The
Life of a Product
Hello guys! Last time we talked we discussed basis of the creation of new
products. To go along with that theme we will be discussing how long products
lasts in the market and the multiple stages involved. This idea is called the Product
Life Cycle, which again talks about how a product goes through the marketplace.
There are four stages and as you can imagine the first one is the Introduction
Stage. During the Introduction stage the company will experience an increase in
expenses as there is a lot of money that has to be spent on marketing to make
the consumers aware of the product and thus causing them to purchase. An
example of a product in the introduction stage would be Keurig Kold, this will
be a special Keurig that is used to make soda, something similar to that of a
soda stream. What makes the Keurig unique is that they have pods with the soda
brands we all know like Coca-Cola and you do not have to worry about the C02
component, which is convenient as all Keurig products are.
The next stage in the cycle is the Growth stage, as you can
imagine at this stage is when the product really begins to create profits. This
is because the advertisements have gained major awareness to the point that
consumers are more than willing to purchase the product. On the other hand at
this stage, competition begins and therefore companies often make alterations
to their product to make their products stand out and creating brand loyalty.
An example of a product in the growth stage would be smart watches. Once the
Apple Watch was released other companies were itching to get a model of their own
in the market. Apple, due to prestige has been able to maintain their brand
loyalty among consumers despite the higher price. Apple also makes
modifications to better the product, as do competitors. With this, I believe in
the smart watch industry, Apple succeeds because of their innovation, quality
and brand loyalty.
The third stage of the cycle is Maturity, at this stage profits decrease
because majority of consumers are repeat consumers. In addition, profits also
decrease because of the strong competition in the industry. An example of this
would be smartphones in general. Although, I believe that Apple is still the most
popular brand in that industry, it is also expensive. With this many consumers
are going to other brands because they offer the same technology or better at a
reduced rate.
The final stage as you can imagine is Decline. During this
stage profits drop significantly and can cause a company to eliminate a product
entirely (Product Deletion). In regards to technology, some examples of
products that have reached decline would be desktop computers. Although, they
are still prevalent in society they are not as common as the laptop or tablet.
Do you guys remember MP3 players? I do, I remember being so excited when
my mom got me one. Currently, you probably cannot find anyone who still has a
MP3 player. With the advanced technology of our society today, most consumers
have smartphones and thus are capable of having music on their phones. Even the
IPod is in decline, because if you have an IPhone then you basically have an
IPod as well. Everything that we need is being put into one product and in the
near future there will be many more declining products. What products do you
guys think are in the Introduction, Growth, Maturity or Decline Stage? Just
look around or on social media and you will be able to find examples rather
quickly. Alright guys, that’s all for today! Talk to you guys in the next post!
No comments:
Post a Comment