Ford manages its product line…

In the next edition of Essentials of Marketing (publishing in early 2020), we created a neat new photo exhibit that clearly distinguishes between the terms individual product (“a particular product within a product line”), product line (“a set of products that are closely related”) and  product assortment (“the set of all product lines and individual products a firm sells). We used Coca-Cola as the example. A thumbnail of that image is shown in this post.

While we are on the topic though, I saw an interesting article in my USA Today this morning. Over the last year, Ford Motor Company has been dropping some individual products and trimming product lines as it tries to rationalize its product assortment. Did I really just write that sentence? You know what I mean. And you will know more after you read “Ford kills the Flex,” (October 28, 2019). You may find this gives some interesting examples to share with the class when you cover Product.