The product life cycle

Each product has its own life cycle. It will be 'born', it will 'develop', it will 'grow old' and, eventually, it will 'die'. Some products, like Kellogg's Corn Flakes, have retained their market position for a long time. Others may have their success undermined by falling market share or by competitors. The product life cycle shows how sales of a product change over time. The five typical stages of the life cycle are shown on the graph. Not all products follow these stages precisely and time periods for each stage will vary widely. Growth, for example, may take place over a few months or, as in the case of Nutri-Grain, over several years. However, perhaps the most important stage of a product life cycle happens before this graph starts, namely the research and development (R&D) stage. Here the company designs a product to meet a need in the market. The costs of market research - to identify a gap in the market and of product development to ensure that the product meets the needs of that gap - are called 'sunk' or start-up costs. Nutri-Grain was originally designed to meet the needs of busy people who had missed breakfast. It aimed to provide a healthy cereal breakfast in a portable and convenient format. 1. Launch - Many products do well when they are first brought out and Nutri-Grain was no exception. From launch (the first stage on the diagram) in 1997 it was immediately successful, gaining almost 50% share of the growing cereal bar market in just two years. 2. Growth - Nutri-Grain's sales steadily increased as the product was promoted and became well known. It maintained growth in sales until 2002 through expanding the original product with new developments of flavour and format. This is good for the business, as it does not have to spend money on new machines or equipment for production. The market position of Nutri-Grain also subtly changed from a missed breakfast product to an 'all-day' healthy snack. 3. Maturity - Successful products attract other competitor businesses to start selling similar products. This indicates the third stage of the life cycle - maturity. This is the time of maximum profitability, when profits can be used to continue to build the brand. However, competitor brands from both Kellogg's itself (e.g. All Bran bars) and other manufacturers (e.g. Alpen bars) offered the same benefits and this slowed down sales and chipped away at Nutri-Grain's market position. Kellogg's continued to support the development of the brand but some products (such as Minis and Twists), struggled in a crowded market. Although Elevenses continued to succeed, this was not enough to offset the overall sales decline. 4. Saturation- This is the fourth stage of the life cycle and the point when the market is 'full'. Most people have the product and there are other, better or cheaper competitor products. This is called market saturation and is when sales start to fall. By mid-2004 Nutri-Grain found its sales declining whilst the market continued to grow at a rate of 15%. 5. Decline - Clearly, at this point, Kellogg's had to make a key business decision. Sales were falling, the product was in decline and losing its position. Should Kellogg's let the product 'die', i.e. withdraw it from the market, or should it try to extend its its life.

LIFE STAGE Furthermore, the basic premise behind life-stage segmentation is that having children is a major milestone that fundamentally impacts the way consumers spend money and their free time. For example, when young people leave the family home, when a couple has their first child, when people retire, their priorities change. h is can have a powerful influence on how they transact with media and advertisers.

Product Life Cycle

Introduction Stage For the sake of the theory, Vernon makes the assumption that a product is first invented and developed in the developed countries like the United States. In the introduction stage, people are unaware of the product and its utility and hence the demand for it is very low. The costs of production are very high as the product is still under development and standardized production and economies of scale cannot be achieved yet. Hence only people from the developed countries will purchase the product as they have the resources to buy something so expensive. For example, let us assume that a new fabric has been invented in the United States for making clothes. Now people are unaware of this fabric and are unwilling to replace cotton and nylon. As the demand is very low, the product doesn't yet enjoy the economies of scale and hence the cost of production is still high. Growth Stage The next stage in the analysis is the growth stage for a product. The growth stage is what will make or break the product. As the producers find a way to reduce the costs of production, they will offer the new product at low introductory prices to boost the demand of that product. This is pretty much the make-or-break period for the product and this stage is characterized by heavy and aggressive marketing, advertising and promotion. If the customers feel that the product is worth the money and has good enough utility, the demand will catch up with the expected demand and the product will move into maturity stage. If the demand does not catch up and the people dislike the product, it will quickly decline. Continuing the above example, during the growth stage, the fabric making company will come up with attractive designs and prices. They will invest in marketing and promoting the product so that awareness is created in the minds of the prospective customers about the qualities and advantages of using this new fabric. If the fabric catches on, it will move to the next stage or it will go straight to the decline stage. Maturity Stage The third stage is the maturity stage. In this stage, the costs of the production fall dramatically due to standardized production. This ensures mass production of the goods and hence the company receives the benefits of economies of scale. In the maturity stage, the production and the technology may also be exported to developing and underdeveloped countries, where the costs of production will be lower. This move will benefit both the developed and developing countries as the developed countries can focus on innovation, while the developing countries are employed in the production activity. In the maturity stage, the product is no longer a novelty, but pretty much a widely used necessity. In the above example, the maturity stage of the fabric will come when it becomes the mainstream fabric which is used all over the world. The producing company will, to reduce the costs of production, export (outsource) the standardized production process and technology to the developing countries. Decline Stage The decline stage is marked by a gradual reduction in the demand for the product and hence a gradual reduction in the production as well as the sales. Newly created variants or alternatives will enter the mainstream and drive the old, outdated product out of the market. The market slowly diminishes first in the developed countries and slowly later in the developing countries. In the above example, if a new fabric is created which masks the problems or the shortcomings of the product, it will slowly be phased out and that will be the end of its product life cycle. Refer to the graph given above for a generalized trend in the sales of a product. Product life cycle theory is popular among marketers as different stages of the product require a different marketing strategy.

