2 Product phases
From EvolutionaryProductDevelopment
2.1 How the product phases can map the status quo and future of a product
A well-known method to analyse the different phases of development of a product is the economic product life cycle. In this life cycle the turnover of a product is measured against time. Although the economic product life cycle is a central concept in product development and marketing, questions can be raised about its predictive value. If no unexpected events occur the level of turnover may be predicted for a couple of years, but it is impossible to make predictions about the nature of product renewal or about users' demands and wishes. However, with the help of 'product phases' it is possible to make overall predictions as to the functionality, the design, the pricing, the production, the promotion and the presentation of a product as well as the level of service and the social behaviour of a company.
2.2 Economic product life cycle
Theoretically the economic product life cycle has six phases (Buijs en Valkenburg, 2000). The first phase, development, shows the costs of the product before its introduction. Immediately after the introduction of the product, the pioneering phase starts. If the product is accepted on the market, a phase of fast growth will begin, leading to increased turnover: the growth phase. In general, competition will present itself during the growth phase. The next phase of the product life cycle is the maturity phase. Characteristics of this phase are: a decrease in growth and the elimination of weaker competitors. During the next two phases, saturation and decline, turnover will first reach its highest level, after which time growth will start decreasing (e.g., because of substitute products emerging in the market). During the last phase, the product will almost completely disappear. Sometimes a residual market will remain and another phase will follow: ossification. Evidently only few products will follow this theoretical line. In addition all kinds of external factors may influence the course of the line. For example, the mandatory wearing of safety belts in the back of cars may therefore result in doubling sales of safety belts during a short period of time.
2.3 Product phases
Industrial design engineering is a young applied science. It is the aim of a science to describe, govern and explain the phenomena that takes place. In industrial design engineering this research was until now concentrated on ergonomics, marketing, design methodology, etcetera. However, very little research has been undertaken studying the relationships between form giving and the following aspects: functionality, ergonomics, production and marketing. In this thesis, the phenomena that appear during the phases of the life of a product have been summarized. These phenomena apply amongst others to the market (is the product new to the market or are there a lot of competitors?), the functionality (is it possible to improve the functionality or has it reached a high degree of perfection?), and the ergonomics (has enough attention been paid to the product's ease of use or is there scope for improvement?). The regularities that were found have been analysed and described. This has led to six product phases: performance, optimisation, itemisation, segmentation, individualisation, and awareness. The six phases are placed in a chronological order such that any predictions about new or future products can be made. This can be done by positioning a product, based on its product characteristics, into one of the product phases. When developing a future product, a designer can add to the product characteristics of the next product phase, thus creating added value for the intended user. In this way, the product phases can help a designer in creating the next generation of a product.
In this chapter, the product phases will be described using aspects of a product. They will be called the product characteristics. Ten product characteristics will be defined; four of them apply to the product and two of them apply to the market. The others apply to production, promotion, service and ethics. The ten product characteristics are:
- Newness
- Functionality
- Product development
- Styling
- Number of competitors
- Pricing
- Production
- Promotion
- Service
- Ethics
Figure 2.1 The six product phases with their product characteristics. To keep the figure simple, the product characteristics are only shown at the product Itemisation phase.
