Key Terms
Products
Tangible items exchanged between buyer and seller. Can be seen, touched, owned, stored.
Services
Intangible solutions exchanged between buyer and seller. Cannot be touched, owned, or stored.
Product-service continuum
Most offerings fall somewhere between a pure product and a pure service; rarely one or the other.
Customer experience (CX)
The overarching impression a customer has of a brand across every touchpoint — technology, sales, marketing, and custome
Raw materials
Inputs needed to make a consumer good (flour, lumber, steel).
Manufactured materials and parts
Products used during production (baking sheets, assembly components).
Capital items
Durable assets with tangible business value (ovens, machinery, vehicles).
Supplies and services
Consumed during operations, no lasting tangible value (packaging boxes, cleaning services).
Product item
A single specific good a company sells.
Product line
A group of similar or complementary product items.
Product mix
The entire collection of all products a company sells across all lines.
Product line depth
The number of products within a single line.
Product mix width
The number of distinct product lines a company carries.
Product line filling
Adding products within an existing line to block competitors from entering. Prevents gaps.
Product line stretching
Adding entirely new product lines. Three directions: