Having made the decision to go End-of-Life (EoL) with your product, and perhaps replace it with something brand spanking new, there are a number of things to think about and do some planning:
Customer order book - what's the order book like for your existing product? Can you fulfil those orders, or do you need to move the customer over to the next product, and what kind of negotiation is that going to require? Is there a price discussion involved? What's the strategy for that?
The end-of-life bounce back - when Volkswagen announced the end of Beetle production in 2018, demand went through the roof. They even released a Final Edition to capitalise on the demand. You'll need to factor any potential bounce back into your plans, if you want to take advantage of them. It could be a money spinner.
Product still in the channel - you need to know how much of your existing product you have in your sales channels, which remains unsold. What will be the impact if you launch a new product and your channel inventory is high? Would it be better to flush that product through the channel before you launch the next product? Does that mean offering your customer a price reduction to incentivise further sales?
Price Protection - have you guaranteed your customers that you'll protect their margins if the recommended end user price is reduced?
Your own stock - how much product are you carrying in your own warehouses - not just finished goods, but any additional material that will be wasted when the product is withdrawn? Does it make financial sense to dispose of it?
Supplier commitments - what orders or commitments do you have outstanding with your suppliers for the component parts they supply? If you have a unique component that they cannot sell to another customer, then you may be liable for the excess stock. Same is true if a piece of tooling hasn't been fully amortised.
Obsolescence - some of the components in your product are also going EoL and you need to put in a last time buy so you've got enough to fulfil customer and service obligations.
Warranty commitments - have you estimated the potential returns of your existing product that might be covered by warranty and for which you are liable to repair or replace? Does that match the financial projections you made?
Out-of-Warranty Demand - will you continue to support your product after the customer's warranty has expired? One of the things Apple is incredibly good at is being able to repair their phones and laptops for years after the warranty is no longer valid. It's a great service, but those replaceable parts need to be available.
Spare part inventory - consequently, what are your spare parts' requirements? Will you stock then or ask your supplier to do that? What is the shelf life of those parts? Do they deteriorate over time and need replacing? Or do you just say, "Tough" to the customer and get them to buy a new product?
Tooling & equipment depreciation - from a financial perspective you want to know that anything that is unique to your existing product, like the tooling, test jigs, unique parts of the manufacturing line have been fully amortised, otherwise what hasn't already been depreciated will hit your P&L.
Design & development readiness - is your new product ready to go to market? There is so much to think about here, it's the subject of a butt all on its own.
Manufacturing readiness - same with manufacturing. Have you done pilot runs on the factory manufacturing line to get ready for mass production?
Competitive activity - what's happening competitively? Are there new products coming out from your competition? Can you rain on their parade, or are they going to spoil yours?
Seasonal campaigns - does your product or service have a seasonal demand? There's no point launching your new lycra budgie-smugglers in September when everyone's heading back to work after the holidays. Much better to wait until your customers are considering their new bathing attire - when you can get shot of last year's banana-hammocks at a bargain price through outlet distribution and fanfare in the latest designs.
Pricing strategy - what's the launch and daily life pricing strategy for the new product?
That's quite a long list! And there's probably more. Make sure you've planning the demise of the old and launch of the new with all of your colleagues.
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