Range of products
| Range of products |
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| See also |
Range of products is common marketing term which describes volume and broadness of products or services offered by the company on the market. Wide range of products typically involve more costs of development and customer service because of higher requirements for human resources, materials, spare parts, etc. Range of products often reflect results of market segmentation process and different products are offered to different market segments. Maintaining wide range of products is difficult in the long run, and specialization can provide better profits in the long term due to effects of scale [1].
A group of product assortments
We divide the assortment groups due to several criteria: according to the quantity of commodity species, according to the nature of the needs and according to customers' interest. Assortment groups by number of commodity species:
- Simple assortment - a set of goods represented by a small species of products that meet the needs of a limited number of recipients,
- Complex assortment - a set of goods that has many types of goods that meet diverse needs,
- Mixed range - a set of different groups that differ in their calling.
Assortment groups according to the nature of needs are:
- Genuine - a set of products actually available in the store with the seller,
- Forecast - a set of products that can meet the expectations and needs of customers,
- Training - a set of products supporting learning and achieving educational goals.
Assortment groups according to customers' interest are:
- Rational - a set of products best suited to real needs that go hand in hand with maximum quality of life at this stage,
- Optimal - a set of products that meet real needs with the most beneficial effect for consumers at the lowest costs[2].
Features of the assortment
Among the most important features of the range, we stand out:
- The width of the assortment - is understood by the number of product lines. A wide assortment is a set of products with a large number of assortment groups.
- The length of the assortment - is reflected in the number of all products proposed by the company in its entire assortment.
- The depth of the assortment - describes the number of individual product variants offered by the company within each line. Products with a similar raw material composition, production technology, and method of use provide a wide range of assortment items within a given assortment group.
- A coherent assortment - related to how closely individual product lines of a given company are related to each other, taking into account distribution channels, application and others. A coherent assortment concerns a situation where a company offers several production lines covering only consumer goods and distributes them through the same channels. Consistency of the product range is smaller when larger differences between the product lines occur.
Planning the range of products
The main elements of planning the product range are[3]:
- identification of current and potential customers' needs, as well as the behavior of buyers in this market segment,
- evaluation of competing products,
- analysis of the compliance of products with the needs of consumers,
- determining which products should be included in the assortment, which should remain,
- considering applications related to discovering new products and improving existing ones,
- preparing a schedule for launching new and improved goods as well as marketing plans,
- development of proposals for producers, taking into account the quality, size, name, price, packaging of new products.
References
- Kök, A. G., Fisher, M. L., & Vaidyanathan, R. (2008). Assortment planning: Review of literature and industry practice. In Retail supply chain management (p. 99-153). Springer, Boston, MA.
- Mayer, T., Malitz, M.J, Ottaviano, G.I.P. (2012). Market size, competition, and the product mix of exporters. 1146. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.
- Yücel, E., Karaesmen, F., Salman, F. S., & Türkay, M. (2009). Optimizing product assortment under customer-driven demand substitution. European Journal of Operational Research, 199(3), 759-768.
Footnotes
Author: Magdalena Stanaszek
