Product lining

In marketing jargon, product lining is offering several related products for sale individually. Unlike product bundling, where several products are combined into one group, which is then offered for sale as a units, product lining involves offering the products for sale separately. A line can comprise related products of various sizes, types, colors, qualities, or prices. Line depth refers to the number of subcategories a category has. Line consistency refers to how closely related the products that make up the line are. Line vulnerability refers to the percentage of sales or profits that are derived from only a few products in the line.

Product lining is a marketing strategy that companies adopt which they offer products in the same product line for sale individually (Krishnamurthi, 2007). Product line is a group of related products defined by their functions and customer market, forming a “line" or category (Neubauer, Steffen & Margaria, 2003). For instance, the variety of coffees that are offered at a café is one of its product lines and it could consist of flat white, cappuccinos, short black, lattes, mochas and etc. Alternatively, Product line of juices and pastries can also be found at a café.

In comparison to product bundling, which is a strategy of offering more than one product for promotion as one combined item to create differentiation and greater value, product lining consists of selling different related products individually (Chen, 1997). The products in the product line can come in various sizes, colours, qualities, or prices. The benefits from having a successful product line is the brand identification from customers which result in customer loyalty and multiple purchases (Kekre & Srinivasan, 1990). It increases the likelihood of customers purchasing new products from the company that have just been added into the product line due to the previous satisfying purchases (Krishnamurthi, 2007).

In Marketing, the amount of product lines offered is referred as the width of product mix. Product mix, also known as product assortment, is the total number of variety of products that a firm sells to their customers (Learn marketing n.d.). It measures the total number of product lines. Some companies would focus solely and sell only one type of product to specialise in, having said that, some would offer numerous types of products for the diversified markets, depending on the size and objectives of the entities. Each approach’s results vary from a lot of factors including location, market, trends and etc, therefore business should carefully consider their product mix. The width of product mix is one of the four dimensions of product mix along with the length, depth and consistency of product mix (Suttle, n.d.).

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