The product life cycle template for Excel – available for free download Often students want to graph multiple products onto the product life cycle using an Excel spreadsheet or some other charting approach. Perhaps surprisingly, this is sometimes awkward to produce easily, given the focus on the Excel spreadsheet to produce graphs rather than images. … Read more…
As it is possible to use the product life cycle as a portfolio analysis tool, which allows us to consider whether we have adequately provided for the future profitability for the firm/brand, it is an obvious that there is a strong connection between the product life cycle and the firm’s new product development requirements. Obviously … Read more…
Marketing mix strategies during the introduction stage Offer a basic product with limited choices, as this also helps test the overall market demand/interest, while keeping costs and logistic challenges relatively low Use marketing communications (IMC/promotion) that are effective in generating initial awareness and reaching innovators. Often specialist websites/blogs and magazines provide a specific audience, as … Read more…
While the product life cycle model is a very helpful tool for helping to understand current and potential market conditions, in order to develop appropriate marketing and competitive strategies, there are some limitations and concerns with the usage of the PLC. Firstly, not all new products will be successful. That means that for many new … Read more…
One of the challenges of a mature market in the PLC is that, more than likely, eventually the firm will be faced with competition from new style of product. That is, the most significant competitors are going to introduce technology that is quite different in their design/features (while meeting the same underlying consumer need). For … Read more…
In order to assess where a product is on the PLC curve, a multiple of factors can be considered, including: Sales to date, graph accordingly, to visually demonstrate any turning points from introduction to growth, and so on, The number of competitors entering/leaving the marketplace (competitors enter in growth and leave in decline), The number … Read more…
This website has discussed consumer innovators numerous times, due to their importance in generating product adoption and kick-starting the introduction phase of the product life cycle. While innovators are the initial type of consumer, there are other consumer mindsets that are typically discussed in marketing textbooks. The standard consumer adoption categories include: Innovators Early adopters … Read more…
There is a strong relationship between the product adoption process and the product life cycle. Both consider new to the world products – the product adoption process considers the “stage” that the consumer is in relative to the product – whereas the product life cycle model will track sales (and indicate distinct market conditions), depending … Read more…
Underpinning the pattern of sales in the product life cycle is how consumers adopt new products. Not all new products are successful, indeed, most new products will fail. For example, even Apple has its fair share of failed products. As we know, the product life cycle moves through four distinct phases of introduction, growth, maturity … Read more…
The PLC model can be utilized for portfolio analysis Do we have an appropriate balance of existing products in a mature market, and are we investing in future new product opportunities by entering products into introduction and growth stage markets? Again, this is conceptually similar to the underlying principle of the Boston Consulting Group matrix … Read more…
