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Do Design Lines Add Value?

Jan Schoormans, Professor, Faculty of Industrial Design
Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The
Netherlands
Dirk Snelders, Professor, Faculty of Industrial Design
Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The
Netherlands
Carolien Lagers-Dresselhuys, Founder, , Idee in Bedrijf
(Ideas at Work), Consultant, Accenture Netherlands

Reprint #07182SCH85
This article was first published in Design Management Review Vol. 18 No. 2

Strategic Approaches to Environments and Branding

Copyright © Spring 2007 by the Design Management Institute . All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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 MARKETING

Do Design Lines
Add Value?
by Jan Schoormans, Dirk Snelders, and Carolien Lagers-Dresselhuys

rom a management perspective, it might seem that a family of different prod-

F ucts related by a well-chosen vocabulary of design attributes would be a com-
pelling way to grow sales and loyalty. Research by Jan Schoormans and colleagues
Dirk Snelders and Carolien Lagers-Dresselhuys suggests, however, that this strategy,
while aesthetically appealing, has an impact limited to specific circumstances and
groups of consumers.

calls a horizontal product line, or a

design line: products with different
functions, but all sharing elements
from the same design family.
Horizontal lines can be found in
many industries, from cosmetics to
hardware tools. Figure 1 (on next page)
Jan Schoormans, PhD, Dirk Snelders, PhD, Carolien Lagers-Dresselhuys, shows the example of the Princess Red
Professor, Faculty of Professor, Faculty of Founder, Idee in Bedrijf Limited Edition line, a series of kitchen
Industrial Design Industrial Design (Ideas at Work), products that share some design ele-
Engineering, Delft Engineering, Delft Consultant, Accenture ments that visually bind them, the most
University of Technology, University of Technology, Netherlands noticeable being the striking red color.
The Netherlands The Netherlands Interviews among retail managers
show that horizontal product lines are
If you’ve recently set up housekeeping not strongly advocated by retailers,
in a new kitchen, you might be familiar because they do not fit the way retail
with a line of household products made displays are organized. A study among
by Siemens under the name of Porsche consumers shows that consumers do
Design. These products have been see some advantages in products that
around for a number of years, and they belong to a horizontal product line,
range from coffee makers to kitchen but only under two conditions: a)
scales. All of them share a number of when the line has high status because a
identifiable form elements, such as silver well-known designer was involved in
brushed-aluminum casts and black its conception; and b) when they lack
trim. They are what the design world product knowledge and are looking for

Design Management Review Spring 2007 85

Strategic Approaches to Environments and Branding
Figure 1. An excellent example of a horizontal product line for a less exclusive market: Princess Red Limited Edition products.
cues to help in deciding what to buy.
In other words, depending on the situation,
developing horizontal lines can be an advanta-
geous strategy for design managers.
Vertical or horizontal?
A vertical product line is usually defined as a
range of products from a single product catego-
ry. They appeal to the same consumer need, dif-
fer in function only in gradation, and show
some product resemblance. Companies can
extend their product portfolios by introducing
new products on vertical product lines. In this
way, a product portfolio is developed in which
price differences among products can be related
to differences in quality or number of features.
Products in a horizontal design line differ in
function and thus do not apply to the same con-
sumer needs. However, the products can still
relate to a specific group of activities—for exam-
ple, DIY needs, in the case of Stanley Tools’
Fatmax family of hand tools. In addition, prod-
ucts in a horizontal product line are often used
in the same location. Most of Siemens’ Porsche
Table 1. An overview of the characteristics of vertical and horizontal product lines
Vertical product line
Products serve the same need and provide the same basic functions.
Products belong to a strictly defined domain of behavior
(e.g., shaving only).
Products have the same basic design.
Products are priced differently and price reflects differences in quality
and features.
Products are introduced over time.
86 Design Management Review Spring 2007
Design products are used in the kitchen.
Products that belong to vertical product lines
are in general introduced on the market at suc-
cessive times. These introductions can be orches-
trated in such a way that the average age of the
products in the line remains relatively constant,
and so that the company can organize a steady
flow of activities in new product development,
launch, market penetration, and so on. Products
that belong to horizontal lines are different in
this respect because they are often introduced at
(almost) the same time.
When horizontal lines prove to be successful,
extensions are sometimes added later. For
instance, the Princess Red brand began with
nine new products, and when those proved suc-
cessful, the company added another six. In some
cases, especially in the lower end of the market,
companies sell all the products of a horizontal
line together in a single box, like the 50-dollar
breakfast set made by the Ningbo Fukang
Electric Co. that consists of a coffee maker, a
sandwich maker, a fruit juicer, and a water kettle.
Horizontal product line
Products serve different needs and have varying functions.
Products belong to a wider domain of behavior (e.g., various kitchen
tasks—making coffee, boiling water).
Products show related design elements (material, color, shape).
Products are in the same price/quality range; price differences may
exist on the basis of the product category.
Products are introduced mostly at the same moment.

