Product Levels and Product Lines
A product's technology platform is the core technology upon which it is built. Example - iPod and MP3 technology. The development of a new offering is to take a technology platform and re-bundle its benefits in order to create a different version of an already existing offering. Example - Apple iPod Shuffle and Nano. In some cases, technology platforms developed for one industry or group, may ultimately lead to the creation of new types of offerings. Example - Eqyss's Micro Tek Pet Spray (originally a NASA decontamination product; now used to stop pets from scratching and biting themselves). In a pure services environment, knowledge can be a type of technology platform. Product lines are groups of related offerings with similar marketing strategies. Product lines can be comprised on many offerings or a few offerings. How many offerings there are in a single product line is called line depth. Line breath is how many different or distinct product lines a company has.
Four levels of an offering:
- Basic offering (device itself) - iPod
- Offering's technology platform- MP3 player technology
- The product line to which the product belongs- Apple iPods line of MP3 players
- The product category to which the offering belongs - MP3 players as opposed to iPhones.
Product-dominant marketing perspective focuses on products, services, and prices as three separate and distinguishable characteristics. It evolved from the concept product-oriented, which means firms believe the best way to capture market share is to create and manufacture better products at lower prices. A technology platform is the core technology behind the product, whereas the product line is comprised on all the offerings developed from the core technology. No, new offerings can be built upon technology platforms originally designed to solve different problems. Or, technologies may be combined to create new offerings. Line depth is the how many offerings there are in a single product line; whereas line breadth is how many different or distinct product lines a company has.