Eventually a product reaches the end of its life. This is the least understood stage of product management, because we human beings are very reluctant to think about death, even that of a product.
There are several reasons for deleting a mature product. First, when a product is losing money, it is a prime deletion candidate. In regard to this indication, it is important to make sure that the loss is truly attributable to the product and not just a quirk in the company's accounting system.
Second, there are times when a company with a long product line can benefit if the weakest of these products are dropped. This thinning of the line is referred to as product-linesimplification. Product overpopulation spreads a company's productive, financial, and marketing resources very thin. Moreover, an excess of products in the line, some of which serve overlapping markets, not only creates internal competition among the company's own products, but also creates confusion in the minds of consumers. Consequently, a company may apply several criteria to all its products and delete those that fare worst.
A third reason for deleting a product is that problem products absorb too much management attention. Many of the costs incurred by weak products are indirect: management time, inventory costs, promotion expenses, decline of company reputation, and so forth.
Missed opportunity costs reflect the final reason for product deletion. Even if a mature product is making a profit contribution and its indirect cost consequences are recognized and considered justifiable, the company might still be better off without the product because of its opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of a mature product is the profit contribution that a new and healthy product could produce if the effort and resources being devoted to the mature item were redirected.
The final issue is actually going through a product deletion procedure. Sometimes, however, a product can be revived (see “Integrated marketing”).
Integrated marketing
Putting Levi's back in the saddle
Levi Strauss & Company is opting for a new marketing direction. The situation is reflected by Maressa Emmar, high school sophomore from Setaukat, NY, and her friends, who won't wear
anything from Levi's. "It doesn't make the styles we want," says Emmar, who prefers baggy pants from JNCO and Kikwear. "Levi's styles are too tight and for the older generation, like
middle-aged people."
After three years of tumbling sales, layoffs, plant closing, and a failed effort to woo kids online, Levi's is gearing up for several product launches. Notes new chief executive Philip
Martineau, "Levi's is a mythical brand,but our performance has been poor. We need to turn our attention back to customers and have more relevant products and marketing."
In coming months, Levi's will unveil a slew of youth-oriented fashions, ranging from oddly cut jeans to nylon pants that unzip into shorts. But Martineau is not giving up on the geezers. He
wants to broaden Levi's appeal to grown-ups by extending the Dockers and Slates casual pants brands. Martineau also needs to smooth out kinks in manufacturing and shipping that prevent Levi's
from rushing new products into stores. How do you sell the idea that you're hip while not turning off the oldsters? New ads will showcase the products themselves rather than relentlessly
trying to convey "attitude". A television campaign for frayed cutoff shorts shows a young woman throwing her jeans in front of an oncoming train, which slices them to cutoffs. Print will
support its Lot53 fashion forward Levi's Engineered jeans. This new style has curved bottom hems, slanted back pockets and a larger watch pocket to hold pagers and other electronic
items.
As Levi's try to rise like a phoenix from the ashes, one of the greatest American brand icons is passing into a new era in its history. Classic Levi's Jeans may find its greatest influence,
much like the American cowboy, is more myth than reality. 1
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