What market forces decide whether a commercial product succeeds, and how do designers respond?
The market as a design factor: the product lifecycle (introduction, growth, maturity, decline), the influences on it, and product redesign, including incremental and radical change, branding, diversification and the reasons for commercial success or failure.
An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the market as a design factor, covering the product lifecycle and its stages, the influences on it such as market trends, branding and technology push and market pull, and product redesign through incremental and radical change and diversification.
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What this key area is asking
The SQA wants you to understand the market as a design factor: the product lifecycle and its stages, the many influences on it (trends, marketing, branding, economics, technology push and market pull), and how products are redesigned to respond, through incremental and radical change, relaunch and diversification. This is distinctive Advanced Higher content (it goes well beyond Higher) and a rich source of Section 2 questions.
The product lifecycle
- Introduction. The product is launched. Sales are low and rise slowly while the market learns about it; promotion is heavy and costs (including recovering research and development) are high.
- Growth. Sales rise quickly as the product is adopted and recommended; competitors may enter, and the company scales up production.
- Maturity. Sales reach their peak and level off as most of the available market is reached. Competition is strongest, so firms compete on price, added features and branding.
- Decline. Sales fall as the market saturates or newer, better products appear. The company decides whether to withdraw, relaunch, or redesign the product.
Knowing the curve lets you explain a company's actions: heavy promotion at introduction, price competition at maturity, and redesign or withdrawal at decline.
Influences on the lifecycle
Many forces lengthen or shorten the curve and shape the product:
- Target market and market trends. Who the product is for and how their tastes and needs change over time.
- Marketing techniques and branding. Advertising, packaging and a strong brand build recognition and loyalty, raising and sustaining sales.
- Niche marketing. Designing for a small, specific market segment that mass products do not serve well.
- Fad, fashion and style. Some products are short-lived fads; others ride longer fashion or style cycles, which sets how fast they decline.
- Economics and the economy. Cost, price and the state of the wider economy affect what people buy and when.
- Research and development costs. High R&D must be recovered, which shapes pricing and the launch strategy.
Product redesign and extending the lifecycle
When a product matures or declines, designers act rather than letting it die:
- Incremental change makes small improvements (a new colour, a minor feature, a refreshed style). It is low risk and low cost, and it can extend the maturity stage.
- Radical change is a major rethink of the product. It carries higher risk and cost but can open a new growth stage or a new market.
- Relaunch repositions or refreshes the existing product to revive sales.
- Product recall withdraws a product to fix a safety or quality fault; handled well it protects the brand, handled badly it damages it.
- Diversification moves the company into new products or markets, spreading risk and reaching new customers.
Choosing between these is a balance of risk against reward, and it is informed by where the product sits on the lifecycle curve.
Where this fits in the course
The market sits among the design factors and connects to product evolution and to aesthetics and ergonomics (style drives fashion cycles). Branding and redesign link to people and intellectual property, since trademarks protect a brand.
Try this
Q1. Describe what happens to sales during the growth and maturity stages of the product lifecycle. [4 marks]
- Cue. Growth: sales rise quickly as the product is adopted. Maturity: sales peak and level off as the market is reached and competition is strongest.
Q2. Explain why a company might choose incremental rather than radical redesign for a mature product. [4 marks]
- Cue. Incremental change is low cost and low risk and can extend maturity; radical change costs more and risks more, so a company may prefer small improvements when sales are still healthy.
Q3. Explain how branding can sustain a product's sales during maturity. [3 marks]
- Cue. A strong brand builds recognition and loyalty, so customers keep choosing the product over competitors even when the market is saturated.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Advanced Higher6 marksDescribe the four stages of the product lifecycle and explain what happens to sales at each.Show worked answer →
Worth about 6 marks, so the marker wants the four stages named in order
with what happens to sales and the company's response at each.
Introduction. The product is launched; sales are low and rising slowly
while it is promoted and the market learns about it, and costs are high.
Growth. Sales rise quickly as the product is adopted and word spreads;
competitors may appear and the company increases production.
Maturity. Sales peak and level off as most of the market is reached;
competition is strongest, so the company competes on price, features and
branding.
Decline. Sales fall as the market is saturated or newer products appear,
so the company withdraws, relaunches or redesigns the product. A strong
answer notes that designers act at maturity and decline through redesign,
relaunch or diversification to extend the lifecycle.
SQA Advanced Higher4 marksExplain the difference between technology push and market pull as influences on a product.Show worked answer →
Worth about 4 marks. The markers want a clear contrast with an example of
each.
Technology push. A new technology or material is developed first and then
drives new products, so the product exists because the technology made it
possible, for example touchscreens enabling smartphones.
Market pull. A demand or need in the market comes first and pulls a product
into being to meet it, so the product exists because users wanted it, for
example demand for healthier cooking pulling air fryers to market.
Both can apply. A strong answer notes that many products result from both:
a technology becomes available and a market need exists for it, and the
designer responds to whichever drives the opportunity.
Related dot points
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An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the design factors of function, performance and safety, covering primary and secondary function, fitness for purpose, planned obsolescence, maintenance, value for money, and ensuring safety through certification, British Standards and kitemarks.
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An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the design factors of aesthetics and ergonomics, covering the influences on a product's aesthetics and ergonomics through anthropometrics, psychology and physiology, inclusive design and the use of ergonomic data such as percentiles.
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An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on product evolution, covering the key stages in a product's historical evolution, the influences that drive change such as materials, technology and society, the changes products undergo, and their future evolution, as needed for question 2 of the question paper.
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An SQA Advanced Higher Design and Manufacture answer on the people who influence design and intellectual property, covering the roles and responsibilities of the design team, in-house and sub-contracted teams, communication, and the four intellectual property rights (copyright, design rights, patents, trademarks) and their features.
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