Product life-cycle management (or PLCM) is the succession of strategies used by business management as a product goes through its

life-cycle. The conditions in which a product is sold (advertising, saturation) changes over time and must be managed as it moves through its succession of stages. Product life-cycle (PLC) Like human beings, products also have a life-cycle. From birth to death, human beings pass through various stages e.g. birth, growth, maturity, decline and death. A similar life-cycle is seen in the case of products. The product life cycle goes through multiple phases, involves many professional disciplines, and requires many skills, tools and processes. Product life cycle (PLC) has to do with the life of a product in the market with respect to business/commercial costs and sales measures. To say that a product has a life cycle is to assert three things:
  

Products have a limited life, Product sales pass through distinct stages, each posing different challenges, opportunities, and problems to the seller, Products require different marketing, financing, manufacturing, purchasing, and human resource strategies in each life cycle stage.

The four main stages of a product's life cycle and the accompanying characteristics are: Stage Characteristics 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. costs are very high slow sales volumes to start little or no competition demand has to be created customers have to be prompted to try the product makes no money at this stage

1. Market introduction stage

2. Growth stage

costs reduced due to economies of scale sales volume increases significantly profitability begins to rise public awareness increases competition begins to increase with a few new players in establishing market 6. increased competition leads to price decreases 1. costs are lowered as a result of production volumes increasing and experience curve effects 2. sales volume peaks and market saturation is reached

3. Maturity stage

3. increase in competitors entering the market 4. prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products 5. brand differentiation and feature diversification is emphasized to maintain or increase market share 6. Industrial profits go down 1. 2. 3. 4. costs become counter-optimal sales volume decline prices, profitability diminish profit becomes more a challenge of production/distribution efficiency than increased sales

4. Saturation decline stage

and

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF SALT: Introduction The importance of salt in our lives cannot be overstated. Without salt, our bodies cannot perform some of the vital functions like regulating blood and body fluids and maintaining nerve signals. Salt deficiency leads to muscular weakness, cramps and exhaustion. Severe salt deprivation can even prove fatal. Salt sets off an osmosis movement in the body and adjusts the amount of fluids within and outside the cells. A healthy body processes the amount of salt it needs, and expels the rest through the kidneys.

Types of salt: Sea salt: Available in both fine and coarse grains, this is made from evaporated sea water. It is rich in minerals such as iodine, magnesium, and potassium, and has a fresher and lighter flavor. Table salt: It is basically sea salt that goes through a refining process to removetraces of naturally occurring mineral impurities. Chemical additives are added toprevent clumping. Iodized salt: This is a variation of table salt. Its fortified with iodine, as lots of iodine is lost from natural salt during processing. This helps meet the bodys iodine requirement.

Indian scenario India Salt, the flagship brand of the business unit, has been commanding a healthy 27% market share in the premium segment, the nationally branded salt market (estimated to be about 700,000 -800,000 tons annually). While it is the market leader in this segment, there are two significant challenges for the management at India Salt. Firstly, the nationally branded salt market is just about 13% of the total product category. This is a concern especially when a formidable presence in a minor market segment may not amount to a significant business opportunity in the long run, more so in a product category, which seemingly has very few opportunities to enhance value and /or differentiate from competition (basic commodity). TATA SALT- Desh Ka Namak Tata Chemicals Ltd. began the history of iodized, vacuum-evaporated, packagedsalt in India with Tata Salt back in 1983. Tata Salt, the flagship product of TCL'Sconsumer products division is the top-selling branded iodized salt in India. Tata Salt commands a 19.1 per cent of the market in overall Iodized salt category and 49.4 per cent in the National branded segment. It sells a monthly average 40,000 metric tons of its product through 13.4 lac retail outlets. Distinctions of Tata Salt:State-of-the-art vacuum evaporated production process Purity Consistent iodine Packaging Trust of consumers SEGMENTATION: Geographic Urban: The consumption of salt in urban region is high as the number of people staying in urbanized area is high and consumption of salt is directly proportional to the number of people. The number of hotels and restaurant

are high which also plays a very important role in the consumption of salt. The ratio of literate people in urban area is more and hence maximum people staying in urban area opt for packaged iodized salt. Rural: Consumption of salt here in rural area is less as compared to urban because of less amount of population. As the ratio of illiterate people as compared to the literate ones is high, the people choose to buy non packaged, freely available non-iodized salt. Since the rural people are not much aware of the fact that iodized salt help Hilly region: People staying in the northern and northeastern region do not get much of iodine through other natural means of diet and hence it has been made mandatory for people living in such hilly regions to consume iodized salt only. Lot of efforts is taken to make people aware about the importance of iodized salt. Product life cycle of Table Salt Introduction: It is hard to track down when the salt came into existence to the human life. But, as per the studies say that the Iodized table salt was first introduced in India in the year 1965. Growth: Since salt is a basic necessity for human life, the growth is increasing ever since. As we discussed earlier, the consumption of salt is directly proportional to the number of population. Awareness were spread among the people to consume iodized salt which made a slight growth in the consumption of iodized salt. Maturity: Not applicable in case of Salt Decline: Not applicable in case of salt