Expanding your supplement product line is a vital growth strategy for increasing revenue and/or the market share for your brand.
Defining Product Lines Extensions
An article in GFK Marketing Review defines product line extension as a process where companies with an established brand alter the factors of a product or products to satisfy a refined segment in the market.
There are two types of product line extensions, horizontal and vertical. Horizontal extensions consist of keeping the price and quality consistent, but changing factors like flavor or color to differentiate the products. Vertical extensions consist of increasing and decreasing the quality and price to create inferior and luxury goods. These product line extensions are often closely related to existing products in a brands portfolio, but targets specific brand consumers through this approach.
In the competitive dietary supplement industry, expanding your product line is critical. It enables you to sell more products to your exisiting customers, and at the same time, attract new customers who prefer the differentiated features of the new products. What’s more Americans LOVE having choices (just look at all the product line extensions on your supermarket’s shelves) and product line extension allows consumers, of say bodybuilding formulas, to choose from more than one variety of flavors.
For established brands, new products can to be introduced more quickly with less marketing cost because consumers already know and trust your product. Extending a product line may can also allow you to obtain more space on retailers' shelves.
But what if we’re a small company? Don’t worry. You don't have to own a large business to benefit from product line expansion. Having different product lines allows a small business to diversify risk and capitalize on its established reputation. And as stated, multiple product items in an existing product line can attract different types of buyers who have different tastes. By shrewdly adding new products to your existing product line, you can become more competitive your industry. But you have to go about it the right way.
There are a number of ways to expand your supplement product lines including:
- Introducing a new version of an existing product.
- Upgrading an existing product.
- Introducing an entirely new product.
Some tips for braining-storming new product lines:
- Be aware of what your competitors are doing. Thanks to the Internet, you have access to a wealth of information regarding what your competitors are up to. Set up alerts related to news and press releases from your competitors, and maintain a consistent look at their websites to see what new products they are offering.
- Stay on top of trends! Be a voracious reader of trade magazines geared toward the vitamin and supplement industry.
- Take customer feedback seriously – consider sending out a customer satisfaction survey with questions that ask what your buyers would like in terms of flavor, packaging, formats and more.
- Know your products life cycle. For example, if it’s a seasonal product, you only want to have a life cycle for that particular season (say, pumpkin pie-flavored protein powder for the fall).
- Determine the needs of your customers in each market segment.
- Identify the products that your customers would be most interested in.
- Create a unique value proposition for the new product line extensions.
- Figure out the optimal sales and distribution channels.
Of course, there are some things you need to be wary of, when expanding new product lines. For one, be careful that your new product line does not diminish sales of older ones, or your resources may be gobbled up by slower-moving products. (Unless, of course, you are phasing an older product line out.
Once you’ve finished your initial research, create a new product proposal for each new product item and include the information:
- Product name and description
- Ingredients
- Packaging
- Marketing Strategies
- Budget
In sum, product line expansion allows you to capture new consumers and expand into new market niches. At Makers Nutrition we pride ourselves on staying on top of the latest, high quality offerings and trends in the supplement business. From determining the best formulas to creating the latest and greatest flavors, we are here to help you make your supplement line a success. Call 1-844-215-3866 for more information.
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