PRODUCT HIERARCHY

For any product in the market, product hierarchy follows a top down approach. It is developed from the basic need that prompts the customer to look out for a particular product to the final product.

During the course of satisfying this need the customer goes through the following:

• Need or the requirement of a particular product to satisfy its need
• The need is filtered towards a product family such as skin care, hair care, dental etc.
•   Product class is next which can be called as the subset of the product family umbrella. E.g.  face wash under skin care.
•  Product Line refers to the brand customer is looking for. Generally the customer looks out for a trusted brand
•  Brand variant comes under product type which tells what kind of the product customer wants to  fulfil its requirement
• .Finally we have the item which is the SKU or the final product variant of the brand.

According to Kotler, “The product hierarchy stretches from basic needs to particular items that satisfy those needs”.

 We can identify six levels of product hierarchy and trace the hierarch of the marketing diary product as follows:

1.      Need family

The customer figures out a need or requirement which sets out the customer on a mission to satisfy his requirement through various options. The core need underlies the existence of a product family.

In the product I have taken Dove Deep Pure face wash we can say that the need of personal hygiene specially for cleanliness of face which is the most noticeable part of a person’s body helped the customer to think in the direction of skin care for the face.

Need: Personal hygiene

2.      Product family

All product classes that can satisfy a core need with reasonable effectiveness. This primarily includes all the product classes that fall under the requirement.

With reference to personal hygiene like in case of Dove, we can consider product classes such as :

·         Skin care

·         Hair care

Family : Skin care

3.      Product class

A group of products within the product family recognized as having a certain functional coherence, also known as product category.

In case of Dove, which a big b

Class: Face wash

4.      Product line

A group of products within a product class that are closely related because they perform similar function, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through the same outlets or channels, or fall within given price ranges. A product line may consist of different brands, or a single family brand, or individual brand that has been line extended.

Line: Dove

5.      Product type

A group of items within a product line that share one of several possible forms of the product. It represents the product line along with the product class.

Type: Dove face wash (beauty face wash)

6.      Item

A distinct unit within a brand or product line distinguishable by size, price, appearance, or some other attribute. It is also called as the stock keeping unit SKU or the product variant.

Item: Dove Deep Pure face wash
Size:  50g
Price: Rs.90/-

PRODUCT SYSTEMS AND MIXES

A product system is a group of diverse but related items that function in a compatible manner. A product mix (also called a product assortment) is the set of all products and items a particular seller offers.

A company’s product mix has certain width, length, depth and consistency.

1.      Width

Refers to how many product lines a company carries.

Dove : skin care, hair therapy

2.      Length

Refers to total number of items in the mix.

Body wash, Body lotion, Face wash, Hair care

3.      Depth

How many variants are offered of each product in the line.

Product variants include Dove Deep Pure, Dove Go fresh, Dove pore cleaning, Dove anti acne.

4.      Consistency

How closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or some other way.