The potential value of horizontal product lines
Some potential advantages of a horizontal prod-
uct line should be mentioned. At the company
level, a horizontal line may improve quality
because it means that several products are
designed together, with a single set of design
guidelines. Note that horizontal lines are often
produced in cooperation with a famous designer
or design consultant, and this may increase
awareness for the total brand.
Horizontal lines may also decrease the cost of
design, even when such costs are relatively limit-
ed.1 What may be more important is that the
high cost of market introduction can be shared
over a larger number of products.
Horizontal lines may also attract extra con-
sumer attention. In a store, specially designed
product displays can be used in which the prod-
ucts in the horizontal line are shown together,
away from competing products. In this way, a
horizontal product line can grab consumers’
attention. Similarly, Quelch and Kenny2 argue
that a large number of similar-appearing pack-
ages on the shelf create attention through what
they call a billboard effect. The same is true for
product displays on websites, where a horizontal
line can take up a larger part of the screen than a
single product, and where a search for one prod-
uct from a particular line may lead to recom-
mendations to buy other products from that
same line.
From the point of view of the consumer,
there might be a number of other advantages to
the horizontal product line. Carpenter, Glazer,
Figure 2. Presentation of vertical product lines in a store.
Do Design Lines Add Value?
and Nakamoto3 have shown that styling is an
important cue for product quality, and one
might expect that the positive evaluation of a
first product in the line would carry over to
other products in the line. Also, consumers
might favor the possession of several of these
products because they match each other, espe-
cially when the products are used in the same
area of the house or are used at the same time—
in the case of a breakfast set, for instance.
Finally, some consumers are known to collect
products that belong to the same horizontal line,
especially when those products carry the name
of a famous designer.
Compared to vertical product lines, horizon-
tal product lines are limited in number. Does
this mean that design managers do not favor this
strategy? Perhaps they are unaware of the poten-
tial advantages just described. But it may also be
the case that horizontal lines have certain draw-
backs that haven’t been touched upon by the
design management literature. In this article, we
present research on the disadvantages of a hori-
zontal strategy by studying its effects on retailers
and consumers.
Retailer research
We visited 15 shops in France, Germany, and in
the Netherlands, all belonging to large retail
chains in the household appliances market.
Hoping to observe how horizontal product lines
were displayed in-store, we photographed dis-
plays; afterward, we analyzed those displays and
interviewed the managers of eight of these
shops to assess their attitudes toward horizontal
product lines.
The photographs showed that product
assortment and presentation are largely organ-
ized on the basis of product categories in the
store. Retail chains tend to think in terms of ver-
tical product lines (Figure 2). In general, they do
not sell all the products from a horizontal line,
and they do not display those products together.
1. T. Moulson and G. Sproles, “Styling Strategies,”
Business Horizons, vol. 43, no. 5 (2000), p. 45.
2. J. A. Quelch and D. Kenny, “Extend profits, not prod-
uct lines.” Harvard Business Review, vol. 72, no. 5 (1994),
pp. 153-160.
3. G. S. Carpenter, R. Glazer, and K. Nakamoto,
“Meaningful brands from meaningless differentiation:
The dependence on irrelevant attributes,” Journal of
Marketing Research, vol. 31, no. 3 (1994), p. 339.
Design Management Review Spring 2007 87
Strategic Approaches to Environments and Branding
For example, a coffee-maker from the Philips
Cucina line will be found next to other coffee-
makers rather than adjacent to other Philips
Cucina products. The scattered presentation
