Question

rfwScenario: You currently work as the marketing manager of your favorite company/organization and manage the success of one of its products or services. Your responsibility is to monitor the stages of the Product Life Cycle (PLC) and adjust the marketing strategies as needed for your product to thrive for as long as possible. At each stage, you assess changes you need to make to the product, price strategy, as well as competition and profit.

Create a presentation with speaker's notes covering the following criteria:

Develop a slide setting the theme and goals of the presentation.

Define and discuss the PLC concept and its importance to marketing managers.

Define and discuss what role pricing strategy has in marketing and how marketing mangers decide what strategy to use.

Describewhat company/organization and product/service you are using.

Create one speaker notes for each of the four stages of the PLC describing the stage and analyzes the implications each stage may have on price strategy, product, competition, and profit for your selected product/service. Use the product/service you selected to illustrate each stage as it is discussed with original examples.

Discuss the reasoning behind why the PLC is important to marketing managers and share examples of possible implications if it is not monitored.

Cite a minimum of two peer-reviewed sources. Use in-text citations in the presentation slides and speaker's notes to demonstrate your research.

Answer 1

Develop a slide setting the theme and goals of the presentation

Theme – Creating a platform and well-defined structure to cater the needs of the customers matching the innovated technologies advancement taking place in the market and strive to provide the best quality product at competitive prices to the customers.

Goal -

1 To understand the steps involved in the development of a product

2 To update the change if any, take place during the process

3 Develop the strategies to meet the new requirements

4 To train the staff and make sure quality is maintained during each stage

5 To align the coordination among the departments towards the improvements

6 To continue follow up with progress and assist them wherever needed

7 Strive and achieve the best outcome in all stages of Product life Cycle.

Define and discuss the PLC concept and its importance to marketing managers.

PLC is the concept that takes within everything started from the point of launching a product in the market and ending when the product is withdrawal. Each product has its life and that differ product to product. To continue to check the progress of your product, you need to go through variety of stages like market research, competitive prices, quality check, target customers demands, etc., to continue to manufacture the product. Therefore, PLC is well defined and continue strategy that the company needs to make and update to changing time and to meet the needs of customers.

Significance of PLC

1 It enables the firms to take the steps well in advance to sustain its revenues as the declining stage gives this message beforehand.

2 The firm gets the idea of the product needs and position in the market during various stages of introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

3 This serves as forecasting tool which provides enough warning and opportunities events well in advance so that the management can draft their marketing strategies accordingly.

4 In helps in knowing the best advertisement mode and accordingly one can plan for promotional activities for the introduction.

5 It induces the management to bring new innovative technologies to cater to the needs of customers at growth stage and maturity stage.

Define and discuss what role pricing strategy has in marketing and how marketing managers decide what strategy to use.

Pricing Strategy – Identifying the optimal and competitive price of the product is the crucial stage for any organization as it creates the market share and profit for the firm and value to the consumer. Among the 4’s of market strategy which is product, price, place and promotion, setting price well decides the success of the company.

They have to consider the market position this product is having, value in the eyes of consumer, demand, the prevailing price the same industry.

Describe what company/organization and product/service you are using.

Let’s take an example of ‘Faces Canada’ the brand name of Canadian cosmetic Company – Faces Canada.

Create one speaker notes for each of the four stages of the PLC describing the stage and analyses the implications each stage may have on price strategy, product, competition, and profit for your selected product/service. Use the product/service you selected to illustrate each stage as it is discussed with original examples.

Stage – 1 – Introduction stage

At this stage, the goal is to create the awareness of product rather profit making. Therefore, cost is high, and return is negative. Company’s incur huge cost in advertising and promotion in launching the product.

For instance – Faces also incurred huge cost in setting up of the stores in shopping malls and market and suffered loss in Indian market initially.

Stage – 2 – Growth Stage

At this stage, the product is at its peak sales. Customers are making buying efforts and therefore high demand. Profits increase and competition also. Now the company is more focus on improving the quality to retain the customers confidence and thereby making the brand goodwill and big market share.

Faces offered wide range of products that lasts for longer hours with huge range in colours cosmetic. Their competition increases with colour bar, well known brand in cosmetic.

Stage – 3 – Maturity Stage

Now the product awareness is more and so the sale though low comparatively to the upper stage. Competitors are more and therefore defensive approach is used for the survival in the market.

Faces has introduced its product in the market and they have pasted their advertisement boards in Delhi Metros, online sites, etc., Faces started making number of advertisements for largest market share and has open new stores. They Highers skilled professionals as store managers. But due to increase competition and variety of new brands and products, its sale comparatively decreases.

Stage – 4 – Decline stage

Change in customer preference, innovation in technologies, change in trend, poor quality of products and after sale services, could be the cause of decline stages. Inflation/ unfavourable Market conditions are some uncertain causes.

At this stage, company has three options – either to maintain the product or reduce the cost and find new uses or Harvest the product and sale them to loyal customers on break even profit or Discontinue the business of the product.

Faces has opted the second choice that is harvested the product and reduced the cost and introduces some offer and discounts.

Discuss the reasoning behind why the PLC is important to marketing managers and share examples of possible implications if it is not monitored

It helps the marketing managers to define the marketing strategies suiting to the product market. It smoothens the process of decision making as the possible outcomes is already predicted and forecasted. The best suiting advertisement, promotion, pricing and target market is well defined. This facilitates the managers to conduct the SWOT analysis and draft the strategies in such a way to grab maximum largest market share.

If this not monitored carefully, it can cause fluctuations in predicted sales, it won’t be able to cope up with the change in external and internal conditions, it won’t be able to meet the customer’s demands and ultimately may loose the market share of the product.