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verb

cannibalize

when a new product takes sales away from an existing one within the same organization

In a sentence

Six example sentences with cannibalize, each labelled with its topic.

  • The cheaper tablet cannibalized the laptop line so thoroughly that the company retired both and started over.

    Business

  • Founders feared their free tier would cannibalize the paid subscription, so they capped storage at two gigabytes.

    Startups

  • Analysts downgraded the retailer after its discount chain cannibalized revenue from the flagship stores in nine states.

    Finance

  • Apple let the iPhone cannibalize the iPod on purpose, reasoning that a rival would do it otherwise.

    Technology

  • Studio executives worried that same-day streaming would cannibalize ticket sales for their own theatrical release.

    Movies

  • The publisher feared the free mobile version would cannibalize sales of the console game it was still shipping.

    Gaming

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