Question

Topic: Strategy

What Is A "push" Product?

Posted by norman.evan on 4/28/2015 at 8:50 AM ET 125 Points
I have heard people refer to "push" products and "pull" products. What exactly is the difference between these and what is the benefit of characterizing products in this way?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/28/2015 at 9:30 AM Accepted
    Push products are things that a supplier or provider pushes towards prospects and potential buyers in the hope that those people will buy whatever the offer is.

    Pull products are products that prospects have sought more information on and that those prospects have then been drawn towards, perhaps via review sites or based on the opinions of other people just like them who have bought, used, and liked the product.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/28/2015 at 10:20 AM Accepted
    Related to this is push/pull marketing: https://www.manygoodideas.com/2014/03/01/push-me-pull-you-marketing/
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 4/29/2015 at 7:00 PM Accepted
    Expanding on what Gary said - one way to push a product is to get it out into as many sales outlets as possible. Make it so that if someone is buying something from that product category, they will see your product available for sale. The more of a commodity something is, the more important a push strategy is.

    Pull involves promoting something to the end user and asking them to find a dealer to buy it from. The customers ask for it., so the suppliers carry it to meet this need. In the US, pharmaceuticals are doing this now by putting the "talk to your doctor about NAMEOFDRUG" as part of their advertising. They are getting the end customer to ask about the product with the doctor, who actually decides on the drug to use.
  • Posted by norman.evan on 5/1/2015 at 11:13 PM Author
    Thanks guys, for your responses, and apologies for a late revert. From Gary's answer I am able to understand the difference between a 'push product' and a 'pull product' - which was the first part of my question. I am not sure if I have got an answer to the second part of my question i.e. what is the benefit of classifying products as 'pull' or 'push'? Is it so as to know which strategy to use? In other words, would it be fair to say that a 'push product' would benefit from a predominantly 'push strategy' and that that a 'pull product' would benefit from a predominantly 'pull strategy'?
  • Posted by Shelley Ryan on 5/12/2015 at 7:19 PM Moderator
    Hi Everyone,

    I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

    Thanks for participating!

    Shelley
    MarketingProfs
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