Product Line Strategy: Five Approaches

When managing multiple products, there are various approaches to consider. Each approach has benefits and drawbacks, so it's important to choose one and really understand the risks.

One is to continually monitor market trends, which takes a lot of time and resources.

Segmenting the market by benefits allows you to assess the size and growth of each product, but most marketers instead choose to do vertical marketing (e.g., segmenting by industry), which won't give you the perspective you need.

Product life cycle management is another option, though not all products follow the same life cycle.

A fourth approach is to classify different products by priority, but this may overlook customer preferences and market trends.

A fifth is to manage a group of products/services together as part of a portfolio, recognizing different resource requirements and analyzing products in terms of market attractiveness and competitive position.

Overall, staying up on market trends, segmenting the market by benefits, managing product life cycles, classifying products by priority, and managing a portfolio of products are all viable options for managing multiple products. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each will help you make the best strategic decision for your business.