Production Life Cycle

There are four stages in the production life cycle. The first is the introduction stage. This stag is the slow growth stage. The new product is introduced to the market and people are finally starting to realize its potential or failures. The length of time the introduction stage varies depending on the product. The acceptance and willingness to buy the product from the consumer is a huge factor in the success. Nearly 40% of all the new products in the introduction stage fail.


The next stage is the growth stage. This is where the product sales are increasing at a very fast pace. The product begins to expand throughout the country or even the world. Competitors start to appear during the growth stage. The initially high price of the new product may be reduced to meet the increasing competition.


The maturity stage is the third and longest stage in the product life cycle. The sales are peaking and the profit is narrowing. A good example of the maturity stage is the original iPhone. The iPhone has been modified to fit different markets and expand their expectations. They have produced the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, and now the new iPhone 4.


The decline stage occurs when the product is coming to the end of its life. The sales are decreasing and something needs to change. This is found with video stores, such as blockbuster. Also, the attendance to theaters is not found as highly with the new sites to watch movies, download movies, and Netflix has taken over many of the other product lines because of the flexibility.

Innovation

As we were learning about the diffusion of innovation, I could relate many people I know to the different groups. Innovators would by my friends from Microsoft, the ones that have all the new and awesome gadgets before they come out on the market. I feel as though my dad is an early adopter, he waits for everyone else to rate and review the product, then goes out and buys it. I would be in the early majority group. I usually will get the new gift after my dad points out the negatives and positives of the item. My grandma would be in the late majority. Just a few years ago I taught her how to email and text message. My boyfriend's mom would be in the laggards category. She is very smart and with the times, but she does not seem to take in the new and upcoming technology. She does not know how to text, isn't very tech-savvy with computers, and accidently changes her camera from pictures to video without knowing how to change it back.

Target Market

There are many segments of a target market that are necessary to keep in mind when marketing a product. Segmentation is the process of dividing this market into smaller pieces based on certain characteristics of the market. There is segment by demographics such as age. Demographics are the observable aspects that differ in population.
Age demographics are usually solved by generational marketing. This is the marketing of members of a similar generation that tend to share priorities. There is also a segment differentiation for gender. Women generally have different desires in needs then men, but they also can be similar. This similar need would be a target to a metrosexual person. Metrosexual is a straight, urban male who is keenly interested in fashion, home design, gourmet cooking, and personal care.
Segment by demographics also are segmented into different types of family life cycles. People of different family life cycles are unlikely to need the same products. Income and social class is another demographic. Distribution of wealth is of great interest to marketers because it determines which groups have the greatest buying power. Ethnicity is another very strong indicator of preferences. Marketers need to be aware of the differences in ethnicity so nobody is offend.
Place of residence is also a very important demographic to pay attention to. Geodemography is a segmentation technique that combines geography with demographics. Geocoding is customizing Web advertising so that people who log on in different places will see ad banners for local businesses. Another segment is psychographics. Psychographics is the use of psychological, sociological, and anthropological factors to construct market segments. Segment by behavior is a useful study to figure out what consumers want to DO with a product. Behavioral segmentation is a technique that divides consumers into segments on the bases of how they act toward, feel about, or sue a good or service.

Re-re-re- buy!!

A straight re-buy is a routine purchase of all the items that are necessary to business to business customer regularly needs. An example of a straight re-buy would be toilet paper. There would be no necessary thought going into the purchase and the need of the item.


A modified re-buy occurs when a buyer decides to look around and find someone else to buy the product for better prices, quality, and deliver times. The decision would require more time and effort than straight re-buys. An example would be like purchasing a printer from a certain company, but then being able to simply buy a printer a few years later from another company or another version of the printer from the same company.


A new-task buy is a first-time purchase. There is a lot of uncertainty and risk with this new purchase. There is no previous experience of this decision so there is no other details to look back on. An example would be an expensive textbook a teacher is requiring a student to buy.