MARKETING MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC – 1. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF COMPUTER HARDWARE

2. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF ELECTRIC CARS
3. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF VACUUM CLEANER
4. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF GMAIL

Submitted By,
Liju v
IMK EVG BATCH,
KERALA UNIVERSITY
 INTRODUCTION

The term product life cycle refers to the length of time a product is introduced
to consumers into the market until it's removed from the shelves. The life cycle
of a product is broken into four stages—introduction, growth, maturity, and
decline. This concept is used by management and by marketing professionals
as a factor in deciding when it is appropriate to increase advertising, reduce
prices, expand to new markets, or redesign packaging. The process of
strategizing ways to continuously support and maintain a product is
called product life cycle management. They can also help determine when
newer products are ready to push older ones from the market. Products, like
people, have life cycles. A product begins with an idea, and within the confines
of modern business, it isn't likely to go further until it undergoes research and
development (R&D) and is found to be feasible and potentially profitable. At
that point, the product is produced, marketed, and rolled out.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

The product life cycle theory maintains that all products naturally go through
four stages of market progression:

 Introduction
 Growth
 Maturity
 Decline

 But before this a product needs to go through design, research and

development. Once a product is found to be feasible and potentially profitable
it can be produced, promoted and sent out to the market. It is at this point
that the product life cycle begins. The various stages of a product’s life cycle
determine how it is marketed to consumers. Successfully introducing a product
to the market should see a rise in demand and popularity, pushing older
products from the market. As the new product becomes established, the
marketing efforts lessen and the associated costs of marketing and production
drop. As the product moves from maturity to decline, so demand wanes and
the product can be removed from the market, possibly to be replaced by a
newer alternative.

Managing the four stages of the life cycle can help increase profitability and
maximise returns, while a failure to do so could see a product fail to meet its
potential and reduce its shelf life.

STAGES
There are four stages of a product’s life cycle, as follows:

1. Market Introduction and Development

This product life cycle stage involves developing a market strategy, usually
through an investment in advertising and marketing to make consumers aware
of the product and its benefits.
At this stage, sales tend to be slow as demand is created. This stage can take
time to move through, depending on the complexity of the product, how new
and innovative it is, how it suits customer needs and whether there is any
competition in the marketplace. A new product development that is suited to
customer needs is more likely to succeed, but there is plenty of evidence that
products can fail at this point, meaning that stage two is never reached.  For
this reason, many companies prefer to follow in the footsteps of an innovative
pioneer, improving an existing product and releasing their own version.

2. Market Growth

If a product successfully navigates through the market introduction it is ready

to enter the growth stage of the life cycle. This should see growing demand
promote an increase in production and the product becoming more widely
available.

The steady growth of the market introduction and development stage now
turns into a sharp upturn as the product takes off. At this point competitors
may enter the market with their own versions of your product – either direct
copies or with some improvements. Branding becomes important to maintain
your position in the marketplace as the consumer is given a choice to go
elsewhere. Product pricing and availability in the marketplace become
important factors to continue driving sales in the face of increasing
competition. At this point the life cycle moves to stage three; market maturity.

3. Market Maturity

At this point a product is established in the marketplace and so the cost of

producing and marketing the existing product will decline. As the product life
cycle reaches this mature stage there are the beginnings of market saturation.
Many consumers will now have bought the product and competitors will be
established, meaning that branding, price and product differentiation becomes
even more important to maintain a market share. Retailers will not seek to
promote your product as they may have done in stage one, but will instead
become stockists and order takers.

4. Market Decline

Eventually, as competition continues to rise, with other companies seeking to

emulate your success with additional product features or lower prices, so the
life cycle will go into decline. Decline can also be caused by new innovations
that supersede your existing product, such as horse-drawn carriages going out
of fashion as the automobile took over.

Many companies will begin to move onto different ventures as market

saturation means there is no longer any profit to be gained. Of course, some
companies will survive the decline and may continue to offer the product but
production is likely to be on a smaller scale and prices and profit margins may
become depressed. Consumers may also turn away from a product in favour of
a new alternative, although this can be reversed in some instances with styles
and fashions coming back into play to revive interest in an older product.

Product Life Cycle Strategy and Management

Having a properly managed product life cycle strategy can help extend the life
cycle of product in the market.

The strategy begins right at the market introduction stage with setting of
pricing. Options include ‘price skimming,’ where the initial price is set high and
then lowered in order to ‘skim’ consumer groups as the market grows.
Alternatively, it can opt for price penetration, setting the price low to reach as
much of the market as quickly as possible before increasing the price once
established.

Product advertising and packaging are equally important in order to appeal to

the target market. In addition, it is important to market the product to new
demographics in order to grow the revenue stream.

