Gurus On Marketing

Decline
After the maturity stage when most target customers own the
product, the product enters this decline stage culminating eventually
in its disappearance.
According to Levitt, at the introduction stage the demand for the
product has to be ‘created’. How long this cycle takes would depend
on the nature of the product. Because of the uncertainties and the
fatalities of many products at this stage, many organisations adopt
what Levitt called ‘used apple policy’. They rather follow other organisations
than become the pioneers. As he put it:
‘The trouble with being a pioneer is that the pioneers get killed by
the Indians’.
At growth stage the rate of sales increase accelerates and the product
takes off. Competitors enter the market and brand differentiation
begins to develop. The marketing efforts are being directed towards
consumers to prefer specific brands.
At maturity stage, market for the product becomes saturated. At this
stage price competition becomes intense. The product is finely differentiated
and more efforts are put on customer services.
At declining stage, few products weather the storm. Most of the
producers, and with them their associated businesses, disappear from
the market. Others form alliances and adopt various tactics to survive
and the production gets concentrated into fewer hands.
Levitt urged managers to exploit the product life cycle. He felt the
managers should try to foresee the profile of the proposed product’s
life cycle.
Even though in practice it would be difficult to foresee the precise
nature of the life cycle and its duration, that should not mean no efforts
should be made to use it effectively. It could be of great help to formulate
new competitive moves.
THREE THEODORE LEVITT 49