Why Volumes, Prices, And Margins Vary Over The Product Life Cycle?
Why do volumes, prices, and margins vary over the product life cycle? Can you provide an example?
The same factors that are the key to reaching maximum market potential Awareness, Availability, Ability to Use, Benefit Deficiency, and Affordability. Take the release of both Apples' iPod and iPhone, both of these products had great pre-release awareness, during the pre-release a lot of people learned from reading press releases and other media how to use them. When they were finally released it was a very wide release making them readily available, for a day or two anyway. The only problem with this products was affordability, the price of the product itself was not out of reach for most working adults, the problem came with the opportunity cost for the individual, what they would have to give up to get one.
In the case of the iPhone the volumes have dictated, to an extent, the price of the product or price decline, and in return the price has effected the volume. Apple announced a reduction in price a week before the prices actually declined the week following the announcement saw a 40% decline in units sold, according to CNBC.com. The week after the price reduction saw unit sales return to near the amount of week one sales, also according to CNBC.com.
How does the rate of product adoption affect the product life cycle?
The rate of product adoption can be a direct indication of growth. The faster a product grows the faster it reaches its full market potential. The sooner it reaches its potential the sooner the firm must produce a replacement or upgrade for the product.
Thinking back to an undergraduate marketing class, what happens when a new product meets with rapid c ...