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Conceptual Understanding: Designers need to consider the whole product cycle of potential products, services and systems throughout the design cycle and beyond.
Products may have an impact not only on the direct consumer but also on society at large and the environment.
The product life cycle is Is a tool for mapping out the five stages of a product’s commercial life. The key stages of the product life includes:
Research and Development: Large investment in time, money and resources to to R+D.
Launch/Introduction: Large investment in marketing. There are slow sales and little profit as the product is launched on the market.
Growth: The market gradually accepts the product, so diffusion starts and sales expand.
Maturity: Sales peak but remain steady, so maximum profit is achieved.
Decline: Market saturation is reached and sales start to reduce as well as profit.
The two charts show both what happens to the money and then what is happening in the market.
In essence this is the template for you to use in the IB diploma when referencing and referring to the Product life cycle
Contains examples of extension strategies: The length of the product life cycle can alter with the effect of technical development and consumer trends.
These are the four areas of obsolescence which commonly affect the product life cycle. These are:
Planned: A product becomes outdated as a conscious act either to ensure a continuing market or to ensure that safety factors and new technologies can be incorporated into later versions of the product.
Style (fashion): Fashions and trends change over time, which can result in a product no longer being desirable. However, as evidenced by the concept of retro styling and the cyclic nature of fashion, products can become desirable again.
Functional: Over time, products wear out and break down. If parts are no longer available, the product can no longer work in the way it originally did. Also, if a service vital to its functioning is no longer available, it can become obsolete.
Technological: When a new technology supersedes an existing technology, the existing technology quickly falls out of use and is no longer incorporated into new products. Consumers instead opt for the newer, more efficient technology in their products.
Product versioning is a business practice in which a company releases a new group of products that have advanced features compared to an earlier group. The range of products are based on the initial product market segments. A company produces different models of the same product, and then charges different prices for each model.
Versioning a product gives the consumer the option of purchasing a higher valued model for more money or a lower valued model for less money. In this way, the business is attempting to attract higher prices based on the value a customer perceives.
Advantages for a company of introducing new versions and generations of a product include:
Improved consumer choice: consumers can choose the version that suits them.
Improved consumer choice: can choose a budget level or a high status level
Maximise profits for the company hopefully through increased sales.
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