Reasons for adding new products

The reasons for keeping a product line up to date. Here, we shall concern ourselves with the reasons for expanding a product line. The student who has read the reasons for keeping the product line up to date will recognize immediately the overlapping of some of the reasons given for adding new products. That is natural, since one of the principal methods of keeping a product line up to date is by adding new products. In spite of such duplication, the student of marketing should bear in mind that the purpose is different. In the one case, the purpose was to keep the line modern. In this case, it is to increase the size of the product line. Here are the principal reasons for increasing the size of the product line:
(a)    An important customer wants a special product, something unique that he can sell.
(b)    Sales are down and the company needs something to "pep them up."
(c)    A major product is seasonal and the company needs something to take up the slack.
(d)    A company wants to make a special appeal to a special market.
(e)    A line is too limited and the company needs
new or additional products in order to take advantage of carload or truckload shipments.
(f)    A company wants to be able to get distribution in stores where the owners do not want to handle a limited line.
(g)    A company wants to survive in a changing market. Most people want something new and a company must be prepared with new things, or lose its "consumer franchise."
(h)    A company has excess plant capacity and realizes that idle machinery pays no dividends.
(i)    A company wants to reduce its dependence on one or a limited number of products.
(]') A firm wishes to exploit the findings of engineering or technical research.
(k) A firm wishes to utilize the talents of some specialist on the staff.
(1) A firm wants to increase total company sales volume.
The pressure for expansion may come from anywhere. In consumer-goods companies, the pressure is often exerted by the customer. Management must always bear in mind that while it is relatively easy to expand a line, it is much more difficult to eliminate a product once it has been added. This is especially true when products have been added to meet the demand of important trade customers.
In marketing, brand policy goes far beyond the mere choosing of a correct name for a product. An exotic perfume may be called "My Sin," but unless that name is protected and identified with one product it may lose its distinctiveness and value. The purpose of a definite name or brand on a product is to make it different from any other and to make it easy for the consumer to specify.
Accordingly, the brand policy of a manufacturer will cover also such factors as the name itself, the trade mark (legal protection for that name), the trade slogan, and often the trade character, if any, used in connection with it (the Planter's Peanut Man, the White Rock Girl, or Morton Salt's little girl).