Every successful business knows that having just one product isn’t enough to stay competitive—brands expand their offerings to meet diverse customer needs. This is where the concept of a product line comes in, helping businesses group related products under a single brand identity while distinguishing it from their overall product mix.

In this article, we are about to make it clear about a product line, what the definition is, how it works, the difference between product line and product mix, and some examples as well. Let’s get started!

What is a product line?

The meaning of product line is a group of related products offered by a company that share similar characteristics or target the same customer needs. For example, Pepsi product line includes various beverages such as Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar, and flavored variants like Wild Cherry Pepsi, all catering to different consumer preferences within the soft drink market.

Fact: A company has two ways of creating a product line: marketing a brand new product line or adding to the existing ones. A product line is considered to help a company attract new purchasers, improve its competitiveness, and influence in a market or field.

How do product lines work?

Here are the five main principles of how product lines work these days:

• Product Organization: Companies group related products under a single brand to create a cohesive product line. This organization simplifies the shopping experience for customers, making it easier for them to find what they need.
• Brand Trust and Loyalty: Familiarity with a brand leads to increased trust among consumers, encouraging them to explore additional products within the same line. When customers have positive experiences with one product, they are more likely to purchase other items from that brand.
• Market Segmentation: Product lines allow businesses to target different market segments by offering variations in quality, price, and features. This strategy helps companies cater to diverse customer needs while maximizing their market reach.
• Cross-Promotion Opportunities: By having multiple related products, brands can engage in cross-promotion, encouraging customers to buy complementary items. For example, a clothing brand might promote accessories alongside its apparel to boost overall sales.
• Feedback and Iteration: Companies can gather customer feedback on products within a line to inform future development and improvements. This iterative process helps ensure that the product line remains relevant and aligned with consumer preferences.

6 Key Elements of Product Line

There are about 6 key elements of a typical product line, including:

Top 10 common types of Product Line

Since there are a wide range of product lines available, I will only mention the top 10 most common types in the content below.

Product line vs product mix

Besides product line, the product mix is also a concept that can be misunderstood among businesses. Knowing the difference between a product line and a product mix can help businesses make smarter decisions about expansion, branding, and customer engagement. If you are still confused about these two terms, let me break the ice for you.

What is product line and product mix

Examples of product line and product mix

• Product line examples

Apple’s iPhone Line: Apple’s product line for the iPhone includes multiple models such as the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone SE. Each model targets different customer segments based on features and pricing, which has helped Apple maintain a significant market share in the smartphone industry, accounting for approximately 27% of global smartphone sales in 2023.

• Product mix examples

Unilever’s Product Mix: Unilever manages a broad product mix across multiple categories, including personal care brands like Dove and Axe, food brands like Hellmann’s and Knorr, and home care products like Surf. This extensive mix enables Unilever to diversify its revenue streams and mitigate risks associated with relying on a single product category, contributing to annual revenues exceeding $60 billion.

10 popular Product line examples

To help you get a better understanding of how product lines operate in real life, I am going to introduce the 10 best examples of real brands that run effective product lines in 2025.

1. Great Hair Care Products

Great Hair Care is a popular brand that provides customers with shampoos and conditioners. Besides shampoos and conditioners, they currently add two new products: a hairdryer and a texturizer to extend their product line.

These two new products are marketed under the Great Hair Care brand, an existing brand that is already familiar with some groups of consumers. Customers who usually use and trust Great Hair Care seemingly notice the new products just launched by Great Hair Care, so they are more likely to try them.

2. Wise Tech Company

Wise Tech Company is a global brand that offers computers and smart technology. They annually launch an additional smart product for their product line. Wise Tech Company’s new products always make their fans get ants in their pants to be the earliest ones to have those products. It is because their hardware and software are so high-quality that they become Wise Tech Company’s competitiveness in the technology field.

Those newly introduced products enable Wise Tech Company to increase its influence in the technology market, reach more customers, and diversify its customer segments. Moreover, they are also part of the company marketing campaign. Products are sent to stores so that customers can experience before spending their money, which will accordingly induce consumers’ contentment.

