Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TECHNOLOGY
INDORE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
3. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
5. RESEARCH METHODLOGY
The Study
The Sample
Implication of Study
6. REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION OF PLC
A product's life cycle (PLC) can be divided into several stages characterized
by the revenue generated by the product. If a curve is drawn showing
product revenue over time, it may take one of many different shapes, an
example of which is shown below:
The life cycle concept may apply to a brand or to a category of product. Its
duration may be as short as a few months for a fad item or a century or more
for product categories such as the gasoline-powered automobile.
Product development is the incubation stage of the product life cycle. There
are no sales and the firm prepares to introduce the product. As the product
progresses through its life cycle, changes in the marketing mix usually are
required in order to adjust to the evolving challenges and opportunities.
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Introduction Stage
When the product is introduced, sales will be low until customers become
aware of the product and its benefits. Some firms may announce their
product before it is introduced, but such announcements also alert
competitors and remove the element of surprise. Advertising costs typically
are high during this stage in order to rapidly increase customer awareness of
the product and to target the early adopters. During the introductory stage
the firm is likely to incur additional costs associated with the initial
distribution of the product. These higher costs coupled with a low sales
volume usually make the introduction stage a period of negative
profits.During the introduction stage, the primary goal is to establish a
market and build primary demand for the product class. The following are
some of the marketing mix implications of the introduction stage:
Growth Stage
The growth stage is a period of rapid revenue growth. Sales increase as more
customers become aware of the product and its benefits and additional
market segments are targeted. Once the product has been proven a success
and customers begin asking for it, sales will increase further as more
retailers become interested in carrying it. The marketing team may expand
the distribution at this point. When competitors enter the market, often
during the later part of the growth stage, there may be price competition
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And/or increased promotional costs in order to convince consumers that the
firm's product is better than that of the competition.
During the growth stage, the goal is to gain consumer preference and
increase sales. The marketing mix may be modified as follows:
Maturity Stage
The maturity stage is the most profitable. While sales continue to increase
into this stage, they do so at a slower pace. Because brand awareness is
strong, advertising expenditures will be reduced. Competition may result in
decreased market share and/or prices. The competing products may be very
similar at this point, increasing the difficulty of differentiating the product.
The firm places effort into encouraging competitors' customers to switch,
increasing usage per customer, and converting non-users into customers.
Sales promotions may be offered to encourage retailers to give the product
more shelf space over competing products.
During the maturity stage, the primary goal is to maintain market share and
extend the product life cycle. Marketing mix decisions may include:
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Decline Stage
During the decline phase, the firm generally has three options:
• Maintain the product in hopes that competitors will exit. Reduce costs
and find new uses for the product.
• Harvest it, reducing marketing support and coasting along until no
more profit can be made.
• Discontinue the product when no more profit can be made or there is a
successor product.
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LITRATURE REVIEW
It is claimed that every product has a life period, it is launched, and it grows,
and at some point, may die. A fair comment is that - at least in the short term
- not all products or services die. Jeans may die, but clothes probably will
not. Legal services or medical services may die, but depending on the social
and political climate, probably will not.
Even though its validity is questionable, it can offer a useful 'model' for
managers to keep at the back of their mind. Indeed, if their products are in
the introductory or growth phases, or in that of decline, it perhaps should be
at the front of their mind; for the predominant features of these phases may
be those revolving around such life and death. Between these two extremes,
it is salutary for them to have that vision of mortality in front of them.
However, the most important aspect of product life-cycles is that, even under
normal conditions, to all practical intents and purposes they often do not
exist (hence, there needs to be more emphasis on model/reality mappings).
In most markets the majority of the major brands have held their position for
at least two decades. The dominant product life-cycle, that of the brand
leaders which almost monopolize many markets, is therefore one of
continued.
For example:-
COCA-COLA
Battered by competition from the sweeter Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola decided in
1985 to replace its old formula with a sweeter variation, dubbed New Coke.