I spent Christmas Eve at church and looking at holiday lights, Christmas Day at my mom's with my kids and my boyfriend. Otherwise listened to a lot of Christmas music and enjoying the tree and decorations I had and still have up. I do not take the decorations down until after January 6. It is a tradition. Marvelous Christmas Vacation There is no place like home. The above passage made me eager to go home. My Christmas vacation started on December 19, 2010, so I left MSU together with my sister on that day also after attending Misa de Gallo. When I arrived home, my youngest brother surprised me. He made some Christmas decors in our home and prepared our dinner. He even washed our dishes because he knew we were very tired from a long trip. Wow! Is this my brother?,I said to myself. Because of the long time we didnt see other we gave and received hugs and kisses in our family. Early in the morning in the next day, we attended the Misa de Gallo in our place since it has become a tradition in our family to attend the nine-day period of prayer or in short Misa de Gallo from December 16 through December 24 at dawn everyday to prepare ourselves in commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. Also, in our church it is our attitude that in every after Misa de Gallo there is always painit to be serve to the people who attended the mass. I was impressed that the practice that we have was not diminished as time goes by, but it was developed. In myself, visiting my lolas, antes, uncles, cousins and my other relatives has been my attitude every time I got home. When I met my cousins we still played our childhood game, dakop-dakopan. I enjoyed very much. Going in the church, I am glad that the Catholic Youth Organization is still alive. Since I am a member of this group, I joined the caroling. We wore smile in our faces while singing Christmas carols in every house. The CYO also sponsored a Fun-Run competition and it was participated by the children, teenagers and adults. We had little prizes for the winners in the said competition. Praise God, it ended successfully. December 25 came the most awaited day for us. -------------------------------------------------Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me. Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me. We usually gather and celebrate at my parent's house, in East Tennessee. My husband, our three children, and myself travel from California. My two sisters, their husbands, and children come from a nearby town, for our celebration. We spend the day baking cookies, making fudge and preparing a big Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings. The children love to see each other. They spend the day playing games and sharing their new gifts and toys that Santa Claus brought for each of them. They get so eager to decorate, that it is hard to restrain them. Decorating for Christmas is so much fun. My father always draws a new background scenery, for the Nativity scene, that he displays, every year. He, my brother-in-laws and my husband start with the decorations for the outside of the house and the front yard. Every year, my parents add a little more to the outside decorations. My mom, sisters, our children and myself decorate the inside of the house. My mom has so many indoor decorations that they can not all possibly be displayed. We try to change the decorations, which we put out every year. The men finish up just about the same time as, we women and then it is time to decorate the tree together. The children love this the most. The tree is always real, and is usually six to seven feet tall. Most of the ornaments have been collected over the years and are very old. They have become real family treasures. We all have a favorite one that we each put on the tree. All the children put their First Christmas ornament on the tree, that I brought, as a gift. ----------------------------------------------------------------My favorite part of Christmas is when it is super early, around three to four o'clock and you wake up and have that feeling. It's Christmas. You run out and see the presents and go get mom and dad. It makes me wonder what could be in the presents. It also makes me think what presents are for me and which ones are for my sister. That is my favorite part of Christmas. ----------------------------------------------------------------this is probably going to be the best Christmas that my family and I will ever have because this year we are going to decorate a lot more than we ever did and probably have a lot more fun while decorating. ----------------------------------------------------------------It's Christmas time again, the time of hopes, joys, and forgiveness. It's the time that I always have the good feeling inside me. Every year at this moment, I like to be alone by myself to think. I think about many things that consider important to me. They're including my past, my presence, and my future.

