Extending product life cycle
When a product reaches the decline stage, a business can act to extend its life cycle. There are a number of extension strategies that they can use to prevent their product from becoming No longer produced or used.
Extension strategies:
- Change product– New and improved versions of the product can be released… version 2.0 and then version 3.0.
- Change price– Price can be lowered to allow new customers to buy it.
- Change place– Products can be sold online as well as in stores, or sold in a different area or country.
- Change promotion– Different advertising or sales promotion techniques can prolong the life of the product, giving it a new image.
- Change packaging– The style of the packaging may be changed to give the appearance of a new and improved product.
- Change usage– Existing customers can be encouraged to buy more of the product or to use it in a different way. For example breakfast cereals used advertising to show consumers eating cereal at different times of the day.
- Change name– If a product has suffered from bad publicity and sales are falling, a tried and tested technique is to simply change the name of the product.
