Two well know statements - Everything costs money & Nothing lasts forever – provide us the basis for the term Value Life-Cycle. It is in fact, the relationship between time and money in a consumer's mind, as it relates to the value of a retail product. In simple terms, the longer the products serves its consumer and the less the consumer paid for it, the higher the Value Life-Cycle of that product.
For an example of this process let’s return to the Chip Clip. At $1.29 the clip has a relatively low value expectation to the consumer. The consumer expects it to work, and even expects it to last for a little while. Whereas if the consumer had paid $4.99 for the clip, the value expectation would of course be much higher. So is it safe to say the Value Life-Cycle is simply the number of times a product works before it breaks? No… It is safe to say however the Value Life-Cycle is the number of times a consumer assumes (based on the value expectation) a product should work before it breaks. .
Say our Chip Clip was used 4 times and it broke. At $1.29, and a low value expectation, the consumer could look at that and say – “I got my money’s worth”. Whereas If it lasted 15 times the consumer may say “Wow….that was a great product for just $1.29” and of course if it only lasted a single time, the consumer may simply call it a piece of crap and throw it away.
What do all three of these reactions to the Value Life-Cycle have in common? They are all the basis for the product's reputation and the product's reputation is the foundation of both repeat sales and recommendation sales.
In the end, if the Value Life-Cycle of a product does not meet or exceed the consumers expectation - your chances of getting that consumer to purchase the product for a second time are very low.
