Question

A hospital introduced an annual health testing service geared to executives. How can the hospital marketer identify the four PLC stages for this product line as it evolves? What would be the signs of this service entering the decline stage and what strategies can be used to resurrect it if it enters this stage?

Answer 1

PLC or Product Life Cycle ha four stages: Introduction, Growth Maturity and Decline.

PLC for an Annual health testing service is described below:

1. Introduction: At this stage, marketers have to heavily advertise their service. Hospital will be incur high cost at this stage with relatively low clients joining this service. The message of the marketers is to convince people into joining this service. The aim of marketers at this stage is to make people aware of new service. The price of service is generally high at this stage.

2. Growth: At this stage, people increasingly join the service; however, marketers have to continue advertising their services. Many people become aware of this service. Hospital begins to increasingly add clients and thereby profitability increases. The cost of services can be marginally brought down at this stage.

3. Maturity decline: At this stage, people who have joined service reaches peak. Due to many people joining the service profitability of the hospital increases; cost of advertisement is still high; hospital will face stiff competition from similar schemes. The aim of marketer at this stage is focusing on differentiating the services.

4. Decline: This stage starts when the services have been availed by maximum potential customers. Market begins to saturate at this stage.

signs of decline stage: People joining this service keeps declining; there is high drop in number of new clients availing the services.

Strategies for resurrection: To pull out the service from decline stage, hospital can modify the health scheme to suit targeted segments. Differentiation strategy has to worked out and communicated clearly through advertisement.

If this strategy still does not work, then appropriate strategy is to phase out the scheme.