Product Proliferation

Introduction

Since markets are swarmed with various products with different colours, shapes, sizes, attributes and functions, consumers are getting busier and taking longer time while selecting ideal or desired products. Also, while products are still displayed on shelves or exhibited in showrooms, manufacturers already start to push more products with similar features or advance characteristics into markets in order to compete with other providers, for instance, new products TV commercials run almost through the day to obtain exposure. Product proliferation has emerged as a marketing strategy and has been adopted in business practice for a long time. There are questions and doubts about advantages that product proliferation could bring to business. Therefore it is necessary to review product proliferation and have further and deeper understanding of it. The essay discusses reasons for using product proliferation as a marketing strategy, suggests product proliferation has some negative influences on companies that use it as a marketing strategy and presents several measures to manage product proliferation to achieve high performance.

Literature Review

From outcomes and results of researches, Laar in the dissertation suggests that most of enterprises run product proliferation approach even in difficult times, but enterprises are facing challenges of rough competition and wide and various consumer requirements. Hence, without considering supply chain flexibility proliferation has harmful impacts on performance. Laar proposes that tactic focus, market requirements and supply chain capabilities should be taken into account while applying or studying the strategy of product proliferation. Also, Lambertini (2009) suggests that product range expansion has impacts on existing product lines. Draganska and Jain (2003) develop a model as a tool to understand product proliferation decisions. Karantininis, Sauer and Furtan (2008) investigate product proliferation and...