Introduction to Product
Decisions: Part 2
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Product Line Decisions
• Product line length
• Number of items in a product line
• Adjust line length by
• Stretching
• Downward
• Upward
• Both directions
• Filling
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Product Mix Decisions
• Product mix
• All product lines and items that a seller offers for sale
• Product mix dimensions include
• Length: number of items in a line
• Width: number of different product lines the company
carries
• Depth: number of versions offered of each product in the
line
• Consistency: closeness of various lines
3
Brand Equity
• Positive differential effect that knowing the brand
name has on customer response to the product
or service
• Provides
• More brand awareness and loyalty
• Basis for strong, profitable customer relationships
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Major Brand Strategy Decisions
Brands are assets that must be carefully developed
and managed via
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Brand positioning
Brand name selections
Brand sponsorship
Brand development
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Brand Positioning
Can position brands at any of three levels
• Product attributes (lowest)
• Product benefits
• Beliefs and values (highest)
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Desirable Qualities for a Brand
Name
• Should suggest product’s benefits and qualities
• Should be easy to pronounce, recognize, and
remember
• Should be distinctive
• Should be extendable
• Should translate easily into foreign languages
• Should be capable of registration and legal
protection
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Brand Sponsorship
• Manufacturer’s brands
• Also called national brands
• Private brands
• Also called store or distributor brands
• Licensed brands
• Co-branding
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Brand Development
• Line extension
• Introduction of additional items in a given product
category under the same brand name (e.g., new
flavors, forms, colors, ingredients, or package sizes).
• Brand extension
• Using a successful brand name to launch a new or
modified product in a new category
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Brand Development
• Multibranding
• Offers way to establish different features and appeal
to different buying motives
• New brands
• Developed based on belief that the power of its
existing brand is waning and a new brand name is
needed
• Also used for products in new product category
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Nature and Characteristics
of a Service
• Intangibility
• Services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled
before purchase
• Inseparability
• Services cannot be separated from their providers
• Variability
• Quality of services depends on who provides them and when,
where, and how they are delivered
• Perishability
• Services cannot be stored for later sale or use
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Major Service Marketing Tasks
• Managing service differentiation
• Develop a differentiated offer, delivery, and image
• Managing service quality
• Be customer obsessed, set high service quality
standards, have good service recovery, empower frontline employees
• Managing service productivity
• Train current employees or hire new ones, increase
quantity and sacrifice quality, harness technology
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Recap—What was Covered?
• Product and the major classifications of products
and services
• Decisions companies make about each product
and service, product lines, and product mixes
• Branding strategy–the decisions firms make in
building and managing their brands
• Four characteristics that affect the marketing of a
service and the additional marketing
considerations that services require
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