PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

OF
26/08/09

Presentation by:
1.AVICK BISWAS

MARKETING
MANAGEMENT

To make cleanliness commonplace, to lessen

work for women, to foster health and contribute
to personal attractiveness, that life may be
more enjoyable and rewarding for the people
who use our products.
William Hesketh Lever

Doing well and doing good.

INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT
LIFE CYCLE

The course of a products sales and profits over its lifetime is called the product life cycle.

PLC shows the stages that products go through from development to

withdrawal from the market.

Product Life Cycle (PLC):

Each product may have a different life cycle.

PLC determines revenue earned.

Contributes to strategic marketing planning

To identify when a product needs support, redesign, renovating , withdrawal, etc.

PLC OF LUX
SOAP

INTRODUCTION TO LUX:

GLAMOUR FACTOR

We all want to be pampered, to look and feel great And that's just what Lux offers you on a
daily basis at a price you can afford.

Lux is the brand of UNILEVER INDIA LTD. It has been winning hearts of INDIAN consumers
for 80 years.

Lux stands for the promise of beauty and glamour as one of India's most trusted personal
care brands.
LUX PRODUCTS : Lux had modified their product into:

Orchid touch

Almond delight

Energising fruit

Aqua sparkle

INTRODUCTION
STAGE

Lux launched the worlds first mass-market beauty soap in the US in 1924 & had been

launched in India in 1929.

At that time there was only one competitor of Lux, which was from its own brand
LIFEBUOY.

In the initial stages Lux was introduced in the major cities of INDIA like Calcutta, Mumbai etc.

MARKETING OBJETIVES - was to create the product awareness and to attract the
customers towards the product.

The Lux MARKETING STRATEGIES in the initial stages :

Product = They offer only on product in the market. They did not come up with the
differentiated product.

Price = In the initial stages of the product, they offer the relatively higher price than their
competitor (LIFEBUOY). Because, they want to recover their initial cost of making the
product.

INTRODUCTION STAGE

continued

Advertising = In the initial stages, they allocate more advertising budget So that more and
more customers could be attracted towards the product.
In ads they targeted the early adopters, who were readiest to buy the product.
The first ambassador, Leela Chitnis.

Distribution = was selective and only covers the major cities of INDIA to get recognition in
those cities.
Their distribution channel was through: Manufacturer Wholesaler & Retailer
Introduction
IntroductionStage
Stageof
ofthe
theLUX
LUX
Sales
Sales
Costs
Costs
Profits
Profits
Marketing
MarketingObjectives
Objectives
Product
ProductStrategy
Strategy
Price
PriceStrategy
Strategy
Distribution
DistributionStrategy
Strategy
Advertising
AdvertisingStrategy
Strategy

Low
Lowsales
sales
High
Highcost
costper
percustomer
customer
Negative
Negative
Create product awareness in major cities in India
Create product awareness in major cities in India

Offer
Offeraabasic
basicproduct
product
Use
Usecost-plus
cost-plus
Build
Buildselective
selectivedistribution
distribution
Build product awareness among early adopters and dealers.
Build product awareness among early adopters and dealers.

GROWTH
STAGE

In the growth stage, their sales rapidly started rising.

They have expanded their market to the other cities of INDIA.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES = The marketing objectives of the Lux were to expand their
market to the other cities of INDIA.
Another objective was to maximize more market share.

In the growth stage, company had the following MARKETING STRATEGIES :

Product = In the growth stage, the company had offered the same product in the market.

Price = In this stage, the company had changed their price to some extent because of
maximizing the market share. ( Slightly cut down the prices )

Advertising = In the growth stage, they had increased their advertising budget as in the
initial stages because of attracting the new customers or to retain the existing customers.
Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Zeenat Amaan, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi

GROWTH STAGE CONTNUED.

Distribution = In this stage, company had expanded their market to the other cities of
INDIA. Their distribution channel was the same as in the initial stages of the product.

Promotion = In the growth stage, the company had also used the different proportioning
strategies to attract the new and the existing customers.

Growth
GrowthStage
Stageof
ofthe
theLUX
LUX
Sales
Sales

Rapidly
Rapidlyrising
risingsales
sales

Costs
Costs

Average
Averagecost
costper
percustomer
customer

Profits
Profits

Rising
Risingprofits
profits

Marketing
MarketingObjectives
Objectives
Product
ProductStrategy
Strategy
Price
PriceStrategy
Strategy

Maximize
Maximizemarket
marketshare
share
Offer
Offerproduct
productextensions,
extensions,services
services
Price
Priceto
topenetrate
penetratemarket
market

Distribution
DistributionStrategy
Strategy

Build
Buildintensive
intensivedistribution
distribution

Advertising
AdvertisingStrategy
Strategy

Build
Buildawareness
awarenessand
andinterest
interestin
inthe
themass
mass
market
market

MATURITY
STAGE

They modified the product by adding some changes in the product.