makes it difficult for shoppers to recognize and
find horizontally based products.
Our interviews indicated that retail managers
expect consumers to base their purchase deci-
sions on product function. Accordingly, they dis-
play products according to category and disre-
gard horizontal lines. Since floor managers also
tend to be category-based, we found that prod-
ucts in a horizontal line do not tend to be select-
ed, procured, and displayed together as the
result of a decision from retail management;
they are instead
selected as separate
Only a few items within each
product category.
respondents recognized The case of the
horizontal lines, and Siemens Porsche
line is interesting, in
even fewer stated that that it had escaped
this retailer logic. In
they generalized a posi- 5 of the 15 shops
were visited, this
tive evaluation of one line was presented
product to other products together as a group.
There may be a
of the same line. number of reasons
for this. Perhaps the
inferred reputation
and quality of Porsche Design had created a
strong market pull for the line. Another possibil-
ity is that these products are situated at the high
end of the market and provide a relatively higher
margin for the retailer. A third factor may be
that Siemens had supported this line with an
intensive marketing campaign in and outside the
stores, culminating in a dedicated display that
showed the best-selling products of the Siemens
Porsche line together, separately from the prod-
uct categories to which the products belonged.
Consumer research
In order to get an impression of consumers’ level
of recognition for horizontal product lines, we
conducted telephone interviews with 57 Dutch
consumers, each of whom owned a toaster, a
coffee-maker, and an electric water kettle. We
selected these respondents because the best
88 Design Management Review Spring 2007
known horizontal lines of kitchenware all
include these appliances. They were asked to
name the brand and model of the products they
own and to indicate if they were aware that any
of these products belonged to a horizontal prod-
uct line. The data show that 26 respondents
owned such a product, and that of these 26, only
10 were aware that they did. Moreover, of these
10, only 3 had bought more than one product
from that line. The reasons these 3 gave for this
was that they liked the similarity in appearance
or, in the case of the more expensive lines,
appreciated the quality of the first product they
had purchased. The interviews also indicated
that the respondents found it difficult to
describe the similarities among the products of
one horizontal line. The only similarity that
some of the respondents could indicate was in
the color of the products.
These interviews show that there are not
many consumers for whom horizontal product
lines add value. Only a few respondents recog-
nized horizontal lines, and even fewer stated that
they generalized a positive evaluation of one
product to other products of the same line. An
exception was again made for the Porsche
Design line, which was evaluated more positively
by a small number of respondents for reasons of
quality and status.
An experiment
Although only a few people in our first study
said that they transferred a positive evaluation
of one horizontally based product to a second
product from the line, we decided to research
this effect in more detail in an experiment. We
began with a horizontal line of kitchenware: a
water kettle, a coffee-maker, and a toaster. We
asked a nonstudent sample of 176 respondents
to evaluate one of the three products, presented
in a particular display. There were two different
types of displays. The line display presents the
horizontal line of the three products; the cate-
gory display presents one of those three prod-
ucts with two other products in the same cate-
gory. We used three category displays: one for
the coffee-maker, one for the water kettle, and
one for the toaster. Figures 3a and 3b show the
line display and the category display used for
coffee-makers.
The key question in the experiment was to
what extent the display of the product (line ver-

