IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v54y2011i6p551-561.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategies to reduce product proliferation

Author

Listed:
  • Berman, Barry

Abstract

Major problems associated with product proliferation include higher production, inventory, and record-keeping costs; increased expenses associated with trade promotions and slotting fees; added consumer confusion and stress; and increased susceptibility to stockouts. This article describes how a firm can limit product proliferation without incurring reduced sales or lowering consumer loyalty. An effective product proliferation reduction program needs to be based on several principles: resisting the temptation of asking consumers if a greater assortment is required; classifying goods into consumer behavior-based tiers; using interfunctional product pruning teams; practicing mass customization, where appropriate; placing absolute limits on product choice; and implementing effective strategies for product pruning.

Suggested Citation

  • Berman, Barry, 2011. "Strategies to reduce product proliferation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 551-561.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:54:y:2011:i:6:p:551-561
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2011.07.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681311001157
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2011.07.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kelvin Lancaster, 1990. "The Economics of Product Variety: A Survey," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 189-206.
    2. Richard Schmalensee, 1978. "Entry Deterrence in the Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 305-327, Autumn.
    3. Peter C. Verhoef & Laurens M. Sloot, 2006. "Out-of-Stock: Reactions, Antecedents, Management Solutions, and a Future Perspective," Springer Books, in: Manfred Krafft & Murali K. Mantrala (ed.), Retailing in the 21st Century, pages 239-253, Springer.
    4. K. Sridhar Moorthy, 1984. "Market Segmentation, Self-Selection, and Product Line Design," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 288-307.
    5. Berman, Barry, 2002. "Should your firm adopt a mass customization strategy?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 51-60.
    6. Michaela Draganska & Dipak C. Jain, 2005. "Product‐Line Length as a Competitive Tool," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 1-28, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2020. "Multi-product bargaining, bundling, and buyer power," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    2. Kelting, Katie & Berry, Christopher & van Horen, Femke, 2019. "The presence of copycat private labels in a product set increases consumers' choice ease when shopping with an abstract mindset," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 264-274.
    3. Yanhui Zhao & Yufei Zhang & Joyce (Feng) Wang & Wyatt A. Schrock & Roger J. Calantone, 2020. "Brand relevance and the effects of product proliferation across product categories," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1192-1210, November.
    4. Leff Bonney & Christopher R. Plouffe & Michael Brady, 2016. "Investigations of sales representatives’ valuation of options," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 135-150, March.
    5. Tomohiko Sakao & Tatsunori Hara & Ryo Fukushima, 2020. "Using Product/Service-System Family Design for Efficient Customization with Lean Principles: Model, Method, and Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-25, July.
    6. Wei‐Lin Wang & Demetrios Vakratsas, 2021. "The Dual Impact of Product Line Length on Consumer Choice," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(9), pages 3054-3072, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anocha Aribarg & Neeraj Arora, 2008. "—Interbrand Variant Overlap: Impact on Brand Preference and Portfolio Profit," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 474-491, 05-06.
    2. Kai-Lung Hui, 2004. "Product Variety Under Brand Influence: An Empirical Investigation of Personal Computer Demand," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(5), pages 686-700, May.
    3. Yogesh V. Joshi & David J. Reibstein & Z. John Zhang, 2016. "Turf Wars: Product Line Strategies in Competitive Markets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 128-141, January.
    4. Barry L. Bayus & William P. Putsis, Jr., 1999. "Product Proliferation: An Empirical Analysis of Product Line Determinants and Market Outcomes," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 137-153.
    5. Kostas Axarloglou, 2008. "Product line extensions: causes and effects," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 9-21.
    6. Tang, Christopher S., 2010. "A review of marketing-operations interface models: From co-existence to coordination and collaboration," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 22-40, May.
    7. Claudio Giachetti & Giovanni Battista Dagnino, 2014. "Detecting the relationship between competitive intensity and firm product line length: Evidence from the worldwide mobile phone industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(9), pages 1398-1409, September.
    8. Suren Basov & Svetlana Danilkina & David Prentice, 2020. "When Does Variety Increase with Quality?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(3), pages 463-487, May.
    9. Yunchuan Liu & Tony Haitao Cui, 2010. "The Length of Product Line in Distribution Channels," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 474-482, 05-06.
    10. Alessandro Gavazza, 2011. "Demand spillovers and market outcomes in the mutual fund industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(4), pages 776-804, December.
    11. Fangruo Chen, 2001. "Market Segmentation, Advanced Demand Information, and Supply Chain Performance," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 53-67, February.
    12. Ayd{i}n Alptekinou{g}lu & Charles J. Corbett, 2008. "Mass Customization vs. Mass Production: Variety and Price Competition," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 10(2), pages 204-217, August.
    13. Lalit Manral, 2015. "The demand-side dynamics of entrant heterogeneity," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 401-445, April.
    14. Jonah Berger & Michaela Draganska & Itamar Simonson, 2007. "The Influence of Product Variety on Brand Perception and Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 460-472, 07-08.
    15. Peter-J. Jost, 2023. "Price commitment and the strategic launch of a fighter brand," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 381-435, September.
    16. Takagoshi, Noritsugu & Matsubayashi, Nobuo, 2013. "Customization competition between branded firms: Continuous extension of product line from core product," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 337-352.
    17. Ana Espinola-Arredondo & Felix Munoz-Garcia, 2012. "An Excessive Development of Green Products," Working Papers 2012-5, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
    18. Spassova, Gerri & Isen, Alice M., 2013. "Positive affect moderates the impact of assortment size on choice satisfaction," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 397-408.
    19. Chrysovalantou Milliou & Joel Sandonis, 2018. "Manufacturer Mergers and Product Variety in Vertically Related Markets," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 1-24, March.
    20. Yanhui Zhao & Yufei Zhang & Joyce (Feng) Wang & Wyatt A. Schrock & Roger J. Calantone, 2020. "Brand relevance and the effects of product proliferation across product categories," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1192-1210, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:54:y:2011:i:6:p:551-561. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.