The 8L's of Marketing

Life- Span

The product life span is a concept of great importance in the process of marketing the product, because the behavior of the market situation and competitive environment change over time in which the product is marketed. These changes determine the design and affect the development of marketing strategy. Every product has a biological evolution as embodied in a series of sequential steps (Luan & Sudhir). The product life span is the time path that runs from birth or product launch to the market until death or disappearance.

The life span stages are classified into the following 4 sections: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Some authors, however, distinguish in this last stage the first phase of saturation, followed by another decline, after the disappearance of the product (Lehtinen). The concept of product life span can be applied to a product class (TV), a particular form of the product (color television) or a specific brand. The life span of a product class is the longer, while the mark is shortest.

What characterizes the life span is the evolution of sales and profits, rising at first, gradually decreasing thereafter. The duration of the phases of the life span is not stable. The adoption process, which sets the tone for the early stages of product life span can be altered by the emergence of new alternative products, consumer habits and marketing strategies followed by firms competing in the market (Constantinides). Furthermore, it has been found that the behavior of the sales of the most recent innovations shows a progressive shortening of the life span, particularly of the phases of growth and product introduction.

Quality improvement may increase the duration, reliability or security product or the consumer durable nutrient capacity, etc (Corstjens, Umbljis & Wang). But an increase in quality is, generally, an increase of cost that the consumer is only willing to pay if he receives or product improvement is more demanding and appreciates quality. An improvement in the characteristics or performance of the product increases its usefulness, performance, safety or comfort. The change in product design or style of product enhances its appeal.

Among the strategies focused on changing patterns of market behavior fit the following: 1. Promote increased use of the product among the regulars, 2. Develop a more varied use of the product among the most frequent users, 3. Create new users of the product to expand the market, 4. Finding new uses for the commodity (Möller). When we say a product is in its growth stage or another, we are referring implicitly to its link with a particular market. That is, a product can receive a good acceptance (growth stage or maturity) in some markets but found in the introduction stage in others. Thus, microwave ovens were in the stage of maturity in the markets of airline catering and in plants, although they were still at the stage of introduction in almost all consumer markets.

The definition, or identity, the product is also involved in this relationship lifespan and ...