Product Line, Range, and Extensions

Product Definitions

• Product refers to an individual item that a company offers to satisfy a customer's specific need.
• Product Line is a collection of related products sold under a single brand with similar functions, target markets, and price points.
• Product Range encompasses all the product lines that a company offers across different categories.

Line Extension vs. Category Extension

• Line Extension involves adding new variants, flavors, or versions within the same product line.
• Category Extension means expanding a brand into a new product category.

Types of Extensions

• Vertical Extension involves launching products at different price points.
  • Up-scaling introduces a more premium version.
  • Down-scaling offers a more budget-friendly version.
• Horizontal Extension adds different variations at the same price/quality level.
• Two-way Extension launches both up-scale and down-scale options.

Product Portfolio Dimensions

• Width refers to the number of different product lines a company offers.
• Depth indicates the number of products within each line.
• Length is the total count of all products across all lines.
• LU Granola brand:
  • Width = 5 lines (cookies, bars, etc.)
  • Depth = 3-6 products per line
  • Length = 21 total products

Product vs. Service

• Product is anything offered in the market to satisfy a customer need, including goods and services.
• Services have unique characteristics:
  • Intangibility means they cannot be seen or touched.
  • Inseparability means production and consumption occur simultaneously.
  • Variability means quality varies depending on who, when, and where the service is provided.
  • Perishability means services cannot be stored.
  • Customer Involvement requires direct participation from the consumer.

Product Levels

• Core Benefit: The fundamental value a customer seeks.
• Basic Product: The essential components of the product.
• Expected Product: Attributes customers expect as a standard.
• Augmented Product: Additional value or features that exceed expectations.
• Potential Product: All possible future enhancements and transformations.
• Example (Hotel):
  • Core: Sleep
  • Basic: Bed, bathroom
  • Expected: Cleanliness
  • Augmented: Room Service
  • Potential: Instagrammable Room

Product Concept

• Product Concept is the main idea based on customer needs.
• Components:
  • Title: Core idea of the product
  • Insight: Consumer need that product fulfills
  • Benefit: How the product helps the consumer
  • Reason to Believe: Justification for the product's efficacy and feasibility

Product Attributes

• Attributes include:
  • Intrinsic: Taste, smell, texture, performance
  • Extrinsic: Packaging, price, brand
  • Formula: Composition and raw materials
  • Performance: Functionality during use
  • Advantage: Differentiated value

Types of Product Benefits

• Functional: Health, safety, efficiency
• Experiential: Sensory pleasure
• Symbolic: Self-expression, social perception

Product Life Cycle

• Introduction: Low sales, high investment, building awareness
• Growth: Sales increase, competition rises
• Maturity: Market saturation, need for differentiation
• Decline: Sales and profits fall
• Strategies vary at each stage:
  • Introduction: Awareness promotion
  • Growth: Brand preference creation
  • Maturity: Loyalty and differentiation
  • Decline: Line reduction and profit maximization

Adoption Curve

• Innovators are the first to adopt
• Early Adopters are influential opinion leaders
• Early Majority are more cautious, but adopt sooner
• Late Majority are skeptical of new technology
• Laggards resist change

Sustainable Development

• Sustainable Development is defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• Companies can create competitiveness, employment, and new market opportunities without harming the environment.

Eco-Innovation

• Incremental Eco-Innovation: Adding environmentally friendly elements to existing technology.
• Radical Eco-Innovation: Revolutionizing technology and consumption patterns.
• Added Eco-Innovation: Adding environmental factors at the end of production.
• Integrated Eco-Innovation: Incorporating environmental factors from the start of product/process design.

Circular Economy & the 4Rs

• Linear Economy Model: Extraction → Production → Consumption → Disposal.
• Circular Economy: Focuses on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover.
• It aims to reduce waste and preserve resources.

Sustainable Business Models

• Second-hand markets encourage reuse.
• Sharing Economy sells usage rather than ownership.

Packaging

• Packaging is the external material that contains, protects, describes, brands, and sells a consumer product.
• Packaging protects, identifies, promotes and keeps the product clean.

Three Levels of Packaging

• Primary Packaging contacts the product directly.
• Secondary Packaging groups multiple units.
• Tertiary Packaging is for shipping and distribution.

Packaging Functions

• Technical Functions:
  • Protection
  • Convenience
  • Logistics
  • Environmental concern
• Communication Functions:
  • Information
  • Visual impact
  • Category/Brand Awareness
  • Brand Positioning
• Packaging is a silent salesperson
  • Consumers scan 200 items per minute
  • Packaging design impacts buying decisions

Eco-conception

• Eco-conception minimizes environmental impact throughout a product’s life cycle.
• Considerations include:
  • Fair trade raw materials
  • Transportation emissions
  • Planned Obsolescence vs. Repairability

Eco-Packaging Examples

• Traditional packaging: Heavy, non-recyclable plastic + paper
• Alternative: Lightweight stand-up pouch, which reduces emissions despite the material not being ideal
• The right choice needs to factor in various considerations

Key Takeaways on Packaging

• Packaging has two main roles:
• Technical: protection, convenience, transport, conservation
• Communication: information, visual appeal, brand/category ID, positioning.
• Circular economy enables resource conservation, waste reduction, and sustainable business & consumer behavior.

Label vs. Logo vs. Brand

• Label provides product information and facilitates recognition with details on ingredients and certifications.
• Logo is a visual symbol that identifies a brand.
• Brand is the overall image, values, and perception associated with a product or company.

(Eco)Label

• A label is a collective brand used only by products meeting specific standards.

Public Labels - Eco Label

• AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) is a traditional method with 100% local production.
• AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) protects names within France.
• IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) performs partial regional connections
• Label Rouge’s materials are higher quality through sensory characteristics and production methods.
• AB (Organic Farming) uses no chemicals and recycling & crop rotation

Private Labels - Eco Label

• Demeter are stricter organic standards.
• Fairtrade is based on fair trade with no legal definition.
• Élu Produit de l’année is based on consumer voting.
• Ecolabels build consumer trust and promote sustainability and ethical production.

Marketing Perspective on Labels

• Labels should communicate guarantees, brand promotion
• Labels should increase industry valorization and new entrants
• Used by consumers as a communication tool

Designing the Perfect Label

1. Start with correct Size
2. Keep It Simple
3. Make Your Logo Shine
4. High-Quality Images & Fonts
5. Don’t Forget About Function
6. Align Artwork Carefully
7. Leave Bleed Areas
8. Keep the Competition in Mind

Key Takeaways on Labels

• Labels provide information, identify, and promote the product.
• Logos create brand recognition and recall.
• Ecolabels support ethical positioning and consumer trust.
• Great design = clarity, functionality, and visual impact.