Ethical stalking by Mark Williams. UpliftLive 2024
Cd6813 plc
1. - Stages in which a product (or category of
product) go through in terms of its sales and
profit throughout its life.
- There is no specific time frame for each of the
stage in the PLC.
4 Main Stages:
i. Introduction
ii. Growth
iii. Maturity
iv. Decline
2. - A period of sales growth as the product is
introduced in the market.
- Profits are non-existent because of the heavy
expenses of product introduction (plus low sales).
- No/very few competitors.
- Introduce basic version.
- Employ selective distribution.
- Try to attractive dealers to carry the product.
- Focus on innovators.
- Marketing objective:
to create awareness and trial.
3. - A period of rapid market acceptance and
substantial profit improvement.
- Start to attract many competitors.
- Need to improve/modify the current product (such
as introducing new features)
- Marketing objective:
to maximize market share
- Strategies:
a. lower down the price
b. develop intensive distribution
4. - A slowdown in sales growth because the product
has achieved acceptance by most potential buyers.
- Profits stabilize or decline because of increased
competition.
- Competitors start cutting price to attract new
buyers.
- Marketing objective:
to maximize profit.
- Strategies:
Emphasize on brand differences and value/benefit.
- Towards the end of this stage, many competitors start
leaving out the market.
5. - Sales show a downward drift and profit erode.
- Major reasons for declining:
a. innovation and technology advancement
b. changes in consumer’s taste
c. stiff comptition
- More and more competitors leaving the market.
- Focus on the “laggards”
- Need to determine the best strategy to
a. maintain
b. harvest
c. drop
- Maintain – if the best and with assumption that
competitors will all gone. Need brand repositioning.
- Harvest – to cut down various costs.
- Drop – if there is no hope at all. Sell off the business.
6. PLC could be extended by:
a. increasing the frequency of
consumption
b. increasing the number of
consumers
c. developing new usage
d. changing the package size, label
and product quality
7. PLC could be extended by:
a. increasing the frequency of
consumption
b. increasing the number of
consumers
c. developing new usage
d. changing the package size, label
and product quality