sus category) influenced the evaluation of prod-
uct functionality and design (for instance,
attractiveness), and the price the respondents
were willing to pay for the product. Finally,
respondents were asked to choose the product
they liked best.
The results of the experiment show that the
mean evaluation of the functionality (design) of
the products did not differ statistically between
the two displays. In addition, we found that con-
sumers were not willing to pay more for a prod-
uct displayed in a line than for one displayed in
a category.
At the end of the experiment, respondents
received a card on which the line display was
shown in combination with the category display
for the coffee-makers and the toasters (a display
of a total of eight products). Next, respondents
were asked to pick their favorite product. Of the
respondents who had seen a product before in a
line display, 38 percent chose this product. Of
respondents who had seen a product in the cate-
gory display, 44 percent chose that product.
These percentages do not differ statistically.
In general, our study implies that placing a
product in a horizontal product line has no pos-
itive effect on the evaluation of that product
Figure 3a and 3b. The horizontal line display (top) and the product category display (bottom), as used in our experiment (note
that low-resolution pictures were deliberately used to keep respondents from searching for the brand name on the product).
Do Design Lines Add Value?
compared to placing the product among other
products from the same category. However, if we
classify the respondents based on their interest
in kitchen appliances and on their educational
level, a different conclusion can be drawn.
Respondents who were less interested in kitchen
appliances evaluated the product in the line dis-
play more positively than in the category display.
An explanation can be that less interested
respondents did not want to take alternative
products into account and lose time choosing a
product. In addition, the level of education had
an influence on choice in that respondents with
a lower education level more often chose the
coffee-maker of the line display. It was also
found that their choice was more heavily based
on how attractive they found the product, and
less on how functional it was. Combined, these
results indicate that horizontal product lines
may simplify consumer decision making for
low-involvement consumers.
Conclusions and recommendations
Our research indicates that retailers do not pro-
vide much support for horizontal product lines.
In addition, consumers do not seem to be inter-
ested in horizontal lines; nor do consumers easi-
Design Management Review Spring 2007 89
Strategic Approaches to Environments and Branding
ly transfer value from one product in the line to
another. Similarities between the products in the
line are not easily detected. We also did not find
that consumers collect products of a line. Thus
one could conclude that horizontal lines add
limited value for consumers.
However, we have also found some strategic
potential for horizontal lines. Our qualitative
study showed that a specific group of consumers
positively evaluate horizontal product lines in
the higher price segment. The products of these
lines are bought by consumers for their design
and the status that accompanies it. These con-
sumers also felt that the quality of previous
products they had purchased from that line
would predispose them to buying more of the
same. Thus, for design lines in the higher price
segments, there may well be a transfer of beliefs
about quality from one product in the line to the
next. In addition, our research showed that hori-
zontal product lines may act as an aid for con-
sumers who are less involved with the product
category, or have a lower level of education. For
these consumers, the value of a horizontal line
display may lie in its immediate clarity; it may
make the purchasing process simpler.
Is the development of a horizontal product
line a relevant design management strategy or
not? We propose three different avenues that
may be pursued successfully. First, companies
may decide to follow Siemens’ lead and develop
high-quality horizontal lines. The design of such
a line will have to be exclusive and executed by a
reputed designer or company. This supports the
status of a line and a belief among customers
that all products in the line are likely to be of the
same high quality. To strengthen this belief, the
price of all of them should be relatively high. In
addition, the line must be communicated as if it
were a single product. To support this, special
displays should be designed to help convince
retailers of the special character of the line, and
to persuade them to display all of the products
together. For online stores, it may make sense to
offer a link to a carefully designed website dedi-
cated to the line.
In lower-priced segments, it would be a mis-
take to mimic this strategy by, say, trying to per-
suade retailers and customers that the horizontal
line is special, or that it should be displayed sep-
arately, away from its direct competitors.
90 Design Management Review Spring 2007
Instead, in these segments companies might try
to develop a horizontal line that makes the sin-
gle products stand out on the shelves. For exam-
ple, the Princess Red line is a good example of
an easily recognizable line in the mid-price seg-
ment. The color of its products is so outstanding
that it will still be noticed when the products are
displayed by category in the store. In this case,
the strength of the product line is not its exclu-
sivity or quality appeal, but the fact that its
products resemble each other and are appealing
simply for the way they look. Such a strategy
should focus on consumer segments less inter-
ested in the product categories and who evaluate
products on nonfunctional aspects.
Somewhat outside the scope of our research,
there might also be opportunities for horizon-
tal lines in very low price segments. For
instance, companies may decide to develop
horizontal lines of products that are used
together in a specific situation. The complete
line might then be sold pre-packaged, near the
location of use, or in nonspecialized (discount)
stores. An example of this would be the break-
fast set mentioned earlier. Since such purchases
are often made on impulse or for temporary
circumstances, the price of these products
should be low, while their quality does not have
to be very high. Market research in the past has
shown that for many product categories, a
majority of consumers have little interest in the
product and need to be reached by specific
low-involvement selling strategies.4 For this rea-
son, design managers should also consider the
potential of horizontal lines for their non-
premium products. There may be a surprisingly
strong market for them.

Reprint #07182SCH85
4. Gardner, M.P., Mitchell, A.A., and Russo, J.E, “Low
involvement strategies for processing advertisements,”
Journal of Advertising, vol. 14, no. 2 (1985), pp. 4-12.