Product Standardization Strategy

Are you exploring ways to improve marketability and boost profits? Today, fierce competition practically demands the former, the latter and more, so start by considering ways to implement a strategy for product standardization to keep pace. Basically, standardizing a line of products is an efficient method to reduce costs and increase quality. By minimizing the differences in your products, such as by making them interchangeable, you are able to rapidly increase production, streamline distribution, decrease raw material costs and reinforce product branding. The best product standardization strategies allow you to balance the need for targeted adaptation with the cost savings of standardization.

By standardizing the basic components of all your products, you can expand your market area; Consider how universal components hook together across the nut and bolt industry, widening global sales. Look at your product line and determine where you can create similar component sections across several products. If necessary, modify your products so similar components can be used. For example, if you produce light fixtures, standardize the socket and ceiling attachment mechanisms across all your products. Make your product according to standards that designers use when designing different models. Not only will you save on production costs, you can standardize installation instructions and decrease testing costs. When you have a high number of similar components, you can quickly introduce new products to the market to capitalize on changes in customer preferences.

You wouldn't start selling your brand of toothpaste in zip bags for obvious reasons, but slight changes in packaging can help you standardize your product offers globally. Without needing to make changes to your actual product, you can alter your product packaging to boost brand recognition, appear trendier or reflect differences in legal requirements such as warnings, language, promotions and branding. Products shipped to international destinations may also require additional protection against moisture, extreme temperatures and harsher sales conditions. For example, if you sell candy in the U.S. and want to expand to Spain, change your existing packaging to Spanish and change colors to be more appealing to a Spanish consumer, but sell the same candy you sell in the U.S.

Selling a standardized product in different quantities can expand your customer base and boost your bottom line. For instance, your product could appeal to a wider target if it's sold in large packages for warehouse stores and small packages for international markets. Many customers outside the U.S. do not buy products in bulk due to lack of space, transportation limitations and monetary differences. You can take advantage of product standardization savings by selling different quantities in different marketing channels; Think about direct local marketing, as with a pizza stand at a college, or indirect marketing, such as by advertising pizza-party catering on college social media sites. Consider selling your product in different quantities in the same store to capitalize on consumers that want a volume discount. For example, if you sell potato chips, sell a snack-size package and a family-size package. Product standardization may not seem easy to implement, but with diligent effort, you can keep up with your competitors or (fingers crossed) surpass them.