Marketing

Marketing

Product Mix

In today's fast moving and competitive world, it is essential for a company to diversify its product range in order to fulfill consumer needs. Catering to a larger consumer base is the key to attainting maximum market share. A product mix, also known as product assortment, lets a business achieve that. The total number of product lines (series of related products) is called a company's product mix. The products can be ideas, good or services and the product lines can either be similar in nature in terms of the products being offered or highly varied (www.mbaresearch.org).

Choosing the right product mix can greatly determine the success of a business. This is because adding a variety of unwanted items to the mix, too much or not enough variety, can all damage the company's financial standing. A well designed product mix helps a company in reaching its target audience effectively and in maintaining a healthy image in the market (faculty.piercecollege.edu).

Dimensions of the Product Mix

Width, length, depth and consistency are the dimensions of the product mix and are explained below (memberfiles.freewebs.com):

Width

The width of the product mix is the number of various product lines a company offers. For example, clothes, food items, detergents and so on.

Length

Length of the product mix is the number of product items in the product lines. For example, within the product line of detergents, the company can have different brands of detergents.

Depth

The depth of the product mix is the number of variants in the product items. For example, if a company offers detergent X, all varieties of detergent X (like sizes, scents) will be the depth of the product mix.

Consistency

The consistency of the product line refers to the similarity of the product lines in usage, production or any other variable.

General Mills' Product Mix Dimensions

For decades, General Mills has enjoyed the position of a trusted and reputed company by offering a wide range of quality products. Its carefully selected product mix gives the opportunity to become the market leader in diverse product markets. Below are the dimensions of General Mills' product mix (www.generalmills.com):

Width

The width of the product mix for General Mills is 2 since it offers 2 basic product lines i.e. food products and websites (recipes and general mills shop). Food products encompass; cereals, dough/pastries, meals, organic/natural, pasta, ice cream, pizza, snacks, soup, fruit, vegetables, baking products and yogurt. The products under General Mills Shop website are apparel, kitchenware, cookbooks, costumes and ...