A product range is a product that has been grouped according to certain parameters. The principles of functioning and promotion of such products on the market are also similar. Often these products are offered to the same groups of buyers, and their prices are also in the same segment. We can say that the company has a portfolio of products that it offers on the market. The differences between these products can be in target groups of consumers, pricing strategy, methods of product promotion.
What strategies can the company use when promoting products on the market? The basic strategy of the company's behavior is to expand the product range up and down. With a downward push strategy, the company already has a product on the market. This product can be in the middle price category. The company develops another product, inferior in quality to the previous one, with a lower price, and positions it as a product of a lower price category. So this strategy allows the company to cover a larger segment of the market. We can say that it is a compromise between quality and consumer willingness to pay. The downward expansion strategy is popular when the market is expanding, in the case when a company from a large city enters a region with a lower purchasing power. So, for large cities, a furniture manufacturing company can offer tables with more expensive finishes, and for small cities, develop a different, more budgetary product line, with a different name and a different finish. With a successful launch and marketing promotion of the second line of products, it can be successfully sold in large cities - but the portrait of the buyer of this line will differ from the portrait of the buyer of the first.
Another strategy is to expand the assortment upwards. It resembles the previous strategy, but moves in a different direction. At first, the company produces a more budgetary product. Then another product is offered - which is better in functionality, characteristics, more convenient and more prestigious. For example, a mattress company may offer a more comfortable and expensive mattress option - springless, with more layers and orthopedic back support. Such a mattress will become a more expensive option compared to budget spring options, and will be sold at a higher price to other consumers.
Sometimes the company expands its assortment in both directions. It depends on the state of the market, as well as on the company's capabilities: after all, it is not easy to produce two different product lines and fully enter the market with them.
The ability to understand and use these strategies wisely is the key to your company's success in the market.