In this stage, few competitors enter into the market like ( CINTHOL, FAIRGLOW,
SANTOOR, CHANDRIKA, FIAMA DI WILLS and VIVEL ).

The company has expanded their market to almost all the cities of INDIA.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES = The marketing objective of Lux is to maximize more profit

while defending the market share. And to expand the market to all the cities of INDIA.

MARKETING STRATEGIES In this stage are based on:

Product = The Lux has made the modification in the product by introducing:
Lux Almond, Lux Orchid , Lux Fruit, Lux Saffron, Lux Sandalwood, Lux Rose,
Lux International, Lux Chocolate, Lux Aromatic Extracts, Lux Oil and Honey.etc

Price = The Lux products are now available at higher prices in the market, the reason
behind is that the companys marketing objectives is to maximize more profit.

Distribution = Now Lux products are available in almost all the cities of INDIA. Their
distribution channel is same as in the initial stage.

MATURITY STAGE
CONTINUED

Advertising = In this stage Lux advertising has been reduced to some extent because of
the more brand awareness in the minds of customers.
Recently, they have shown Aishwarya Rai , kareena kapoor & Shah Rukh khan .

PROMOTIONAL OFFERS :
Like buy 3 get 1 free.

----

Maturity
MaturityStage
Stageofofthe
the LUX
LUX
Sales
Sales

Peak
Peaksales
sales

Costs
Costs

Low
Lowcost
costper
percustomer
customer

Profits
Profits

High
Highprofits
profits

Marketing
MarketingObjectives
Objectives
Product
ProductStrategy
Strategy
Price
PriceStrategy
Strategy

Maximize
Maximizeprofit
profitwhile
whiledefending
defending market
marketshare
share

Diversify
Diversifybrand
brandand
andmodels
models
Price
Priceto
tomatch
matchor
orbest
bestcompetitors
competitors

Distribution
DistributionStrategy
Strategy

Build
Buildmore
moreintensive
intensivedistribution
distribution

Advertising
AdvertisingStrategy
Strategy

Stress
Stressbrand
branddifferences
differencesand
andbenefits
benefits

DECLINE
STAGE

Besides of all campaigns for the sales promotion of Lux .The reasons for its decline are :

1. Currency fluctuations: Unilever products are in over 100 countries worldwide, As a

result, it is exposed to adverse currency fluctuations.
For instance, in 2004, a 5.9% decline in turnover was primarily due to a 4% appreciation in
the average Euro exchange rate.

2. SLOWDOWN: In year 2008 - 09 due to hard economic conditions in INDIA and other
countries the sales were highly affected as the consumer started looking for some
alternate products with a cheaper price than Lux.

3. Competition: Lux has been facing competition from HUL itself (Lifebuoy) & from other
companies like:-

Godrej Consumer Products : GCPL, Indias second largest soap maker with 9.2% market
share.
with leading brands such as CINTHOL, FAIRGLOW & NIKHAR.
Fairglow brand, India's first Fairness soap, has created marketing history as one of the
most successful innovations.

DECLINE STAGE
CONTINUED

Wipro : The presence of Wipro in the toilet soap industry can be seen through their brands such
as SANTOOR and CHANDRIKA.

In the southern market of India it is a major market player in toilet soap.

ITC : It entered the segment last year and has made a strong headway in a short time by
growing to 1.75% in just five months. With the brands like: Superia, Fiama Di Wills and
Vivel.
Decline
DeclineStage
Stageof
ofthe
theLUX
LUX
Sales
Sales

Declining
Decliningsales
sales

Costs
Costs

Low
Lowcost
costper
percustomer
customer

Profits
Profits

Declining
Decliningprofits
profits

Marketing
Marketingobj
obj

Reduce
Reduceexpenditure
expenditureand
andmilk
milkthe
thebrand
brand

Product
ProductStrategy
Strategy

Phase
Phaseout
outweak
weakitems
items

Price
PriceStrategy
Strategy

Cut
Cutprice
price

Distribution
DistributionStrategy
Strategy

Go
Goselective:
selective:phase
phaseout
outunprofitable
unprofitableoutlets
outlets

Advertising
AdvertisingStrategy
Strategy

Reduce
Reducetotolevel
levelneeded
neededtotoretain
retainhard-core
hard-coreloyal
loyalcustomers
customers

Film stars promoting the

product Lux

Thank