3. Starbucks

Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse chain in the world and has operated over 30,000 locations worldwide in more than 70 countries. As you enter a Starbucks shop, you will be able to choose multiple product lines such as coffee, tea, and snacks. Not only does a person want to drink but she/he also wants to eat some food there. Hence, this fact is one of the reasons for Starbuck’s product line expansion.

4. Nike

When entering a Nike store, you will probably be exposed to many product lines consisting of track and field, basketball, soccer, and golf. Each product line is made up of several sub-product lines or individual products namely footwear, clothing, and sporting equipment.

On the other hand, if you visit Nike’s website, you will see that the website is organized with three main parts: Men, Women, and Kids. There are one more ways of listing Nike’s product lines:

• Shoes: Lifestyle, Running, Basketball, Jordan, Training & Gym, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, Slides & Sandals, Skateboarding, Football, and Track and Field.
• Clothing: Tops & T-shirts, Shorts, Hoodies & Sweatshirts, Pants, Pants and leggings, Sports Bras, Jackets & Vests, Swimmers, Plus Size, Skirts & Dresses, Yoga, Socks & Underwear, Big & Tall and Polos.

5. Nestle

Our next example is Nestle, the world’s biggest food company that has marketed about 8500 brands and 30000 products.

Visiting Nestle’s website, we can easily point out some of their main product lines: Nespresso, Nescafe, Milo, Illuma, NAN, Garden of Life, Purina ONE, Felix, Merrick, Nido, Haagen Dazs, Maggi, Kit Kat, Pure Life, etc.

6. Coca-Cola

Under the name of Coca-Cola, there have been over 500 brands launched and approximately every brand has its own product lines. The following are some of Coca-Cola’s well-known product lines: Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Dasani, Smartwater, Minute Maid, Innocent, Simply, Georgia Coffee, Costa Coffee, Fuze Tea, Honest, Fairlife, Fresca, Aquarius, etc.

7. Amul

Amul is the company that was founded when milk became a symbol of protest. Amul established a direct linkage between the farmers who produce the milk and consumers. This company has helped India to become the largest milk supplier in the world. And Amul has provided clients with plenty of product lines that are connected in ingredients: milk, flavored milk, chocolate, butter, curd, yogurt, ghee, etc

8. Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Corporation’s product lines are extremely popular not only in the USA but also around the world. They include MS Office, Windows, and Xbox. These product lines are partly the advantages that help Microsoft Corporation compete against other technology companies, and emerge as one of the world’s largest companies.

9. Colgate

Colgate products have been widely used around the world with some popular product lines such as Colgate Cavity Protection, Colgate Total, Colgate Optic White, Colgate Enamel Health, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief, and more. To add relevant products to the line, Colgate introduced Colgate Calming Clean, which uses hemp seed oil as a filler to smooth the mouth during brushing.

10. Honda

The last example for this product line article is Honda, a Japanese public multinational conglomerate corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, etc.

Before the introduction of the Honda Civic Si, Honda’s original products were the Honda Civic Dx and Honda Civic CRX. Honda Civic Si has a sporty hatchback with a powerful, high-revving, and fun-to-drive DOHC engine.

That was a successful expansion of the product line as it helped the brand envigorate and benefit from the fun-to-drive reputation as well as a brand corporation with racing.

Conclusion

This article has explained what a product line is, how it differs from a product mix, and provided real-world examples to clarify its role in business strategy. To make the most of your product line, always prioritize customer demand, maintain consistency in quality, and explore innovative ways to diversify without losing brand identity.

FAQs

1. How does a product line help businesses increase revenue?
   A product line allows businesses to offer multiple variations of a product, attracting different customer segments and boosting overall sales.
2. Can a company have multiple product lines within the same brand?
   Yes, many brands, like Nike, have multiple product lines such as running shoes, apparel, and accessories, each targeting different needs.
3. What’s the main risk of expanding a product line?
   Expanding too much can lead to brand dilution, increased costs, and difficulty maintaining product quality across all variations.
4. How does product mix impact a company’s market positioning?
   A well-structured product mix helps companies appeal to a broader audience while ensuring brand consistency and competitive advantage.
5. Is product line extension always a good strategy?
   Not always—while it can increase sales, poor planning or oversaturation can confuse customers and reduce overall brand effectiveness.