Schedule mock interviews on the Meeting Board, join the latest community discussions in our Consulting Q&A and find like-minded Interview Partners to connect and practice with!
Back to overview

What is a commodity?

What are commodity products? What's important to know about them in the context of a case?

3
1.4k
12
Be the first to answer!
Nobody has responded to this question yet.
Top answer
Ken
Coach
on Jul 20, 2021
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

A product with little differentiation which often drives down the price, or the ability to charge a premium. For example, any consumer product that you can buy non-branded could be a commodity product, e.g., toilet paper, aspirin, some would even say an airline ticket, etc.

Ian
Coach
on Jul 20, 2021
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success

Hi there,

A commodity is one in which there is perfect competition. There are many players and products are not differentiated. As such, you cannot set your price, and therefore you can primarily only compete on volume and on cost. (Important for a case)

Oil, gas, corn, water, etc. are all commodities!

Deleted user
on Jul 20, 2021

So much literature on this is available online..you can easily self learn :)

4
Similar Questions
Consulting
Bain Business Case
on Jan 27, 2021
Global
5
3.2k
Top answer by
Deleted user
26
5 Answers
3.2k Views
+2
Consulting
Bain Business Case
on Feb 09, 2021
Global
4
4.1k
Top answer by
Deleted
Coach
zeb | Goldman Sachs | Bocconi | HSG
29
4 Answers
4.1k Views
+1
Consulting
Bain Business Case
on Jan 25, 2021
Global
3
2.9k
Top answer by
Ian
Coach
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success
22
3 Answers
2.9k Views