STUDENTS' CORNER - 143

We will look into the Maturity stage of the life cycle of the product and its features and challenges to the marketers.

The Maturity Stage, closely comparable to the adult phase in an individual’s life, is generally longer than the other phases. The growth has reached its peak, so to say, leaving no room for further growth. The product has grown enough in the market; that is, the sales of the product have reached the maximum level; no amount of the marketing efforts appears to yield new results in terms of increase in the volume of the sales. No new customers are seen.

There are other factors too for consideration.  New competitors have entered the field and it is possible they have harnessed newer techniques and technologies to record their presence in the market. In such circumstances, it is likely that a fraction of the existing customers might feel tempted to try a new product. To put the fact simply, the sales growth has begun to climb down.

 

No business house accedes to defeat easily; it takes all steps it can to restore its earlier stage of having a good market share with prospects of growth or at least to retain its position. The proven steps the company in a maturity phase takes are focused on its design modification, price adjustment, intensifying promotional initiatives and finding another target market.

All these measures are taken with great caution. To add force to the appeal of the product, after careful consideration, the packaging can be modified with new set of colours which enjoy great reception. Utility value of the product can be enhanced adding some innovative measures to attract and retain the existing customers. Change of colour is enjoying great popularity when it comes to revising the design of the product. Car selling company can explore the possibility of adding some new colours to its existing colour list. The company can even give some new name to the product. 

In so many ways, marketing a mature product can be planned taking into consideration the market scenario.

 

We will go to Decline stage in our next session.