The Product-Brand Relationship

The Product Hierarchy

The product hierarchy transitions from basic customer requirements (needs) to an individual item that a customer finally picks up from the store to fulfill that need.

There are six levels in the product hierarchy from which we derive the product system and mix.

The Need family: This stems from basic human psychological needs as advocated by Maslow. For hair, the need is to have healthy, good looking and manageable hair. Therefore, the need family of Tresemme will be Hygiene and Beauty.  
(CORE BENEFIT)
The Product Family (Category): After detemining the need, the next thing which is important is to identify where the product lies. Here, Tresemme will lie in the category of Personal Care.

The Product Class/ Sub Category: The category gives rise to further sub categories which, in the case of Tresemme, is Hair Care. 
(BASIC PRODUCT)
The Product Line/Brand: Now, the brands start coming into action. Tresemme along with all its variants in all sizes come under the Product Line/ Brand.
(BASIC + EXPECTED + AUGMENTED PRODUCT)
The Product Type/Brand Variant: Tresemme Hair Fall Defense Shampoo is the variant of Tresemme as a brand, is a distinct product from all its other variants and thus will compete with all the variants (Keratin Smooth, Split Remedy, Climate Control and Smooth and Shine), All the brands under the parent HUL (Clear, Clinic Plus, Sunsilk, Dove) as well as the competitors from other companies. 
(BASIC + EXPECTED+ AUGMENTED)
Item/Brand SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): A Brand SKU will be the preference of the customer. It is the final product variant with all the sizes available. Thus, Tresemme Hair Fall Defense  Shampoo will have SKUs in the form of an 8 ML sachet and 100, 200, 600 ML Bottles and colour of the packaging is black and purple. 

From the understanding of the above product hierarchy, we can infer the Product Systems and Mixes:

The above diagram makes it clear that the Product width is the sum total of all sub-categories that come under that category, Product Depth is the number of brands in the particular category, Product line is the various brands, their variants and SKUs respectively in each sub category, and Product Line Length is the number of variants, SKUs, that a particular brand offers. 

All these product systems and mixes linked with product levels (the core benefit, basic product, expected product, augmented product and the potential product) give customers the best possible choices for deriving value. 

The above diagram also makes it quite evident that HUL has a very large product width and a larger product depth that make it the Leader in the hair care segment.