors carries many types of passenger cars such as super-economy (Nano), hatchback (Indica), sedan (Indigo), luxury (Jaguar) in its passenger car line.

ii. If three types of washing machines are available under the LG range of washing machines namely front loading, top loading and semi-automatic, then the length of the Product line of the Washing machines is three.

3. Depth

The depth of the product mix refers to the average number of items offered by the company within each product line. It is measured by assortment of sizes, colors, models, prices and quality offered within each product line. Therefore, depth of a product mix pertains to the total number of variations for each product. Variations can include size,
flavor and any other distinguishing characteristic.

Examples

i. Tata Motors have many variants within each product of a line. Its Indica hatchback passenger car have LPG version, petrol version, diesel version and each of them have two or three sub variants with added features.

ii. If in each of the three types of washing machines, the following variants are available –

Front Loading – 8 (Eight) variants (variation in capacity and features).

Top Loading – 19 (Nineteen) variants (variation in capacity and features).

Semi-Automatic – 15 (fifteen) variants (variation in capacity and features).

Then the product line depth is forty-two.

iii. If a company sells three sizes and two flavors of toothpaste, that particular brand of toothpaste has a depth of six.

4. Consistency

 The consistency of product mix refers to how closely related are the various product lines in terms of consumer behavior, production requirements, channels of distribution or in some other way.

Example

i. Product lines of Tata Motors are consistent in terms of distribution channel and up to some extent in R&D. Tata Motors recently announced its plans to combine distribution platforms for passenger cars and light trucks capable of carrying passengers to improve consistency.

ii. Philips Electronics with 7 product lines having high production mix variation and low consistency.

The four dimensions of width, length, depth and consistency have a strong marketing implication. As the company increases the width of the product mix, the company plans to capitalize on its good reputation and fills in present markets by increasing its presence in other product categories. As the company increases its length in different product lines, it plans to enter deeper into each of the product market segment it serves. As the company increased the depth of its product mix, the company plan to entice the patronage of buyers of widely differing tastes and needs. As the company increased the consistency of its product mix, the company hopes to acquire an unparalleled reputation in a particular area of endeavor.