Coca-Cola spent $4 million on market research. Blind taste tests showed that
Coke drinkers preferred the new, sweeter formula, but the launch of new
Coke provoked a national uproar. Market researchers had measured the taste
but had failed to measure the emotional attachment consumers had to Coca-
Cola. There were angry letters, formal protests, and even lawsuit threats to
force the retention of “The Real Thing.” Ten weeks later, the company
withdrew New Coke and reintroduced is century-old formula as “Classic
Coke,” giving the old formula even stronger status in the market place.
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OBJECTIVES
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Any product or service is successful when it meets the user and market
requirements and is user-friendly. The product should not be complicated
and should match the user needs and lifestyle. The product should align with
the behaviors, habits and mental models of users.
You are toying with an idea or a concept and are not sure about the need for
such a product or service and the user requirements. At this stage,
appropriate research methods will help you:
This method gives you the access to the real user world and their need,
which helps you understand the gap between their requirements and your
concept. Thus helps you to define your concept which aligns with the user
and market needs.
Once you have met your sample of users and done with research to confirm
on the concept directions, its time to deep dive into the real users world, as it
is important to ‘know’ the real users of the product /service. Understand
their lifestyle, work, day to day irritations and aspirations.
1. In-depth interviews
2. Job shadow
3. Diaries
4. Camera journal
5. Show and tell
6. Day in a life of
7. Home visits
8. Body Storming
9. Contextual Inquiry
In these research methods, researchers meet real users and have complete
access to them. They find out their hidden needs and motivations.
Let’s discuss the appropriate research methods used to validate and iterate
your early design solutions.
1. In depth interviews
2. Usability test of the prototype. This is usually simple line wireframes
or wax models
3. Expert Review
4. Comparative benchmarking expert review
5. Participatory design
Discussing and showing the design prototypes with the end users early,
helps you learn more about user expectations and needs and check if all the
requirements gathered from.
The product is ready for the development after the previous round of testing
and iteration. Once done, it’s ready for launch and it’s a good idea to run a
usability test to make sure that the product performs as expected and if any
last minute changes are required for the product. Test at this stage, will help
marketing department get a direction and focus of the product. Research
Methods:
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IMPLICATION OF STUDY
The product life cycle is marketing concept that describes the way the
revenues from the sale of a product behave over time. Typically the product
life cycle is drawn as a bell curve, shown below, with the life cycle being
divided into four stages:
• introduction
• growth
• maturity and
• decline
The concept also applies to services, although the shape may be markedly
different. It can also apply to product categories and the market as a whole.
It should be noted that the product life cycle is not necessarily a good
'predictor' of product behavior. Rather it can aid the marketer in
understanding the market. For example, a product may have gone through a
period of rapid growth and sales may have begun to level off. This does not
necessarily mean that the product is maturing; it could just be a temporary
slow down that culminates in the product sales beginning to grow rapidly.
With living beings it is possible to have avery shrewd idea of where they are
in their life span, how long they are likely to live and consequently the sort
of issues that are going to occur at any given time, it is more difficult to gain
this level of understanding with products.
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QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Indicate the nature of your product assortment?
2. If you have multiple product ranges, will you apply the PLC
concept on each individual product within each product range?
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CONCLUSION
To conclude our report, we would say that the PLC theory has its share of
critics. That life cycle pattern is too variable in shape and duration. PLCs
lack what living organism’s have namely, a fixed sequence of stages and a
fixed length of stage.
Critics also charge that marketers can seldom tell what stage the product is
in. A product may appear to be mature when actually it has reached a plateau
prior to another usage. So, in the end, we would like to say that the PLC
concept helps us interpret product and market
Dynamics. It can be used for planning and control, although as a forecasting
tool it is less useful.
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REFERENCES
www.wikipedia.com
www.google.com
www.netmba.com
www.scribd.com
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