Product mix

The product lines

The product mix is entered in the Assumptions worksheet and this is reflected in the first table. It should be divided into distinct product lines or product groups. Unless of course your business only has one product line or one product. This is not usual, most businesses have more than one product and more than one product line. Throughout the plan you will have to set goals, determine strategies and more, per product line. For each product line you have to know its target markets.

Per product line you should add the USP (Unique Selling Proposition). These must be considered when setting your goals and strategies.

The existing product mix is automatically inserted and adjusted from the Assumptions worksheet. You must now enter some general information about your existing product lines.

The current product mix of ABC is deep/shallow and small/broad. This mix has been selected for the following reasons: 

1. The competitive position demands such a mix
2. The costs per carried product remain lower
3. The demand for the carried products is sufficient/large
4. The marketing can be applied homogeneously/heterogeneously
5. The customers demand specialization/diversification.

The product advantages

Complete the text in the textbox:

Customer loyalty is to be encouraged with further development and promotion of new and improved products each quarter/year, daily customer sampling, and bonus specials. Training includes “friendly personality” recruiting, a minimum of six hours of company training, mentoring, and apprentice management programs.

ABC has the highest quality of product image for any ________ vendor or ___________ operation in the _________ area, evidenced by numerous media editorials, customer surveys, and the company’s own competitive surveys of adjacent area competitive __________ outlets. The company’s products are of extremely high quality, easy to maintain, easy to use and low in price.