A product is anything that is offered to a market to satisfy customer wants and needs. The product includes both tangible and intangible items available for sale in the market. A company sells a variety of products at a time. For example, PepsiCo sells hundred of products under the product lines of beverages, food, and nutritional products. These product lines, when combines, are known as product mix.
A product line is a group of closely related products with similar functions, customer groups, outlets, and the same price ranges. For instance, the Nike product line includes Footwear, Apparel, and Sports equipment, when all these product lines combine constitutes product mix.
What is Product Mix
Product mix or product assortment is a set of the total number of product lines that a seller offers in the market to its buyers. The company may have one or several product lines, and each product line may have several products. When these product lines get together are known as the product mix of the company.
The product mix is an essential element of the marketing mix because the other elements will work if there is a product or service to offer in the market. It is known as the central part of all marketing activities.
Width – Number of Product lines
Width or breath of the product mix means the total number of product lines that a company offers to sell. For instance, if a company offers milk and yogurts, it indicates that it has two lines. Similarly, a cosmetic company manufactures four different types of products – jewelry, cosmetics, fashion, and household items. Its product mix width is 4.
Depth – Product Variation
Depth of a product mix means the total number of variations for each product a company offers within. There may be different variations in the product e.g., size, flavor, taste, and many other characteristics. For example, Medicam sells four sizes, and two flavors of toothpaste mean that this line has a depth of eight.
Another thing I want to discuss is the average depth of the product line. Suppose a company’s first line depth is 8, and the second one is 10 then the average depth is 18.
Length – Total Products
The length of the product mix means total number of products within the company product lines. For example, if a company has 10 product lines and each line has 3 products, then length is (10×3) = 30.
Length of the product mix refers to the total number of products in the mix. If a company has 5 product lines and 10 products under each product lines, the length of the mix will be 50 [5 x 10].
Product Mix Consistency
Product mix consistency is the close relationship between different product lines. The more product variation means less product consistency. For example, a dairy company has two product lines milk and yogurt. Both lines have the same users and distribution channels. Due to low product variation and high product mix consistency. Take another example of Philips Electronics with 7 product lines having high production mix variation and low consistency.
Product Mix Example
Let us take a small example to understand the product mix of Nike.
Footwear – Boots for strikers, Midfielders, Defenders, Sneakers
Apparels – Headwear, Tops/Polos, Jersey, Jackets, Shorts, Shocks
Equipment – Ball, Bags, Watches
Product Depth – 4 in Footwear, 6 in Apparels and 4 in Equipment
Product Length – 14
Product Width – 3
Product consistency – High consistency Nike focus on health-conscious people.
Hope it will give you a better understanding of the concept
Product Mix Vs. Product Line
Product mix refers to the total number of products of a company offer to sell. On the other hand, product line refers to related products with similar users and functions. In the above example of Nike, the footwear, apparels, and equipment are all product lines. When these product lines come together known as product mix.
