Plan: Introduction: Product Planning and Development Product Line Product Mix

Advantages:

A brand is advantageous both for consumers and manufacturers.
(i) To the Consumers:
(a) Consumers find it easy to identify the product.
(b) Producers maintain quality throughout so that consumers get quality goods.
(c) Consumers are protected as the brand identifies the firm.
(d) Branding ensures reliability, standardisation and quality.
(e) Many people get satisfaction in certain brands.
(f) It saves time in his shopping.
(ii) To the Manufacturer
(a) It works like a cumulative force, promotes repeat sales and stabilises the sales volume.
(b) It establishes an image of the product and the company.
(c) It helps in introducing the new products.
(d) It enables a manufacturer to eliminate middlemen.
(e) It assists him in withstanding price competition.
(f) It helps in reducing selling cost.
(g) It distinguishes products from rival firms.

Disadvantages:

The disadvantages of branding are:
(a) The product price tends to go up.
(b) It involves heavy expenditure and sustained effort to establish a brand.
(c) It imparts a sort of rigidity to the product.
(d) Manufacturers taking advantages of the popularity may reduce the quality gradually.
(e) The selection of a proper brand name also creates problems.

5. Product Positioning:

Product positioning refers to a brand’s objective attributes in relation to other brands. It is a characteristic of the physical product and its functional features. Position is the art of selecting, out of a number of unique selling propositions, the one which will get you maximum sales. Product position­ing is so central and critical that it should be considered at the level of mission statement. It comes to represent the essence of a business.
Components of Product Positioning:
There are four important components of product positioning and they are: