Originally Posted by geeman789
Why does Shell bother ... do they sell more oil having two ( or ten ... or more ) virtually identical products in different bottles ?
They have Pennzoil Platinum, Quaker State Ultimate Durability, and now Rotella Gas Truck.
I guess the answer to the first question is probably yes ...
Its good business practice. Some guys only use this brand, or they only use that brand. If you buy both brands then you can double your target market without developing any new product.
As always, its about money. We're talking about companies here, not charities. P&L is more important than your ability to make informed decisions about which product to consume.
If BITOGers got together to form a non-profitable charitable organisation which exists to blend and distribute oil whose performance is the very best it can be, in hundreds of different permutations of base stock/add pack/viscosity etc, then the consumer would have a lot more choice but the problem would become educatiing the consumer about why they should buy on spec instead of price.
A similar practice is how GM sell a car in Europe badged as a Vauxhall, they sell the exact same vehicel in Australia with a Holden badge and in NA they call it a Pontiac G8. Its cheaper to make one product and sell it under different badges than to produce bespoke products for each market.
That is why Shell bothers.