This year my New Year resolution was simple: Independence. A strange resolution you might think, but really not. As a young adult, the most important for me is precisely my independence, so why not make that my New Year resolution? Though it might be difficult to really understand how Independence can be a resolution on the line with loose weight and quit smoking. It is really a long term resolution, with future plans of being able to go abroad by my self, to really know myself and trust myself even when I am alone. So I have to start out small. As any other person, I am a creature of habit, so doing new things is difficult for me. I had to start small, and it took me almost two months to get going on it. It all started with going to the cinema alone. Not much you might think? But it is. I am paranoid, not clinically or anything, but paranoid after watching too many thrillers and other scary films. And with rapists, abductors, and murderers, who can really blame me? It is a wonder we even leave the house, but then most violence and murders happen at home, where can we really be safe??? But back to the resolution, I decided to start small; going to the cinema or taking a cup of coffee alone, all by myself. It is new to me; I have always had friends with me when I go out, and all of the sudden I do it by myself. Just like it will be when I go to other places, before I get to know people. It is the best way to get to know people, because you are not hold back by travelling with friends. It was a Sunday, the day decided to start my resolution. It all started going wrong as soon as I opened the front door, it rained buckets and hurricane wind blew me around. The train was late. I could not help feeling like the whole world tried to tell me not to go. But I did go, and I am very glad I did. Because of the train delays I had less time to get to the cinema, and therefore half ran threw the whole city, only to be there almost an hour before the film started. When I got in, things finally started going right. I was seated right in the middle. Have you ever played the cinema commercial game? The one where you get the company the commercial is for? Going solo, makes it much more fun: you get everything! You do not get jealous of the others you are with, because you get it all You also can watch the film in silence without annoying friends or them annoying you by commenting and talking threw the film. When I got out, I was really proud! The weather was also light, sunny as if the whole world was smiling to me. ----------------------------------------------------------------Time flies so fast and Chinese's New Year is coming around the corner. And it's time for me to write down my new year's resolutions. This year I will... First of all, I will have to study harder and harder to get better scores in my class. I didn't do well in my first midterm so studying harder to get better scores is my first priority in 2010. Secondly, I will invest more time and money to improve my English skills especially speaking and writing skills to be able to earn a high mark on the TOEFL test. Thirdly, I will read more books to widen my knowledge. This year I will read more about self-improvement, Computer and history books. Besides, I will spend more time with my younger brother. My younger brother is no longer a little kid and he needs more help from his older brother. I'll spend more time talking with him, more time playing with him and more time teaching him how to solve problems in his life. In conclusion, there are too many things which are not written here I want to achieve in this year. Overall, in 2010 I will open my heart, take more action to become a doer not just a dreamer. By the way, I wish you and your family a year of happy, healthy and wealthy! ----------------------------------------------------------------2011 was a very good year but 2012 had brought me to a very challenging school. I believe going to a good school will enhance my future greatly. Therefore, my new year resolution would definitely be to do better in classes. Specifically, in English, Living Environment, and Humanities. Right now, from my past exams, home works, and class works, I am a little weak in those subjects. My only goal is to go up at least one grade. For example, from a 5 to a 6. I will try to achieve this goal by not having any distractions, staying focused with my work, and not procrastinating. This will be very hard for me, because keeping up with all these subjects is a real challenge. One other thing that I need to do better with are my tests. When it comes to knowing things during class, I am very good at participating and answering correct answers. On the other hand, during tests, I guess I get nervous and forget some of the concepts and strategies. Overall all, I will start even right now, completely focussing on my work and not letting things like tv, friends, texting, and facebook get in the way of my learning. I will keep you updated every once in a while on my progress. ----------------------------------------------------------------Resolutions are basically promises to oneself, and like promises, you either keep them or break them. That is to say, you are either successful in keeping your plans, or you are not and you go back to your old habits.

The vast majority of people think that they need a new lifestyle, a change, or a recommitment as an individual. The aim of most resolutions is to turn over a new leaf. That is, to make yourself better by changing your routines and habits. It is like making a fresh, new start in your life. Generally there are two main types of resolutions: give up or take up. A lot of people say that their New Years Resolutions are to give up a bad habit or to take up a new hobby. ----------------------------------------------------------------I wont make dumb excuses when my homework isnt done. ----------------------------------------------------------------The New Year approaches and as usual there are great hopes, dreams and resolutions to make for the coming year. However, I will desist from hoping and dreaming this time and stick to the resolution only. My past experiences have taught me that hoping and dreams are useless waste of energy for they usually do not come true of the target. Only resolutions can be kept, to a certain degree of success. First of all, I resolved to spend less time talking and more time doing. The past year had been a very noisy one as my friends and I spent so much time gossiping and talking nonsense. This year we cannot afford such a luxury. There are many assignments to be done. So, it is action time and I shall devote the year to it. Secondly, I have to spend less time in front of the television set and the computer. These are fun thing but they are also very time consuming. The time is better spent within my books. Otherwise, I might run out of time in the end. I have to make the effort to get away from these very addictive time wasters. Next I resolved to cut down on my physical activities in school as well as outside school. It is fine to score a few goals and be a hero for a short spell, but sport-heroes are quickly forgotten. It is better to do well in the examinations than on the field. The legs get old and cannot kick the ball for very long. The brain is much more durable. Physical activities also include the time wasted in shopping malls and fast-food outlet like Jusco, Plaza Angsana and City Square. Again these are fun things to do while they last, but I have to outgrow them. Besides, these activities are taxing on the pocket. Money can be better spent than on a piece of fried chicken or a glass of dizzy drink. Lastly, I resolve to keep these few resolutions. Previously, I used to make neither tons of resolution which I had no chance nor intention of keeping. So, I was just deceiving myself in making many wishful resolutions. This state of affairs has to stop or I will keep bluffing myself. A few resolutions are far easier to remember and so to keep than a dozen which are quickly forgotten and thus are impossible to keep. So the old year gradually draws to a close and the new year appears. It is with determination and courage that I shall strive to keep my resolutions and not let them drop away like so many useless words.