Introduction Stage:

"The product life cycle stage in which the new
product is first distributed and made available
for purchase".

The introduction stage starts when the new product is first launched. Introduction takes time
and sale growth is apt to be slow. Well-known products such as instant coffee and frozen orange
juice lingered for many years before they entered a stage of rapid growth.

Maturity Stage:

"The stage in the products life cycle in which sales growth
slows or levels off".

At some point, a product's sales growth will slow down, and product will enter a maturity stage.
This maturity stage normally lasts longer than the previous stages, and it poses strong challenges
to marketing management. Most products are in the maturity stage of the life cycle, and therefore
most marketing management deals with the mature product.

Growth Stage:

"The product life cycle stage in which a product's sales
start climbing quickly".

Profit increase during the growth stage, as promotion costs spread over a large volume and unit
manufacturing costs fall. The firm uses several strategies to sustain rapid market growth as long as possible, it improves product quality and adds new product features and models. It enters new market segments and new distribution channels. It shifts some advertising from building product awareness to building product conviction and purchase and it lowers prices at the right time to attract more buyers.

Decline Stage:

The sale of most products forms and brands eventually dip.
The decline may be slow, as in the case of oatmeal cereal, or rapid
as in the case of phonograph records. Sale may plunge to zero, or they may
drop to a low level where they countinue for many years. This is the Decline Sales.

What Does Market Penetration Mean?
A measure of the amount of sales or adoption of a product or service compared to the total theoretical market for that product or service. The amount of sales or adoption can be an individual company’s sale or industry while the theoretical market can be the total population or an estimate of total potential consumers for the product

Marketing intelligence:

The systematic collection and analysis of publicity available information about competitors and developments in the marketing environment.

Customer Buyer Behavior:

The buying behavior of final consumer—individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption.

Product:

Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.

Example:

Coke of coca cola

nestle apple juice of nestle

Market Skimming:

Setting a high price for a new product to skim maximum revenue layer by layer from the segments willing to pay the high price; the company makes fewer but more profitable sales.

Implementation:

Coke launched minute maid and its price was higher than other products but still coke was having reasonable sales of the juice.

Brand:

A name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of these intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of seller and to differentiate them from those of competitors.e.g

Product quality

The ability of a product to perform its functions, it includes the products overall durability, reliability, precision, ease of operation and repair, and other valued attributes.

Marketing information system:

A marketing information system consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision making. The MIS begins and ends with information users---marketing managers, internal and external partners and others--- who need marketing information. First, it interacts with these information users to asses information needs. Next, it develops needed information from internal company databases, marketing intelligence activities, and marketing research. Then it helps user to analyze information to put it in the right form for marking marketing decisions and managing customers relationship. Finally, the MIS distributes the marketing information and helps managers use it in their decision making.

BCG Explanation:

STARS :

High growth business competing in market where they are relatively

strong compared with the competition. The have a high point shares and are the ideal

businesses.

CASH :

Low-growth business with a relatively high point shares. These businesses were stars but now have lost their attractiveness.

QUESTION MARK :

Businesses with low point share but which may have a high growth rate. This suggests that they have potential but may require huge ever, a competing force extraordinary effort in order to grow point share.

DOGS :

Businesses that have low relative share and low expected growth rate. Dogs may generate enough points to sustain but they are rarely, if ever, a competing force.

SWOT Analysis:

In SWOT analysis comprises of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which are discussed as following.

Strengths:

A firm's strengths are its resources and capabilities that can be used as a basis for developing a competitive advantage. Examples of such strengths include:

• patents
• strong brand names
• good reputation among customers
• cost advantages from proprietary know-how
• exclusive access to high grade natural resources
• favorable access to distribution networks

Weaknesses:

The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness. For example, each of the following may be considered weaknesses:

• lack of patent protection
• a weak brand name
• poor reputation among customers
• high cost structure
• lack of access to the best natural resources
• lack of access to key distribution channels

In some cases, a weakness may be the flip side of a strength. Take the case in which a firm has a large amount of manufacturing capacity. While this capacity may be considered a strength that competitors do not share, it also may be a considered a weakness if the large investment in manufacturing capacity prevents the firm from reacting quickly to changes in the strategic environment.

Opportunities:

The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth. Some examples of such opportunities include:

• an unfulfilled customer need
• arrival of new technologies
• loosening of regulations
• removal of international trade barriers

Threats:

Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm. Some examples of such threats include:

• shifts in consumer tastes away from the firm's products
• emergence of substitute products
• new regulations
• increased trade barriers

Demographic Segmentation:

Demographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, finally size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, generations and nationality, Demographic factors are the most popular bases for segmentation customer groups. One reason is that consumer needs, wants and usage rates often very closely with demographic variables.

Strategic Planning:

The process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the

organizations goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities. It involves definig a clear company mission settings supporting objective designing a sound business portfolio and coordinating functional strategies.

Partner Relationship Management:

Working closely with partners in other companydepartments and

outside the company to jointly bring greater value to the customers.

Customer Relationship Management:

CRM is the perhaps the most importanat concept of modern marketing until recently CRM

has been defined narrowly as sa customer data management activity. by this defination it involves managing detailed information about individual customerws and carefully managing

customer "touchpoints". in order to maximize customer loyalty.

Societal Marketing Concept:
A principle of enlighted marketing that holds that a company should make good marketing decisions by considering comsumers wants the companies requirements, consumers long term intrests and society long run intrests .

Team Selling:

As products become more complex and as customers grow larger and more demanding a single
sales person simply can't handle all of large customers need instead most companies now are using team selling to serve large, complex accounts. Compnies are finding that sales team can unearth problems, solutions, and sales opportunities that no individual sale person could. such teams might include experts from any area or level of selling firms---- sales, marketing, technical and sales services, R & D, engineering, operations , finance and others. In team selling situation the sales person shifts from "soloist" to "orchestrator".

Direct Marketing:

Direct marketing consisits of direst connections with carefully targeted individual consumers
to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships.
Direct marketers communicate directly with customers, often on one to one, interactive basis.
Using detailed databases, thet tailor their marketing offers and communicate to the needs
of narrowly defined segments or even individual buyers.