WordValecannibalization
a new product eating sales of one's own existing product
In more detail
1. (noun) the act of taking parts from one product or device to use in another, often causing the first to become unusable
2. (noun) a situation where a company's new product takes away sales from its own existing product
3. (noun) the practice of eating human flesh
Examples
- 1. The factory was accused of cannibalization when it removed components from old computers to repair newer models.
- 2. The smartphone company worried about cannibalization when the new model was cheaper than their previous bestseller.
- 3. The documentary discussed historical instances of cannibalization in isolated societies.
How to use cannibalization
In business and technology contexts, cannibalization refers to when one product damages or undermines the sales or performance of another product from the same company, or when parts are stripped from equipment to repair or build something else. In historical or anthropological contexts, it refers to the consumption of human flesh. The business sense is far more common in contemporary usage and is treated as a technical term in marketing and product management.
Common phrases
- product cannibalization
- market cannibalization
- cannibalization of sales
- avoid cannibalization
- risk of cannibalization
Synonyms
cannibalism · self-competition · market cannibalization · component harvesting · internal competition
Word family
cannibal (noun) · cannibalistic (adjective) · cannibalize (verb)
A common mistake
Learners sometimes confuse cannibalization with similar-sounding terms like cannibal or cannabinoid, or fail to recognize that in business the term is neutral and descriptive rather than pejorative.
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