Stages in the Product Life Cycle Introduction Growth Maturity Decline

• Individual brands may not follow this pattern
•  sometimes a product may crash and not get to the maturity stage
• Each market should be carefully defined
• depends on where on the planet you are talking, some products are at different stages in the PLC depending on the country
• Product Life Cycle - length of time at each stage  - varies
• depends on the products
• can be a few months in each stage
• or it can be years

• Competitive Environment
• Technological Environment
• The PLC is getting shorter

Fashions and Fads
 

Fashion "the currently accepted or popular style" - generally what the majority of people follow in clothing, fast food, etc. Fashion cycles may last for some time as they spread beyond the innovators Fad cycles are short and do not re-occur - "fashionable only to certain groups" Styles are Fashions / Fads that come back over time and can last a short few months, or a couple of years - very common in the clothing industry and house decor

Chapter 10
page 299
10th ed.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 10
page 299
10th ed.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 10
page 299
10th ed.

Planning for Different Stages of the Product Life Cycle

 

Competitive  Situation	Intro Stage Monopoly or Monopolistic Competition - your company has no competition because you originated the product first and are the first to get customers	Growth Stage Monopolistic Competition or Oligolpoly - once the market grows, other vendors will want to get involved so you will lose your monopoly position	Maturity / Decline Stage Monopolistic Competition or Oligolpoly or Pure Competition - more and more vendors get involved as more companies learn to make the product and people try to "cash in" on the original idea - because there are so many vendors, the supply/demand situation will cause the price to drop and eventually the price will be so low, nobody will want to make the product anymore because it will be unprofitable.
Product	One or a few number of people selling the product	There are several companies selling so there is competition to make the "best" product -many companies at this stage will add variations, colour changes, and new FABs to the product to make it more competitive - companies in the lead will also work to develop brand familiarity	several companies make the product - it will become a battle of the brands
Place	Try to find good channels to get exposure - maybe offer exclusive distribution rights	.	.
Promotion	AIDA begins - informative type ads	- competitive ads	- discount price oriented ads
Price	skimming or penetration pricing	"meet the competition" pricing or price cutting	- some companies drop out if they cannot afford to compete at a lower price

New Product - def'n
"A product that is new in any way for the company"

Industry Canada says "new" is a term they use for just 12 months

Why new products fail - page 305 10th ed.
- time and expense required to undertake exhaustive analysis
- the opportunity may pass
- firms see the big sales in the "Intro Stage" and ignore that competition will soon follow 
- and they do not prepare for the competition
- by the time they realize their mistake it is too late; the competition has come out with a better product at a cheaper price

Going First
- sometimes it is bad to go first, competition watches you stumble, the avoid those mistakes as they enter the market (ie. Microsoft watching Netscape launch their browser)
- sometimes if you go first you create such a big lead competition cannot catch up

New Product Planning
- page 306, 10th edition
- page 269, 9th Edition

Five steps in the New Product Development Process
1. Idea Generation - thinking about it
2. Screening - getting opinions
3. Idea Evaluation - estimate costs, revnue, profit, do market research
4. Development of Product - physically design and manufacture the product
5. Commercialization - mfg. large number of product, distribute in the stores

New Product Planning
- page 306, 10th edition
- page 269, 9th Edition

Five steps in the New Product Development Process
1. Idea Generation - thinking about it

sources of where new ideas come from

• employees
• feedback from sales staff who get comments from customers
• direct feedback from customers
• news stories
• government agencies
• new regulations established may require some innovations
• industry associations
• consumer surveys
• competitors
• accident and chance

(this will be a simple multiple choice quiz) ... relax, if you really do read the chapters, you'll do great

The Eight Universal Functions of Marketing
1. Buying
2. Selling
3. Transporting
4. Storing
5. Standardization and Grading
6. Financing
7. Risk Taking
8. Market Information

Discrepancy of Quantity
Discrepany of Assortment
 
 

Accumulating Bulk Breaking Sorting Assorting

Channel System Direct Indirect Direct Marketing

Channel Captain VMS - Vertical Marketing Systems

Intensive Distribution
Selective Distribution
Exclusive Distribution
 
 

You should take advantage of the on-line quiz for each chapter. It is a good way to see if you covered all the important material.

Chapter 11 Quiz On-line  ..../student_view0/chapter11/quiz_questions.html

Here is the publishers Powerpoint for Chpt 15
http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/college/shapiro/olc/olc/
graphics/shapiro9bm_s/ch15/slideshows/sld001.htm
 

3 Basic Sales Tasks order getting order takings supporting

The 7 Steps in the Selling process Prospecting Preapproach Approach Presentation Dealing with Objections Closing the Sale Follow-up

here is a powerpoint presentation on personal selling from
Dr. Bruner at Southern Illinois University
 http://www.siu.edu/departments/coba/mktg/
courses/mktg363/Personal_Selling/sld001.htm