Product Life Cycle: How oraya insights determines product stages

Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) is a concept that covers all phases of the product cycle, from conception to retirement of the product. It includes the management of various aspects such as design, development, production, sales and customer feedback. The goal of PLM is to optimize product performance, reduce costs, improve efficiency and increase customer satisfaction throughout the entire lifecycle.

By using market and price intelligence software, companies can gain valuable insights into each stage of the Product Life Cycle (PLC). This article examines the four stages of the PLC, outlines the benefits of applying a PLC strategy and shows how oraya insights can help manufacturers identify the product stage.

The four phases of the Product Life Cycle

The product life cycle covers the entire process from market launch to product elimination. It describes the various phases that a product goes through during its lifetime. The four phases are

1. Introduction: The product is launched on the market and sales slowly start to increase.
   
   
2. Growth: Demand for the product increases, leading to a rise in sales and market share.
   
   
3. Maturity: Sales reach their peak and the product reaches saturation point on the market.
   
   
4. Decrease: Demand is falling and sales are declining as new and innovative products emerge.

Advantages of a product life cycle strategy

The implementation of a PLC strategy offers two key advantages:

• Efficiency in development and engineering: By understanding the product phase, companies can effectively allocate their resources and focus on improving product features or meeting customer needs.
  
  
• Elimination of errors: Identifying the product phase helps to recognize problems or inefficiencies in connection with the product at an early stage and to make adjustments and improvements in good time.

How oraya insights can help identify the product stage

oraya insights provides valuable data points for interpreting the product stage. Although precise demand data may not be available, certain factors can indicate the stage of the product lifecycle:

• Price changes: If several retailers are offering the product at a lower price, this may indicate that demand for the product is slowly decreasing and retailers are trying to maintain their sales figures or gain market share by lowering their prices.
  
  
• Discontinuations: If more and more retailers remove the product from their range, this may indicate that sales are no longer sufficient to justify the costs of storage and distribution. Retailers may opt for other products that have a higher demand or better profitability.
  
  
• Availability (stock): If interpreted cautiously, sudden extensions in delivery times may indicate that retailers are reducing their stock or switching to dropshipping if there is not enough demand to keep the products in stock in their own warehouses.
  
  
• Lock-in articles: Popular price comparison platforms such as Idealo and Google often advertise high-demand products at competitive prices. If the number of retailers who consider the product a "lock-in item" suddenly decreases, this indicates a product that is considered more relevant or that the demand for the product on offer is no longer sufficient to generate conversions.

Use of oraya insights for decision-making

oraya insights becomes a valuable tool when combined with internal data. Manufacturers can use the data from oraya's market and price monitoring technology together with their demand-related information to accurately determine the product stage. Acute price changes or an increase in sales of used items can serve as indicators of a phase change. However, the interpretation of the data requires careful analysis.

oraya insights can be particularly useful in the saturation and degeneration phases, as these phases are often accompanied by price fluctuations. The analysis of adoption and growth can be better performed by manufacturers using their own data such as sales volumes, inquiries and competitive positioning. In the growth phase, when demand is continuously increasing, no major price changes are to be expected.

Conclusion

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is crucial for manufacturers as it enables them to effectively adapt their product strategy to the different phases of a product. From market launch to product elimination from the market, a product goes through various stages, each of which brings specific challenges and opportunities.

It is important to note that the PLM can only be analyzed retrospectively. The phases are defined on the basis of historical data.  With the help of oraya insights, this disadvantage can be mitigated with current market data by combining market observation data with internal data. This makes the analysis more precise and the PLM becomes a truly relevant and practically applicable tool.

Overall, product lifecycle management offers a holistic approach to successfully positioning products on the market and optimizing their lifespan. By combining traditional PLM methods with modern technologies such as oraya insights, manufacturers can capitalize on market opportunities and proactively overcome challenges. This enables them to build long-term customer relationships and maintain a strong market presence. Effective PLM enables manufacturers to continuously evolve and succeed in a dynamic business environment.