Fashion and the Product Life Cycle free essay help Python assignment help

Topic: Op – art fashion and the product life cycle All products possess ‘life cycles. ’ A product’s life cycle, abbreviated PLC, consists of a series of stages, beginning with its introduction to the market and ending with its decline and eventual withdrawal from the market.

As a product progresses through its life cycle, its sales and profitability change as it faces changing environmental pressures. Knowledge of the product’s life cycle can provide valuable insights into ways the product can be managed to enhance sales and profitability.Products tend to go through different stages, each stage being affected by different competitive conditions. These stages require different marketing strategies at different times if sales and profits are to be efficiently realized. The length of a product’s life cycle is in no way a fixed period of time. It can last from weeks to years, depending on the type of product. In most texts, the discussion of the product life cycle portrays the sales history of a typical product as following an shaped curve.

The curve is divided into four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. I would like to use op-art fashioning 1960s to introduce the product life cycle. As Op Art and the artists at the movement’s forefront gained recognition; the youth culture explosion of the sixties was gaining momentum. Mod bands such as The Who crossed over to the U. S. and everyone wanted a piece of The London Look. The mod style, which was already waning in the U.

K. reached the other side of the Atlantic at around the same time as the 1965 exhibition The Responsive Eye in New York, which showcased the work of Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely. Suddenly Op Art patterns started appearing on everything from clothes to advertisements, stationery, furnishing fabrics and that useful garment peculiar to the 1960s: the paper dress. This would be the “product development” stage of the fashion industry and the “introduction stage” of the fashion. The PLC begins with product development, during which time the firm devises and creates a new product.Whilst the end aim of this development process is to have a profitable, well-performing product on the market, this initial stage is characterized by zero sales, the firm bearing the costs of such development, typically resulting in negative profitability Then begin with the fashion explored in the market, the stage of Introduction is the period during which initial market acceptance is in doubt; thus, it is a period of slow growth. Profits are almost nonexistent because of high marketing and other expenses.

Setbacks in the product’s development, manufacture, and market introduction exact a heavy toll.Marketing strategy during this stage is based on different combinations of product, price, promotion, and distribution. For example, price and promotion variables may be combined to generate the following strategy alternatives: (a) high price/high promotion, (b) high price/low promotion, (c) low price/heavy promotion, and (d) low price/low promotion. Op Arts primary goal was to fool the eye. Bridget Riley’s dazzling black-and-white paintings triggered an ‘op art’ fashion craze in the 1960’s. Victor Vasarely was also an influence. Op’s greatest moment was the “The Responsive Eye” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965.

This will be the growth and the maturity stage of the PLC. Survivors of the introduction stage enjoy a period of rapid growth. The growth stage in the PLC typically involves a rapid growth in sales as early adopters replace pioneers as the main consumer group. During this growth period, there is substantial profit improvement. Whilst pioneers are characterized as those consumers who purchase products almost immediately when new products are launched, early adopters wait until the price starts to fall and some of the product’s potential weaknesses are ironed out.Strategy in this stage takes the following shape: (a) product improvement, addition of new features and models; (b) development of new market segments; (c) addition of new channels; (d) selective demand stimulation; and (e) price reductions to vie for new customers. During the next stage, maturity, there is intense rivalry for a mature market.

Efforts may be limited to attracting a new population, leading to a proliferation of sizes, colors, attachments, and other product variants.Battling to retain the company’s share, each marketer steps up persuasive advertising, opens new channels of distribution, and grants price concessions. Unless new competitors are obstructed by patents or other barriers, entry is easy. Thus, maturity is a period when sales growth slows down and profits peak and then start to decline. Strategy in the maturity stage comprises the following steps: (a) search for new markets and new and varied uses for the product, (b) improvement of product quality through changes in features and style, and (c) new marketing mix perspectives.For the leader firm, Step c may mean introducing an innovative product, fortifying the market through multibrand strategy, or engaging in a price-promotion war against the weaker members of the industry; the nonleader may seek a differential advantage, finding a niche in the market through either product or promotional variables. At last, as the sixties swung on, Op-Art prints and the mod look gave way to the swirling prints of psychedelia in the late sixties, then led to more muted colours and organic forms taken from nature, such as the floral art nouveau motifs made popular by Biba and later Celia Birtwell’s prints for Ossie Clark.

This is the decline stage of Op-art fashion. Regarding the decline period, though sales and profits continue their downward trend, the declining product is not necessarily unprofitable. Some of the competition may have left the market by this stage. Customers who remain committed to the product may be willing to use standard models, pay higher prices, and buy at selected outlets. Promotional expenses can also be reduced. An important consideration in strategy determination in the decline stage is exit barrier. Even when it appears appropriate to leave the industry, there may be one or more barriers to prevent easy exit.

In summary, in the introduction stage, the choices are primarily with what force to enter the market and whether to target a relatively narrow segment of customers or a broader customer group. In the growth stage, the choices appear to be to fortify and consolidate previously established market positions or to develop new primary demand. Developing new primary demand may be accomplished by a variety of means, including developing new applications, extending geographic coverage, trading down to previously untapped consumer groups, or adding related products.In the late growth and early maturity stages, the choices lie among various alternatives for achieving a larger share of the existing market. This may involve product improvement, product line extension, finer positioning of the product line, a shift from breadth of offering to in-depth focus, invading the market of a competitor that has invaded one’s own market, or cutting out some of the “frills” associated with the product to appeal better to certain classes of ustomers. In the maturity stage, market positions have become established and the primary emphasis is on nose-to-nose competition in various segments of the market. This type of close competition may take the form of price competition, minor feature competition, or promotional competition.

In the decline stage, the choices are to continue current product/market perspectives as is, to continue selectively, or to divest. The characteristics help locate products on the curve.