PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

Product life cycle is the market span of a product from its introduction till the time its demand drops to zero. A business analyst uses product life cycle to analyse and map the common stages of commercial products.

For any product to come into the market, a lot of research and development processes are gone through. The business idea is developed as the first step. The early investors invest in the project and debts are taken. 

All the pre-launch activities are carried out in this process.

For example, Bingo, as a business idea would have been clicked during the research and development stage. The investors, suppliers and the early employees are all a part of this stage. The company’s in-house team had 8 members. And the chefs tried out new recipes during this phase

The product life cycle has four different stages (i.e.) introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

Introduction:

A product life cycle starts after the first purchase of the product. The first Bingo packet sold will mark the beginning of the product life cycle of Bingo. The introduction stage is when the marketing team gives more importance to promotion and initial distribution. The sales remain slow in this phase, because for a product to be accepted in a market, it takes time. The profit remains low not only because of low sales, but also because their revenues are returned to the debters during the initial stage.

Early adopters are people who adopt to a new product very easily. They will start purchasing the product in this stage.

Launched in March 2007, Bingo offered two types of snack- Potato wafers and finger chips in different flavour (Masala, Salted, Tomato and South Inspired). It advertised to promote the product in different mediums like TV, Radio, hoardings etc.

Growth:

This is the phase where the market starts accepting the product. The sales increase gradually and steadily. The brand will want to improve the product and thus provides better customer value. A large amount of money is spent on advertising and the main marketing goal being increase in sales.

Early majority are a set of consumers who will wait for the early reviews of the product to buy the same. They do a little bit of research before they purchase. The purchase made by the early majority marks the growth phase of a product.

Bingo overtook the market share of lays in 9 months of its launch. It had 16% of market share in this phase. Various Promotional events, advertising blitzkrieg and multimedia campaign were done during this stage. It focussed on Brand Recall. The advertisements were done in regional languages and it focussed on brand management.

Maturity:

Maturity stage is where the sales are high, in its peak. The other competitors enter the market with alternative solutions and innovative strategies, thus making the market fierce. So, to survive the competition, the industry will strive to differentiate their products from the competitors’.

The late majority are people who will wait longer to purchase a product. They research the product with the alternatives to make a purchase decision. They buying the product, refers to its Maturity stage.

During the Maturity Phase, Bingo added more flavours to the shelf. Their market had expanded to all the cities. The sales were high and the turnover was remarkable. A heavy dosage of advertising was done during the cricket matches (IPL).

Decline:

The decline stage is where the market of the product falls out. The sales will begin to decline to reach the saturation point, where the demand becomes zero. The market will see the product as old and useless. The brand will try to come up with new ideas to keep the product alive in this stage.

Laggards are people who do not respond to any kind of marketing message. They will not purchase a product due to various reasons, no matter what kind of market message they are being exposed to. They fall under this stage of the product life cycle.

Many new entrants came into the market (Hippo, Kurkure etc.). The demand for Bingo is going downhill. The product, without further changes and innovation, will meet its dead-end soon.