2.2.1 Product (extras)

product life cycle

peak of maturity is saturation

limitations of product life cycle

• simplistic - you can only see the life cycle of one product at a time → many companies have a product portfolio with different product ranges

• length of stages vary depending on the product - it’s not easy to predict times eg Cadbury’s Dairy Milk has been at maturity stage for 100 years while fidget spinners were only a few months

• it’s a model → danger of ‘paralysis by analysis’

differentiating a product or service

• when a business makes their products/ services different from the competition

ways of differentiating a product or service

• branding

• USP

• location

• design

• customer services

• quality

• product mix

• convenience

• → customer loyalty +able to charge a premium price (price inelasticity)

• → gives competitive advantage