Products may also become redundant or need to be pivoted to meet changing

demands. An example of this is Netflix, who moved from a DVD rental delivery
model to subscription streaming.

Understanding the product life cycle allows you to keep reinventing and
innovating with an existing product (like the iPhone) to reinvigorate demand
and elongate the product’s market life.

1.PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF COMPUTER HARDWARE

Hardware lifecycle management is a holistic approach to managing the total
useful life of IT infrastructure that maximizes the return on investment. Since
most organizations tend to accumulate IT assets over time, it can be difficult to
keep track of where each piece of hardware is at in its lifecycle. However,
managing and monitoring equipment throughout its life is essential to having a
leg-up on the lifespan of your infrastructure. But be aware, hardware lifecycle
management is a multi-step process that requires your dedicated time and
attention.

THE BENEFITS

By considering the entire useful life of your storage, compute, or networking

devices, hardware lifecycle management practices allow businesses to:

 lower hardware and maintenance costs in the data centre

 increase upgrade flexibility
 extend the useful life of hardware (5-10 years beyond EOSL)
 lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
 maximize the value of IT investments (improve ROI)

The phases of Hardware Lifecycle Management include:

  Procurement
 Deploy & Install
 Maintenance
 Upgrades
 Buy-Back or Trade-In
 Disposal & Refresh

THE PROCESS:

1. Procurement

The initial step in any hardware lifecycle is the purchase of the device itself. It’s
important to consider more than price and performance, however. Purchases
should take both the existing and future needs of an organization into account.
It makes little sense to buy a cheap, underpowered server that’s “good
enough” for today if more capacity will be needed before the end of its
expected lifecycle. But at the same time, organizations shouldn’t waste
resources by overestimating their growth potential.

2. Deploy & Install

After hardware is procured, it will then need to be installed and integrated

with existing systems. The installation phase is important because a poorly
optimized deployment can severely impact both performance and lifecycle.
Consider a server installed in a dusty, cluttered, environment with poor air
circulation; this server will undoubtedly run hotter than normal and put more
strain on its components, leading to faster wear down.

3. Maintenance

Perhaps the most important step in hardware lifecycle management, assets

need to be carefully monitored and maintained over time. No equipment
should ever be treated as a “set it and forget it” asset. Regular inspections
need to be carried out to ensure that hardware is operating effectively and
performance isn’t depreciating. A simple maintenance schedule can often spot
and repair minor issues before they compound into more serious problems
that require the provision of entirely new equipment.

4. Upgrades

In addition to maintenance, hardware and software need ongoing support

throughout their lifecycle in the form of updates. Perform regular audits to
identify necessary upgrades. It’s best to maintain a regular schedule for audits
in the lifecycle management process to ensure they never get backed-up, and
consequently shorten the lifespan of the devices.

5. Buy-Back or Trade-In

The opportunity to sell used servers, routers, switches, or backup tape is a

great option for data centre professionals that want to recycle equipment
instead of paying for disposal. Working with a company like Riverstone, you
can rest easy with the assurance that all pre-owned hardware will be
extensively cleaned, tested, and repaired before making its way to the
secondary market. 

6. Disposal & Refresh

The last step of the lifecycle management process is to dispose of current

hardware in exchange for new. Unfortunately, even well-maintained and
regularly updated equipment eventually breaks down or reaches a point where
the risk of failure becomes too great to ignore. Thus, it is the goal of hardware
lifecycle management to dispose of and replace assets before they become a
burden. And if an organization has been managing its hardware effectively, the
disposal step should never come as a surprise!

2. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF ELECTRIC CARS

After a decade of rapid growth, in 2020 the global electric car stock hit the
10 million mark, a 43% increase over 2019, and representing a 1% stock share.
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for two-thirds of new electric car
registrations and two-thirds of the stock in 2020. China, with 4.5 million
electric cars, has the largest fleet, though in 2020 Europe had the largest
annual increase to reach 3.2 million. Overall, the global market for all types of
cars was significantly affected by the economic repercussions of the Covid-19
pandemic. The first part of 2020 saw new car registrations drop about one-
third from the preceding year. This was partially offset by stronger activity in
the second-half, resulting in a 16% drop overall year-on-year. Notably, with
conventional and overall new car registrations falling, global electric car sales
share rose 70% to a record 4.6% in 2020.About 3 million new electric cars were
registered in 2020. For the first time, Europe led with 1.4 million new
registrations. China followed with 1.2 million registrations and the United
States registered 295 000 new electric cars. Numerous contributed to
increased electric car registrations in 2020. Notably, electric cars are gradually
becoming more competitive in some countries on a total cost of ownership
basis. Several governments provided or extended fiscal incentives that
buffered electric car purchases from the downturn in car markets. 

ELECTRIC CARS INTRODUCTION STAGE