Free BCG Matrix Tool: Plot Your Products and Download the Chart

How to use this BCG matrix template

The BCG matrix, popularized in 1970 by Bruce Henderson, founder of Boston Consulting Group, helps you decide which products deserve your money. With this free BCG matrix template you don't draw anything: type in your numbers and the chart moves as you go.

1. Add your products or business lines

   Done

   Three to eight is the sweet spot. Use products, product families or business units, but don't mix levels.

2. Enter annual sales and market growth

   Done

   Sales set the size of each bubble. Growth means the market's growth, not yours: pull it from industry reports or your search data.

3. Enter your share and your largest competitor's

   Done

   The tool works out relative market share for you. If you're the leader, enter the runner-up's share.

4. Check the cut-offs and download the chart

   Done

   The defaults are 10% growth and a relative share of 1.0. Change them if your industry calls for it, then download the matrix as a PNG or SVG.

How to calculate relative market share

Everything in the BCG growth share matrix hangs on one number:

Relative market share = your market share ÷ your largest competitor's share

A relative share of 1.0 means you're level with the leader; 2.0 means you're twice its size; 0.2 means you have a fifth of what it has. Combine that with market growth and each product lands in its quadrant. The classic cut-offs are 10% annual growth and a relative share of 1.0, and the horizontal axis runs on a log scale, reversed: more share on the left, just like the original matrix.

Quadrant	Market growth	Relative share	What to do
Star	10% or more	1.0 or more	Invest to grow and defend your lead
Question mark	10% or more	Under 1.0	Bet big or get out
Cash cow	Under 10%	1.0 or more	Protect on a lean budget and use the cash
Dog	Under 10%	Under 1.0	Spend as little as possible, reposition or retire

How to calculate market share (and where to get the data)

Market share is the part of a market’s sales that your product captures: your sales ÷ total market sales × 100. Sell $12,000 in a $100,000 market and you hold 12%. The formula is easy. The hard part is the total market figure. These sources usually work:

• U.S. Census Bureau data by industry, searchable by NAICS code.
• Trade association reports, which often publish free summaries.
• Your own estimate: possible customers × average yearly spend (that’s how the TAM SAM SOM calculator does it).
• The leader’s annual report, if it’s a public company.

Use the same source and the same year for you and the leader. The matrix doesn’t need lab precision, just whether you beat the leader, match it or hold a fifth of its share.

BCG matrix example: an online candle shop

This is the example that loads in the tool: Hollis Candle Co., the soy candle shop from our guide on how to do a SWOT analysis, with $222,000 in annual sales.

Product	Sales	Growth	Your share ÷ leader's	Relative share	Quadrant
Soy jar candles	$140,000	3%	6 ÷ 4	1.50	Cash cow
Reed diffusers	$38,000	14%	5 ÷ 4	1.25	Star
Candle subscription box	$24,000	22%	1.5 ÷ 6	0.25	Question mark
Wholesale to gift shops	$20,000	2%	0.8 ÷ 10	0.08	Dog

63% of sales come from one cash cow, which is exactly what can fund the diffuser push and the subscription test. Wholesale, at 9% of sales, is the first candidate to cut.

Product portfolio management with a BCG matrix

Your product portfolio is everything you sell, and the BCG matrix puts it on one chart. To manage it, check three things besides the quadrants:

• Dependence. If more than half of your sales come from one product, like the 63% from the cash cow in the example, a bad year for that product is a bad year for the whole business.
• Cash. Cash cows pay for stars and question marks. No cows, nothing to invest.
• Cycle. Products change boxes over time, so redo the matrix every year with the same criteria to compare.

A healthy portfolio has at least one cow that funds the rest, one star that grows and no more than one or two question marks in testing. With four or five bets at once, none gets what it needs.

Frequently asked questions about the BCG matrix

01

What is the BCG matrix?

It's a way to sort your products or business lines by two numbers: how fast their market is growing and how much share you hold against your biggest competitor. That drops each product into one of four quadrants: star, question mark, cash cow or dog. The point is to decide where the money goes: which products fund the others, and which ones cost you more than they bring in.

02

Is the BCG matrix still relevant?

Yes, as long as you use it as a starting point rather than a verdict. Markets move faster than in 1970, so products change quadrants faster too, which means you should redo it every year instead of framing it. It also ignores margins, synergies between products and brand value. Pair it with your profit numbers and a look at the market, and it's still one of the quickest ways to argue about budgets with data.

03

When should the BCG matrix be used?

Use it when you have at least three products, services or business lines competing for the same budget, and you need to decide where to invest, what to protect and what to drop. It works well during annual planning, before a big marketing push, or when cash gets tight. If you sell a single product, it won't tell you much: a SWOT or a Business Model Canvas will help more.

04

What does BCG stand for in the BCG matrix?

BCG stands for Boston Consulting Group, the strategy consulting firm Bruce Henderson founded in Boston in 1963. Henderson popularized the matrix in his 1970 essay The Product Portfolio, which is why it's also called the BCG growth share matrix, the Boston matrix or the Boston Box. Same tool, different names: two axes, four quadrants and a bubble for every product.

05

What is a cash cow in the BCG matrix?

A cash cow is a product with high relative market share in a market that has stopped growing fast. It brings in more cash than it needs, because you don't have to spend heavily to keep up with the market. The classic move is to protect its share on a lean budget and use the cash it throws off to fund your stars and the question marks worth betting on.