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Marketing vocabulary · Marketing Strategy

Cannibalization

Meaning in marketing, with examples

/ˌkænɪbələˈzeɪʃn/nounAdvanced term

In marketing, cannibalization means: A situation in which a company's new product takes sales away from its own existing products instead of from competitors.

In Turkish: kanibalizasyon, kendi satışlarını eritme

How it is used

Discussed when launching new flavours, sizes, cheaper versions or online channels. Teams estimate, accept or try to limit cannibalization. The verb is cannibalize, as in “The new pack cannibalized sales of the old one.” The British spelling is cannibalisation.

Example sentences

  1. The cheaper model sold well, but much of it was cannibalization of our premium range.

  2. Some cannibalization is acceptable if the new product also brings in new customers.

Common collocations

  • risk of cannibalization
  • sales cannibalization
  • limit cannibalization
  • cannibalize sales
  • launchTo make a new product, service or campaign available to the public for the first time, usually with planned promotion around it.
  • product life cycleThe stages a product goes through in the market: introduction, growth, maturity and decline, each with typical sales levels and marketing needs.
  • market shareThe percentage of all sales in a market that one company or brand makes, measured either by sales value or by the number of units sold.
  • go-to-market strategyA plan for bringing a new product to market or entering a new market, covering the target customers, value proposition, pricing, channels and launch activities.

More terms: Marketing Strategy

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